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VANCOUVER — At a Canadian immigration hearing a few years ago, refugee claimant Boutros Massroua was asked for his opinion of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“Their members are not human beings,” he answered. “They are worse than animals that kill each other.”

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Despite this unequivocal response, immigration authorities have repeatedly denied the Lebanese national’s refugee claim on the ground that he was complicit in crimes against humanity because of work he did in 2015 repairing vehicles for the terrorist group.

Massroua, 54, who resides in Vancouver with his wife, says the work he performed was brief. He insists he had no idea at first who he was working for and when he finally clued in, it was impossible for him to immediately get out.

This introduction surely must have put the claimant on alert that he was, at least, going to a criminal operation of some sort

But in rejecting Massroua’s claim, one adjudicator with the Immigration and Refugee Board said it should have been plainly obvious to him this was an “illegal military group” and that he had ample opportunity to flee. Moreover, had it not been for the repair work he did, “these vehicles would not be returning to Syria with guns on top of them — to shoot unarmed women, children, men of every religion.”