 Mohamed Harkat, an Ottawa man jailed for nearly three years on suspicion of terrorist ties, is headed for the Supreme Court of Canada in an effort to stave off deportation. Lawyer Paul Copeland said Tuesday the high court will be his next and final stop after the Federal Court of Appeal took only 90 minutes to reject a constitutional challenge by his client.
At issue is a security certificate filed by the government against Mr. Harkat alleging he has links to al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups and should be sent back to his native Algeria. Under the controversial legal process that governs such certificates, defence lawyers have not been allowed to see the detailed intelligence gathered by Ottawa to support its claims. Nor have they been able to cross-examine officials of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service or others who provided information. Instead, a judge of the trial division of Federal Court reviewed the evidence in private and concluded earlier this year that there were credible grounds to consider Mr. Harkat a threat to national security. âThis process does not meet the test of fundamental justice,â Mr. Copeland argued Tuesday to the appeal court. âMy view is that fundamental justice includes somebody testing the evidence.â
| What, you think this is America? |
At the very least, he said, federal law should allow for appointment of a so-called amicus curiae, a security-cleared lawyer who could participate in closed-door hearings and challenge the evidence put forward by the government. Mr. Copeland frankly admitted, however, that he was fighting a battle he was bound to lose â at least at this level. The appeal panel, headed by Chief Justice John Richard, was the same one that had previously turned down a similar challenge by Adil Charkaoui, a Montreal resident fighting deportation to Morocco. âI doubt that I am going to be successful in persuading you to change your ruling,â Mr. Copeland told the judges. âI am rather optimistic that the Supreme Court of Canada will disagree with you. . . . My preference would be, if you are going to dismiss this appeal, that you do it fast.â The three judges obliged by retiring briefly and returning with a terse decision rejecting Mr. Harkat's case, thus clearing the way for the next step.
The Supreme Court has already agreed to review Mr. Charkaoui's claims. Copeland said he will file for leave to join that challenge, which is unlikely to be heard until some time next year. In the meantime, he is trying to get a date in Federal Court for a bail application to try to free Mr. Harkat from the detention he has endured since his arrest in December 2002. Mr. Harkat's wife Sophie, who has been leading a public campaign to clear his name, has been trying to raise $50,000 to cover a potential cash bond. âWe're doing fairly well,â she said Tuesday. âWe still have a long way to go, but people are very supportive.â
| Is that $50,000 Canadian? |
Among the high-profile backers who have joined Mr. Harkat's cause is Sasha Trudeau, the son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau. The younger Trudeau is making a documentary film about the case and was in court Tuesday to lend moral support to Mr. Harkat's family and friends.
The government contends Mr. Harkat was identified by Abu Zubayda, an al-Qaeda lieutenant, as having run a safe house in Pakistan in the 1990s for Muslim fighters headed for Chechnya. Justice Eleanor Dawson of the Federal Court trial division refused in March to give that claim any judicial weight because she couldn't determine whether the information was obtained by torture from Zubayda, who had been captured and interrogated by U.S. forces. Justice Dawson ruled, however, that there was other credible evidence that Mr. Harkat had lied to CSIS about some of his contacts and had undergone terrorist training in Afghanistan â something he adamantly denies.
Security certificates have existed in Canadian law for years but they have become a red flag to immigrant and civil liberties groups since the 9-11 attacks in the United States. In addition to Mr. Harkat and Mr. Charkaoui, three other Muslim men have been targeted under the regime. They are Syrian-born Hassan Almrei, Algerian-born Mahmoud Jaballah and Egyptian-born Mohammad Mahjoub. All deny any terrorist links and are fighting removal from Canada.
| "Lies! All lies! And don't send us home!" |
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