par La Presse Canadienne Source: La Presse URL: [link] Date: 09 décembre 2010 Un juge de la Cour fédérale statue qu'il y a des raisons de croire que Mohamed Harkat, un homme d'Ottawa, représente une menace pour la sécurité nationale.

La décision du juge Simon Noël pourrait entraîner la déportation de M. Harkat vers son Algérie natale. Dans un jugement séparé, le juge Noël confirme la constitutionnalité du système de certificat de sécurité que le gouvernement canadien invoque pour déporter M. Harkat. Mohamed Harkat, un ancien livreur de pizza et commis dans une station-service âgé de 42 ans, a été arrêté il y a huit ans alors qu'il était soupçonné d'être un agent dormant d'Al-Qaïda. Le gouvernement fédéral le décrivait comme un terroriste calculateur qui brouillait constamment les pistes à l'aide de mensonges. M. Harkat, qui vit à Ottawa avec son épouse Sophie, a toujours nié son implication dans des activités terroristes. Il affirme être un simple réfugié ayant fui l'Algérie et ayant travaillé pour un organisme d'aide au Pakistan avant son arrivée au Canada, en 1995, en utilisant un faux passeport saoudien. La cause a été ralentie par de multiples anomalies et délais lors des procédures, notamment par une contestation de la constitutionnalité des certificats de sécurité, qui a forcé le gouvernement à revoir le système. Le gouvernement a délivré un nouveau certificat contre M. Harkat en 2008. Celui-ci affirme qu'il risque la torture s'il est renvoyé en Algérie. Le juge Noël a étudié les preuves entendues à huis clos et en cour avant de rendre cette décision sur la validité du certificat de sécurité. © 2000-2010 Cyberpresse inc., une filiale de Gesca. Tous droits réservés.

Source: CBC News
URL: [link]
Date: December 9, 2010


A Federal Court judge says there are reasonable grounds to believe Ottawa resident Mohamed Harkat, who has been detained under a security certificate for eight years, remains a threat to national security.

The decision from Justice Simon Noel opens the door for the deportation of the Algerian-born Harkat, who has been living under virtual house arrest since 2002.

Harkat, 42, was arrested after Canada's spy agency, CSIS, alleged he was a sleeper agent for al-Qaeda.

The former pizza delivery man and gas station attendant has maintained his innocence, saying he fled his native Algeria and worked as an aid worker in Pakistan before coming to Canada in 1995 as a refugee using a fake Saudi passport.

Noel said Harkat's links to the Ibn Khattab terror group — for whom he operated a guesthouse while in Pakistan — and his association with Islamic extremists provided reasonable grounds to believe he engaged in terrorism activities. Noel also said Harkat was "not truthful, honest or transparent."

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by Colin Freeze
Source: The Globe and Mail
URL: [link]
Date: December 9, 2010

A Federal Court judge has upheld CSIS allegations of terrorism against an Ottawa man, despite the spy agency's investigative blunders and years of hard-fought litigation in the case.

"I find that [Mohamed] Harkat has engaged in terrorism, that he is a danger to the security of Canada and that he is a member of the [Osama] Bin Laden Network," Justice Simon Noel writes in a decision released Thursday.

Among other reasons, he cites Mr. Harkat's past associations with Ahmed Said Khadr, the Egyptian-Canadian father of Omar Khadr, the Canadian citizen still held in Guantanamo Bay.

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by The Canadian Press Source: CTV News URL: [link] Date: December 9, 2010 The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — A judge says there are grounds to believe Algerian-born Mohamed Harkat is a security threat who maintained ties to Osama bin Laden's terror network after coming to Canada. Thursday's Federal Court decision in the long-running case could pave the way for Harkat's deportation to his native country. In a separate ruling, Judge Simon Noel upheld the constitutionality of the national security certificate system the government is using to remove Harkat from Canada. Harkat, a 42-year-old former gas bar attendant and pizza delivery man, was arrested eight years ago on suspicion of being an al Qaeda sleeper agent. Harkat did not offer credible testimony to the court, Noel said in his ruling on the certificate. "He has surrounded himself in layers of clouds in which he does not let any light come through," Noel wrote. "At times, his testimony was simply incoherent, implausible if not contradictory." The federal government had painted Harkat as a calculating terrorist who consistently covered his tracks with lies.

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by Andrew Duffy, Postmedia News
Source: The Montreal Gazette
URL: [link]
Date: December 8, 2010


OTTAWA — Eight years after the government labelled him an al-Qaida sleeper agent, Ottawa's Mohamed Harkat will find out whether a judge believes he's a terrorist threat.

Federal Court Justice Simon Noel is expected to release his judgment in the Harkat case Thursday morning.

Noel must decide if the Algerian-born Harkat was a member of the al-Qaida network and whether he still poses a security threat. He must also rule on a constitutional challenge to the 2008 law that remade the security certificate system.

Harkat's lawyers contend the system remains fundamentally unfair.

Two other terror suspects, Adil Charkaoui and Hassan Almrei, had their certificates quashed last year. Both men are now suing the federal government for millions in damages.

The Harkat ruling will either extend that judicial losing streak or establish a signal victory for the federal government.

"I think it's a very significant ruling: What's at stake is whether the security certificate process is viable," said University of Toronto professor Wesley Wark, a national security intelligence expert.

Harkat, 42, is one of three foreign-born terrorism suspects still before the courts.

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by "Justice for Mohamed Harkat" Committee Source: Harkatjustice mailing list URL: [link] (subscribers only) Date: December 8, 2010 (LE FRANÇAIS SUIT LA VERSION ANGLAISE) To all friends and supporters of Justice for Mohamed Harkat:

This part of the waiting is almost over. Soon the judge will rule in Mohamed Harkat’s case. We expect the decision on whether the security certificate against him is “reasonable” to be released very soon. What the decision will be remains to be seen. Scroll down for information on what to do if the outcome goes against justice. No matter what happens, we've already achieved major advances, because: - People across Canada know and oppose security certificates and the use of secret evidence and information gleamed from torture in judicial proceedings; - The government has not been able to use security certificates in years (barring one sensational case obviously an attempt to legitimize the process); - Two out of five certificates have already been quashed or deemed unreasonable, and all five detainees have a modicum of freedom they did not have for years; And all of this would not have been possible without all of you. Now, we need your support again, and more than ever. IF THE DECISION IS IN FAVOUR OF JUSTICE FOR MOHAMED HARKAT Have a celebration in your area - and raise money for the other two cases. Two others apart from Mohamed Harkat are still awaiting justice: Mahmoud Jaballah and Mohamed Mahjoub. All five recent detainees have been targeted by the government, singled out for discrimination and accusations by the media, and been held without charge for years. Their cases will still need our support! IF THE DECISION IS AGAINST JUSTICE FOR MOHAMED HARKAT There will be an EMERGENCY DAY OF ACTION - actions are called for 530 pm the day after the decision is announced. Make preparations now to make sure your committee, union, or organization is ready to respond! In Ottawa, events will be coordinated by the Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee. If you can make it to Ottawa for these events, please do! If you are organizing an event, let us know at [email]

Watch for updates - and be ready to move!

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by Tom Godfrey source: The Toronto Sun URL: [link] Date: November 21, 2010 CSIS accused of spying on GTA mosques

Dozens of Toronto-area informants are being paid by the Canadian security service to spy on mosques in the GTA, a well-known Arab community leader says. Khaled Mouammar, the national president of the Canadian Arab Federation, said he has received at least a dozen community complaints about Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) spies who target worshippers and offer cash for information. He accused agents of flashing wads of cash in front of worshippers who are paid to pass on “sensitive information” obtained at mosques. “There are CSIS informants in all the main mosques in the Toronto area,” Mouammar said. “People in our community are unemployed and need the money.” He said operatives are paid in cash based on the sensitivity of the information they provide their CSIS handlers, who are Middle Eastern and fluent in Arabic. “The information they provide leads to a lot of baseless investigations,” Mouammar said. “Families have been ruined by their allegations.” He said agents target Muslim scholars who frequent attend mosques, the unemployed or young men with questionable immigration status. “They are given money and forced to bring back information,” Mouammar said. “People were interviewed by agents two days after something was said at one mosque.” Federation members said men, who do not have immigration status in Canada, are told their situation can be rectified if they agree to work as spies. “This activity has been going on for some time,” Mouammar said. “The amount of activity has increased dramatically in the last few months.” He said the spying by CSIS against Arabs has gone overboard and must be stopped. “People can’t talk freely at their mosques and are cautious to speak out,” Mouammar said. “People are concerned and worried.” He said complaints range from agents showing up during work hours to interview Muslim women without their husbands and young people pressured by agents to report on their friends or co-workers. CSIS spokesman Tahera Mufti said the agency’s mandate is to advise the government of potential security threats. “CSIS works with various communities in Canada via outreach and liaison programs,” Mufti said in a statement. “We receive useful information from all segments of Canadian society.” Mufti said “the agency does not publicly discuss its activities, interests or methodologies.” Copyright © 2010 Toronto Sun All Rights Reserved.

by Andrew Duffy Source: The Ottawa Citizen URL: [link] Date: November 6, 2010 [PHOTO: Mohamed Harkat smiles during a news conference in Ottawa on Sept. 22, 2009.] Terror suspect faces long delay before hearing fate

OTTAWA — Accused terrorist Mohamed Harkat has been told not to expect a decision in his Federal Court case anytime soon. Harkat, an Ottawa pizza delivery man who was first arrested on a national security certificate in December 2002, has been fighting to clear his name of terrorist allegations ever since. “Waiting is the worst part,” said the Algerian-born Harkat, who received notice this week that the decision in his case has been delayed. Judge Simon Noel must decide if Harkat was a member of the al-Qaida terrorism network and whether he still poses a security threat to Canadians. Final arguments in the case concluded in June and a decision was expected this fall. But Harkat has received notice that a judgment will not be delivered “in the near future” due to the unusual number of factual and legal issues to be decided in the case, including a constitutional challenge to the security certificate regime. Harkat said the wait for Noel’s ruling has been among the most difficult parts of his eight-year legal odyssey. “Waiting eats me from the inside out,” he said. Two other accused terrorists, Adil Charkaoui and Hassan Almrei, had their security certificates quashed last year by the Federal Court. Both men are now suing the federal government for millions in damages.

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by Justin Sadler
Source: The Ottawa Sun
URL: [link]
Date: November 5, 2010


His future, perhaps his life, hangs in the balance, but the waiting game continues.

After a nearly eight-year saga that began with Mohamed Harkat’s arrest on a national security certificate and despite the anticipated late-October timeline for a ruling in his case, Harkat and his wife Sophie are still waiting for justice.

“The judge has our lives in his hands and the next call will be the call that defines the rest of our lives,” Sophie said Friday.

“The actual trial and all is difficult but the waiting is the worst part for us.”

“This is a different kind of torture.”

Harkat, an Ottawa resident who worked as a gas station attendant and pizza delivery driver, is accused of operating a safehouse for Islamic extremists in Pakistan and having associations with a known jihadist and a top al-Qaida operative, both now deceased.

The Algerian refugee was arrested in December 2002 and held for 3 1/2 years before his release on bail in June 2006.

Proceedings into whether the government’s use of a security certificate against Harkat was reasonable wrapped up in early June.

But recently, Harkat’s legal team received an update from the federal court notifying the decision wouldn’t be coming anytime soon.

“Due to the numerous questions of facts and law being dealt with as part of the decisions ... the judgments to be rendered will not be made public shortly,” the notice from Justice Noel said.

“What the hell does that mean?” Sophie said, adding the delay has been agonizing.

“We were disappointed obviously. Our lives have been on hold for eight years now and we’d really like to move on,” she said. “We’ve been very, very anxious the last couple of months because we’ve been on standby.”

Regardless of the ruling, Harkat could be deported to his native Algeria, where he faces the possibility of torture, his appointed “special advocate” and human rights lawyer Paul Copeland said.

If the certificate is quashed, it’ll be up to the immigration ministry, he said.

“The decision has always been send them back and the courts have all overturned all of those,” he said.

Based on those decision, Sophie and Mohamed Harkat remain optimistic.

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by "[email]" Source: The People's Commission Network URL: [link] Date: October 1, 2010 Over the past decade, we have, through strong public campaigns and legal action, won real victories in the campaign against security certificates. Most significantly, two of the detainees – Adil Charkaoui and Hassan Almrei - were freed from this nightmare last year. But despite no longer being shackled by house arrest and the threat of deportation to torture, their names remain sullied by the unfounded allegations which made their lives hell. And for the other three men and their families, the fight continues. Below: 1. Call to Action for Harkat; 2. Updates on Mahjoub and Jaballah; 3. Updates on Charkaoui, Almrei and Ikhlef. ::: CALL TO ACTION – JUSTICE FOR MOHAMED HARKAT :::

Soon the Federal Court judge will rule in Mohamed Harkat’s case. The decision on whether the security certificate against him is “reasonable” could come any day. A decision that a certificate is “reasonable” is effectively a deportation order. It will determine whether Mohamed and his wife Sophie will at last have their lives restored to them or whether they will have to continue struggling for justice. --> IF THE DECISION IS AGAINST JUSTICE FOR MOHAMED HARKAT There will be an EMERGENCY DAY OF ACTION. Actions are called for 5:30 pm the day after the decision is announced. Make preparations now to make sure your committee, union, or organization is ready to respond! In Ottawa, events will be coordinated by the Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee. If you can make it to Ottawa for these events, please do! If you are organizing an event, let the Committee for Justice for Mohamed Harkat know at [email] Watch for updates - and be ready to move! For more info, [link] --> IF THE DECISION IS IN FAVOUR OF JUSTICE FOR MOHAMED HARKAT Have a celebration in your area and support the two people still under security certificates, Mahmoud Jaballah and Mohammed Mahjoub. (See below.)

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