Lawyers representing Ottawa terror suspect Mohamed Harkat in a secret hearing have won the right to see a wide range of documents never before released to his defence team. In a decision released yesterday, Federal Court Justice Simon Noël ruled the federal government had to disclose "drafts, diagrams, recordings and photographs" that have been collected by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) during their investigation of Mr. Harkat, a former pizza delivery man who is alleged to be an al-Qaeda operative. Judge Noël's ruling came at the end of an eight-day secret hearing, during which Mr. Harkat was represented by two special advocates. Mohamed Harkat was working as a pizza delivery man when taken into custody on a security certificate in 2002. He now lives in Ottawa under very strict bail conditions.View Larger [PHOTO: Mohamed Harkat was working as a pizza delivery man when taken into custody on a security certificate in 2002. He now lives in Ottawa under very strict bail conditions. Wayne Cuddington, The Ottawa Citizen]The special advocates, Paul Copeland and Paul Cavalluzzo, successfully argued that the government should be compelled to better substantiate its claims against Mr. Harkat.

The detailed evidence, CSIS said, will take six months to compile since it will involve "thousands" of records.

Mr. Harkat and his "public" counsel, Matt Webber and Norm Boxall, will not be allowed to see the new material, nor will it be made available to the public.

But Judge Noël said he will determine later what previously secret information will be made available to Mr. Harkat.

Judge Noël's ruling -- and CSIS's insistence that it will take six months to assemble the material -- means the public portion of Mr. Harkat's Federal Court hearing on the reasonableness of his security certificate will likely be delayed.

He had been scheduled to appear in court later this year for the hearing, which was to determine whether the federal government made a reasonable decision in declaring him a threat to national security.

If Mr. Harkat's security certificate is upheld as reasonable, a deportation order will be issued against him, which could return him to his native Algeria, where he says he will be tortured.

The secret hearing before Judge Noël, during which the government laid out its case against Mr. Harkat, included testimony from four witnesses.

Mr. Harkat was represented in those hearings by the two special advocates, Mr. Copeland and Mr. Cavaluzzo, who could test the government's evidence.

The special advocates also argued that certain material should be disclosed to Mr. Harkat as it does not compromise national security.

The role of special advocate was created by legislation passed earlier this year in response to a Supreme Court ruling that found the old security certificate process to be unconstitutional.

The high court said the former process was fundamentally unjust because it denied accused terrorists the right to meet the case against them.

CSIS alleges that Mr. Harkat travelled to Afghanistan in the early 1990s, operated a guest house for jihadists and posed a threat in Canada as an al-Qaeda operative.

Mr. Harkat was working as a pizza delivery man when he was taken into custody on the strength of the government-issued security certificate on Dec. 10, 2002.

He denies any connection to terrorism and is now living under strict bail conditions in Ottawa.


© The Ottawa Citizen 2008