A Federal Court judge has cleared the way for lawyers for Mohammed Harkat and three other terror suspects to act as special advocates for their clients in secret evidentiary hearings. Though the final decision rests with the trial judges in each case, yesterday's ruling by Justice Edmond Blanchard means Paul Copeland is eligible to be appointed as special advocate for Mr. Harkat and Hassan Almrei. Similarly, lawyer John Norris can be considered for the same role on behalf of terror suspects Mohammad Mahjoub and Mahmoud Jaballah. Government lawyers had argued that Mr. Copeland and Mr. Norris were in a conflict of interest because they were acting as lawyers for the four men in their security certificate cases. The government also objected because Mr. Copeland is counsel for Abdullah Almalki and Mr. Norris represents Muayyed Nureddin at the Iacobucci inquiry, which is investigating the cases of three Arab-Canadian men -- Mr. Almalki, Mr. Nureddin and Ahmad Elmaati -- who alleged they were tortured in Syria. However, the government withdrew its preliminary objections after Mr. Copeland and Mr. Norris undertook to withdraw from those roles if they are appointed as special advocates. In light of those withdrawals, Judge Blanchard found yesterday the Federal Court no longer had to rule on the alleged conflict of interest. The undertakings announced yesterday effectively mean any secret information Mr. Copeland and Mr. Norris are exposed to as special advocates cannot be used to help clients involved in related matters.Under new statutory provisions, once special advocates have access to top secret evidence, their ability to communicate with their clients is severely restricted.

In his ruling, Judge Blanchard emphasized that the decision on the appointment of the special advocates for Mr. Harkat, Mr. Almrei, Mr. Jaballah and Mr. Mahjoub will be made by the presiding judge in each of the four security certificate cases.

"Justice Blanchard wants to make it very clear that he's not either explicitly or implicitly binding the presiding judge in any of those cases," said Federal Court spokesman Andrew Baumberg.

But the expressed preference of the four for Mr. Copeland and Mr. Norris "would likely play large in the decision of the judge," Mr. Baumberg said.

The special advocate positions were created by the government's new security certificate law, which seeks to improve upon the original version struck down last year by the Supreme Court.

Under the law, special advocates will be assigned to each of the five security certificate cases. They will be able to attend in-camera hearings where evidence is introduced in secret because of national security concerns.

They will be able to help judges examine witnesses and test the strength of the government evidence. But they will not be allowed to share what they've learned with anyone.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2008