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A Tunisian graduate student, Mr. Abassi, 27, lived briefly in Canada as a visitor and student. He returned to Tunisia in 2012 but flew to the U.S. in March 2013. While in New York, he was in regular contact with Chiheb Esseghaier, another Tunisian who was allegedly planning an Al-Qaeda-linked attack on a passenger train south of Toronto with Raed Jaser.

All three men were arrested on April 22, 2013. Mr. Esseghaier and Mr. Jaser have been charged with terrorism offences and are awaiting trial in Ontario. Mr. Abassi was charged only with fraud and misuse of a visa.

But the FBI alleged that in recorded conversations with Mr. Esseghaier and an undercover officer, Mr. Abassi had “expressed his desire to engage in terrorist acts” against targets in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Mr. Abassi also spoke about providing support to terrorist groups such as the Al-Nusrah Front in Syria and Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and told the undercover officer about “like-minded” associates he thought would be willing to engage in terrorism, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors did not explain why they had offered Mr. Abassi a plea that would exclude any reference to terrorism, but Ms. Shroff has argued that her client had been entrapped by the undercover officer.

After Mr. Abassi had returned to Tunisia, the officer spoke to his wife in Quebec and encouraged her to let her husband travel to the U.S., arguing that once he was in the New York he would be in a better position to obtain a visa for Canada.

“See what I’m saying,” the officer said in a recorded conversation cited by Ms. Shroff. “He can walk right into the Canadian embassy by my apartment in New York, right next to the apartment. He can go right to the Canadian embassy every day and keep bugging them until they let him in.”

In an interview with the National Post, Mr. Esseghaier lashed out at Canada for “colonizing” Afghanistan and killing Muslims. Asked why he would want to harm Canadians, he replied, “My aim is very simple: to give them a message.”

National Post

• Email: sbell@nationalpost.com | Twitter: StewartBellNP