The alleged Anonymous hacker Matt DeHart is being held at a jail in New York state after he was deported from Canada on Sunday, his father has confirmed.

Paul DeHart told the Star his son was transferred from an Ontario prison to the U.S. on Sunday morning, a few weeks after the family’s request for asylum in Canada was rejected.

“He assured me that he was safe. He felt confident that God would protect him,” explained Paul, who said he spoke to his son for five minutes on Sunday from Niagara County jail in Lockport, N.Y.

When contacted by the Star, a Canada Border Services Agency spokesperson said the agency does not confirm or deny the removal of specific people from Canada “for safety and security reasons.”

“Our position is clear, once individuals have exhausted all legal avenues of recourse/due process, they are expected to respect our laws and leave Canada or be removed,” the agency said in a written statement.

A former U.S. soldier, DeHart, 30, says he was tortured in 2010 by U.S. border agents who stopped him in relation to a wider espionage probe into the activities of online hacking groups Wikileaks and Anonymous.

DeHart has been charged with producing and transporting child pornography, an accusation he has rejected.

His supporters say the charges were laid to allow investigators to seize DeHart’s computer, and allege that the case is an example of the U.S. government intimidating whistle-blowers.

“It is obvious that the flimsy child pornography charges are a pretext to punish DeHart and force him to return to the U.S.,” Jesselyn Radack, a prominent whistle-blower attorney, said in a statement.

“The Obama administration has aggressively used the Espionage Act as its weapon of choice to punish national security whistleblowers, in any case that even remotely involved disclosure of allegedly-classified information.”

The DeHart family sought asylum in Canada in 2013 on the basis of the torture claim.

On Feb. 5, the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board turned down their request, stating that DeHart could fairly face trial in the U.S.

“We are very happy to have the light of day shine on the process, because we have always maintained Matt’s innocence. We think in that type of scrutiny that the holes in the government’s case will come to light,” Paul DeHart said about the pending case.

Tor Ekeland, a New York-based lawyer who is acting as DeHart’s pro-bono counsel, told the Star that DeHart appeared in a federal district court on Monday afternoon in Buffalo, N.Y.

The judge ordered that DeHart be transferred for arraignment to Tennessee, where the case against him is set to be heard.

“We don’t know when he’s going to get down there. That process can sometimes take a few weeks,” Ekeland said.

The DeHart family has lived in Canada since 2013, and Paul and his wife, Leann, are currently living in Brampton. He said they must leave the country before April 1 under their own departure order.

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“We’re both very scared, not just for Matt, but we’re not certain at all what’s going to happen to us when we cross the border,” Paul said.

He added that the family feared for Matt’s safety now that he was back on U.S. soil. “(Matt would) rather spend the rest of his time in prison in Canada than go back to the United States.”

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