Mouyad Mahmoud Darwish hides his face from reporters as he walks towards a transport van after appearing in a U.S. District Court in Buffalo, N.Y., on Tuesday. (Don Heupel/Associated Press)

A Canadian citizen accused of passing U.S. information on to the government of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was denied bail by an American judge on Tuesday.

Mouyad Mahmoud Darwish, who is from the Toronto suburb Markham, had a brief hearing in Buffalo, N.Y., and was ordered by a judge to remain in custody for fear that he will flee the U.S. and return to Canada.

Canada would likely not extradite Darwish back to the U.S. to face charges, prosecutors told the judge Tuesday when arguing to keep Darwish behind bars.

Darwish will be transferred to Maryland, where he is facing conspiracy charges. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to five years in prison. A date for the trial has not been set.

Kept tabs on Iraqis in the U.S., prosecutors allege

Darwish, 47, lived in Maryland from 2000 to 2004, working as a restaurant cook and doing odd jobs for the Iraqi Embassy in Washington, D.C., according to the criminal complaint filed by U.S. Justice Department officials.

Federal officials say that in 2000, prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Darwish was paid by the Iraqi Intelligence Service for "assistance" and passed on information to Saddam's government. Documents seized by U.S. troops in Iraq suggest Darwish didn't have access to important state secrets, but he did keep tabs on Iraqi nationals living in the U.S.

One document that was presented to the court alleges Darwish provided information about Iraqis being trained by the U.S. military in Virginia and being paid $2,000 a month for their services.

Going to visit ailing father at time of arrest

Darwish, one of about a dozen people in the U.S. charged with spying for Saddam's government, was arrested on Dec. 24 at the U.S.-Canada border in Buffalo.

Darwish was trying to travel from Markham to Maryland with his wife and three children to visit his cancer-stricken father, his lawyer, public defender Kimberly Schechter, said Tuesday. Darwish did not attempt to hide his identity, she said.

"There is no indication whatsoever that my client was avoiding detection," she said.

Darwish's wife and children remain in Markham, where Darwish recently bought a home and had been working for Home Depot and a carpet-removing company.

CSIS and the RCMP are not commenting on the case.

Iraqi intelligence agents were active in U.S.: CSIS agent

Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former CSIS agent, told CBC News that Iraqi intelligence agents were quite active in the United States at the beginning of the decade, trying to obtain military secrets and military technology.

He said Saddam's agents were also trying to seek out Iraqis considered disloyal, even if they lived abroad.

"At that period of time, they were a fairly nasty intelligence group," Juneau-Katsuya said. "They were after dissidents. They were after the community. They were intimidating the community."

If Darwish was a spy, Juneau-Katsuya said, it is likely his activities would not have been limited to the United States. Juneau-Katsuya also said it is likely that CSIS would have been following his case closely.

With files from the Associated Press