Source: The Ottawa Citizen
URL: [link]
Date: February 23, 2008
Newly released documents on what led Canada's spy agency to conclude Mohamed Harkat is an al-Qaeda terrorist are filled with mistakes and largely based on interviews conducted when Mr. Harkat didn't understand English, his wife, Sophie, said Saturday.
"Our lives are on the line here and they're mixing information up," Mrs. Harkat said. On Friday, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service released summaries of the information used to support new security certificates filed in Federal Court on Mr. Harkat and four other foreign-born Muslims whom CSIS suspects are members of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.
They disclosed previously classified details of their alleged terrorist activities in Canada. In the filings, CSIS accuses the 36-year-old Algerian-born Ottawa man of helping Islamist extremists enter Canada, and also receiving money from Islamist extremists abroad.Among the newly-declassified allegations: n In an interview with CSIS officials and testimony before the federal court, Mr. Harkat gave conflicting accounts of how he came to be in possession of $18,000 once in Canada. In a June 11, 1998 CSIS interview, Mr. Harkat said he received the money from a man named "Wael," who had received Mr. Harkat's name from "Abdel Mokhtar," believed to be Mr. Harkat's best friend in Pakistan. Mr. Harkat said Wael had come to Canada to start a business, liked Mr. Harkat, and wanted to help him recoup money he had lost because of a gambling problem. But on Oct. 27, 2004, Mr. Harkat testified in federal court that Mr. Mokhtar gave him $18,000, not Wael. He said Mr. Mokhtar had lent him the money in two instalments, to open an antiques business and a gas station. n In an Oct. 4, 1997, CSIS interview, Mr. Harkat said he had deposited $12,000 at a bank that his friend Haji Wazir worked at in Pakistan. Then, in a 1998 interview, Mr. Harkat said that while he was in Pakistan he had no bank account and carried his money with him at all times. CSIS alleges that in February 1997, Mr. Harkat contacted an individual in Pakistan called "Hadje Wazir," said he was a "muslim" from Canada, and asked about his "people." He inquired about individuals like "Wael" - and asked that his number be provided to Wael or any brother who showed up to do transactions. The documents state a man named "Pacha Wazir" is known to be a "shadowy financial kingpin" from the United Arab Emirates who handled money for Mr. bin Laden and is known to have been in Pakistan. The file states that CSIS believes Hadje Wazir and Pacha Wazir are the same individual, and that Mr. Harkat is associated in some way with the financial transactions. On Saturday night, Mr. Harkat said it is hard to understand these new allegations because he has no idea where they are coming from and hasn't had adequate time to review the files. He said he does not remember calling Hadje Wazir. "I don't know if what they're saying about him is true, it's very hard to confirm," he said, noting the different spellings of the three names. He also said he never received money from a man named "Wael" and that he didn't understand English well enough during early interviews to know what he was agreeing to. "I wasn't thinking they were going to use that against me," he said. "It's not that I'm hiding or lying." Mrs. Harkat also questioned the accuracy of the new information - especially that taken from the 1997 interviews. She said that the transcripts of the interviews do not sound anything like what her husband would say, especially since they are in full sentences, and at that time, her husband did not understand English very well. She also said many of the interviews were carried out in such a way that questions were twisted to confuse her husband. Mr. Harkat came to Canada in September 1995 after five years, he says, as a relief worker with the Muslim World League in Pakistan. CSIS alleges he travelled to Afghanistan in that time and has been associated with Abu Zubaydah, one of Mr. bin Laden's top deputies, since the early 1990s. Mr. Harkat has consistently denied these allegations. He was arrested in December 2002 on a security certificate that alleged he was an al-Qaeda sleeper agent. He was released after two-and-a-half years in custody on a strict bail package. The new certificates were issued just as previous certificates were set to expire after the Supreme Court ruled last year that parts of the law they were based on were unconstitutional. The five men targeted by the certificates include the Moroccan-born Adil Charkaoui, Hassan Almrei of Syria, Egyptians Mahmoud Jaballah and Mahamed Zeki Mahjoub and Mr. Harkat. Mr. Harkat said he is tired of always thinking about the allegations and the case. "It looks like there is no future for me and my family," he said. The Ottawa Citizen and the Montreal Gazette with files from National Post
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