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MONTREAL – Seated on a sofa across from a man he believed to be a crime boss able to smuggle him out of Canada on a ship, Ismael Habib explained last February why he wanted to get to Syria so badly.

He said he dreamed of living under Shariah law in the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and was prepared to die in the fight to establish Islamic rule.

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“We love death like you love life,” he explained during the meeting in Montreal. It was a recurring theme in Habib’s nearly three hours of conversation with the man who peppered his speech with Québécois curses.

It turned out the supposed crime boss was an undercover RCMP officer, and Friday the video of Habib’s encounter was played at his trial. He is charged with attempting to travel to Syria to commit a terrorist act and giving false information to obtain a passport.

The officer, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, testified earlier about how he had won Habib’s confidence through a series of conversations on the phone, in restaurants and in parking lots.