TORONTO — A suspected Egyptian terrorist said Thursday he lives in constant suspicion that people who approach him in Canada could be Egyptian spies.

Mahmoud Jaballah told Federal Court he doesn't feel safe and doesn't trust anyone because of "my history in Egypt."

The father of six, who faces deportation to his home country if the security certificate against him is upheld, was jailed in Egypt for participating in activities deemed anti-government before coming to Canada.

"I don't know if the men (I met here) belong to the Egyptian government. I don't feel safe here," he said through an interpreter.

Jaballah came to Canada in 1996 and was detained in August 2001 on an unprecedented second security certificate -- several months after the courts quashed the first one as unreasonable.

Under the certificate law, Ottawa can decide if a foreign citizen poses a security threat without telling the person why, then detain him or her indefinitely without charge.

Jaballah said he had told an agent with the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service that he didn't trust any new acquaintances during an interview after his release in 1999.

The agent then told him to call CSIS if he felt he was being spied on, Jaballah said.

One or two weeks later, someone came to his house claiming to be a CSIS agent, Jaballah said.

"I refused to speak to him because I didn't know him. I called (the agent) who said he didn't send any one from CSIS."

Jaballah said he usually told new acquaintances that his name was "Abu Ahmad," which means "the father of his son, Ahmad." This is common practice in Muslim cultures, he said.

"I don't trust anyone. If they ask my name, I won't give it to them," he said.

"I don't like to (get involved) with people on a personal basis," Jaballah said in broken English. "When people ask my name, I tell them Abu Ahmad."

The Crown alleges that several people Jaballah had contact with in Canada are linked to terrorism, and Ottawa wants to deport him as a security risk.

However, Jaballah has accused the federal government of mounting a deportation case against him based solely on past acquaintances with alleged terrorists.

The Crown finished its cross-examination of Jaballah on Thursday, and the security certificate hearing will continue later in the month.

Meanwhile, a new date will be set in a few weeks for Jaballah's bail hearing.

Federal Court Justice Andrew MacKay said he will be issuing an order which will acknowledge that he "erred in my statement of fact" in a decision that was made three years ago.

Evidence was presented in 2003 about a postal address in Pakistan linked to Jaballah, but it was later determined there was no link.

MacKay upheld Jaballah's second security certificate on May 23, 2003, but Jaballah was granted a new hearing on July 13, 2004 after a successful Federal Court appeal based on a different issue.

Now that the error has been rectified and the damning piece of evidence -- which never existed -- is removed, "it puts us that much closer to showing that the certificate is unreasonable," Jaballah's lawyer said.

"I can't say it weakens the government's case, because it was never part of the government's case," said lawyer John Norris.

"But it does perhaps change the judge's perception of the government's case, which would be part of our argument."