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United Nations gang associate Aram Ali will be released into the community while awaiting deportation to his native Iraq despite submissions by the Canada Border Services Agency that he is a danger to the public.

Immigration and Refugee Board member Laura Ko ruled Friday that placing the convicted gunman on strict conditions should protect Canadians while allowing Ali to spend time with his family until he gets the travel documents needed for his deportation.

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Ko rejected arguments from CBSA representative Meelan Gene that Ali’s history of criminality and gang association would likely continue if he were to be released.

Gene noted that when Ali shot up the Range Rover of a gang rival outside Surrey’s T-Barz strip club in February 2009, he was on bail on a drug trafficking charge.

If released now, “it is all too likely that Mr. Ali will be tempted by the fast and easy money of criminality once again, which would result in further offences that would endanger members of the public,” Gene said.