Original author: Christian Legeais Source: a press release by Comite Justice pour Mohamed Harkat Date: February 18, 2005 For Immediate Release Adil Charkaoui is reunited with his family; Supporters demand the immediate release of the 4 other Muslim men detained under a security certificate

OTTAWA - Members and supporters of The Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee are very pleased that Adil Charkaoui is out on bail even though the conditions are very harsh but has finally been reunited with his family and kids. "This is a step in the right direction. All four other Muslim men should be freed, and their security certificate quashed," says Sophie Harkat, wife of Mohamed Harkat detained under a security certificate since December 10th, 2002 in Ottawa. The four other Muslim men being held under security certificates are: Mohammad Mahjoub (married, with three children, held since June, 2000); Mahmoud Jaballah (married, with six children, held since August 2001. He "won" against a prior certificate, a new one was signed despite a lack of any new evidence); Hassan Almrei (single, held since Oct. 2001) and Mohamed Harkat (married, held since December 2002). The fact that a Federal court judge has recognized that Adil Charkaoui is not a threat to national security confirms what The Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee has repeatly said: the five Muslim men are imprisoned even though they have done nothing wrong/commited no crime. "Instead of threatening Mr. Charkaoui and using intimidation during a declaration on Thursday, Anne McLellan, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, should admit that the security certificate process is fundamentally unjust and order that the four other Muslim men be freed immediately," says Christian Legeais, campaign manager for the Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee. The demands of the Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee are that Mohamed Harkat: - Be released immediately; - Not be deported, and the abolition of the Security Certificate and the end of the Secret trials in Canada. For more information contact: Christian Legeais, Comite Justice pour Mohamed Harkat: (613) 276-9102

[ Read the rest ... ]

Original author: unsigned editorial Source: The Toronto Star URL: [link] Date: February 18, 2005 Editorial: Canada's vexing security cases

Canada has not felt the need to detain many alleged terrorists before or after the 9/11 attacks. But the few we do hold sorely test our legal system. One Egyptian man, Mohamed Mahjoub, has been locked in a Toronto detention centre for nearly five years, since June, 2000, without being charged with a crime, set free or deported. He is one of a small group of Arab men who made their way here, were deemed inadmissible because of suspected terrorist links, and who have been fighting deportation for years, claiming they will be killed or tortured if sent home.

[ Read the rest ... ]

Original author: Nelson Wyatt
Source: Canadian Press (CP) and The Montreal Gazette
URL: [link]
Date: February 17, 2005


MONTREAL (CP) -- Federal Court ruled Thursday that a man suspected of being a sleeper agent for the al-Qaida terrorist network be released on $50,000 bail.

Justice Simon Noel's ruling came after Adil Charkaoui's fourth bid for release. Federal officials said Thursday there will be no appeal.

"The court has rendered its decision and we have to respect it,'' said Daniel Lavoie, a spokesman for Public Security and Emergency Preparedness.

Charkaoui has been held on a national security certificate for nearly two years after being arrested. The certificate, a controversial provision of the Immigration Act, means most of the evidence against him is seen only by the government and the judge.

[ Read the rest ... ]

Original author: CBC News Staff
Source: CBC News
URL: [link]
Date: Feb 17, 2005

OTTAWA - A Federal Court judge has granted bail to suspected terrorist Adil Charkaoui, who has spent the past 21 months in jail under a ministerial security certificate.

In a decision Thursday, Judge Simon Noel ruled that Charkaoui, 31, can be released on $50,000 bail, subject to a number of conditions.

Charkaoui must respect a curfew, stay with his family and wear an electronic monitoring bracelet. Limits were also placed on who he can contact and on his use of computers.

Several Quebecers, including filmmaker Denys Arcand, have agreed to post the bail money.

It was the fourth bail application by the Moroccan-born Charkaoui, who has been accused of being a sleeper agent for al-Qaeda.

Under a security certificate, the government can detain and deport people without releasing all the evidence against them.

It's not immediately clear whether the federal government can appeal the decision.

At a court hearing in January, Charkaoui's lawyers argued the case against him should be dropped because the Canadian Security Intelligence Service destroyed key notes from interviews with him.

In 2002, intelligence agents held two interviews with Charkaoui, a permanent Canadian resident who has lived in Montreal since 1995.

[ Read the rest ... ]

Original author: By Kathleen Harris
Source: The Toronto Sun
URL: [link]
Date: February 15, 2005


Canada must cling to its controversial anti-terrorism law because the deadly threat hangs over Canada "unabated," says Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan. Facing a Senate committee conducting a three-year review of the Act, McLellan insisted the law's sweeping state powers strike the right balance between upholding human rights and keeping Canadians safe.

"I think it is the right legislation to deal with both the domestic and global threats of terrorism," she said.

Insisting the new authorities have been exercised "judiciously," McLellan said changing "circumstances" might warrant amendments in the future.

But Conservative Sen. John Lynch-Staunton accused the Liberal government of being too soft on some terrorists while trampling the rights of mere suspects. He slammed the practice of detaining people under security certificates with the "flimsiest" of evidence.

[ Read the rest ... ]

Original author: TASC, tasc at web dot ca Source: Coalition Justice pour Adil Charkaoui listserv Date: February 14, 2005 Canada's Guantanamo Bay "Security Certificate Detainees" present Charter to CSIS at UVic Career Fair

Members of VIPIRG's No One Is Illegal campaign, dressed as Canada's political prisoners, presented CSIS representatives with a copy of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms at the UVic job fair last week in a call to end secret trials in Canada. Five muslim men have been detained a collective 184 months on secret evidence that neither they nor their lawyers are allowed to see. Mohammad Mahjoub, Mahmoud Jaballah, Mohamed Harket, Adil Charkaoui, and Hassan Almrei are currently detained indefinitely under Security Certificates, a measure of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) that Amnesty International has condemned as "fundamentally flawed and unfair."

[ Read the rest ... ]

Original author: CBC News staff
Source: CBC.CA CBC News
URL: [link]
Date: February 8, 2005


MONTREAL - Suspected terrorist Adil Charkaoui testified in his own defence Monday at a bail hearing in federal court.

It's the first time since his detention that Charkaoui has taken the stand

Charkaoui has been held on a ministerial security certificate for almost three years, which means neither he nor his lawyers have seen the evidence against him.

[ Read the rest ... ]

Original author: Andrew Duffy Source: The Ottawa Citizen Date: February 07, 2005 Government seeks way to deport terror suspects held on security certificates

A federal official has conceded that the government does not have the legal right to indefinitely detain foreign-born terrorist suspects who cannot be deported. But Alex Swann, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan, said the government intends to aggressively pursue the deportation of terror suspects through the controversial security certificate process. And the question of when that pursuit formally ends is something that may have to be decided by the Supreme Court. "As long as we're working through the security certificate process with the aim of removal, that (detention) continues to be an option," Mr. Swann said. "When a deportation is unsuccessful, I don't know when that time comes," Mr. Swann said. Mr. Swann maintained the question of when the government must end its pursuit of a terrorist suspect's deportation remains hypothetical. The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which sets out the security certificate process, allows the government to detain foreign-born terror suspects on the strength of secret evidence until they can be deported.

[ Read the rest ... ]

Original author: N/A
Source: The Montreal Gazette, editorial
URL: N/A
Date: February 8, 2005

Adil Charkaoui has been held in jail for almost two years, and hardly anyone knows why. Some people in the Canadian security establishment know, and two cabinet ministers who signed a "security certificate" know, but nobody else does. There's got to be a better way.

Charkaoui, 31, is an immigrant from Morocco. The government wants to deport him back to that country - he is not a Canadian citizen - and he's fighting deportation.

[ Read the rest ... ]

Original author: Sue Montgomery
Source: The Montreal Gazette
URL: [link]
Date: February 07, 2005


The government claims it's a necessary trade-off to protect Canada and its citizens, but a growing number of legal, human rights and refugee advocates decry the security certificate as discriminating against non-citizens.

There are now six men, five of them Muslim, being held without charge, with little or no knowledge of the evidence against them and risk deportation to their countries, where some face torture. They have no chance to appeal.

[ Read the rest ... ]