Original author: Jim Bronskill
Source: CANOE.CA CNEWS
URL: [link]
Date: March 22, 2005


OTTAWA (CP) - A long-awaited court ruling could clear the way for deportation of Mohamed Harkat, an Ottawa man jailed for more than two years as a national security threat.

On Tuesday, a Federal Court judge upheld a security certificate issued against Harkat, potentially setting the stage for the refugee's return to his native Algeria. The decision, which cannot be appealed, effectively becomes a removal order.Justice Eleanor Dawson, relying on confidential information placed before her, concluded there were reasonable grounds to believe Harkat had "supported terrorist activity" as a member of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

"The confidential information comes from a variety of sources," she said in the judgment. "A significant amount of the material information is corroborated."

Dawson also dismissed Harkat's constitutional challenge of legislation that allows Ottawa to issue such certificates.

It wasn't immediately clear if the decision would hasten Harkat's departure. He and several other refugees in similar circumstances are fighting deportation on the grounds that they would face torture in their homelands.

Immigration Minister Joe Volpe said Harkat can resort to measures "available to him under Canadian law."

"But we're going to proceed as per our obligations."

Harkat, 36, has been in custody since he was arrested on Dec. 10, 2002, on suspicion of being an al-Qaida sleeper agent.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service contends Harkat is an Islamic extremist and collaborator with bin Laden's network, which carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The spy service, which watched Harkat for five years prior to his arrest, also argues he supports Afghan, Pakistani and Chechen extremists.

Harkat has denied ever assisting Islamic radicals.

In her ruling, Dawson said the confidential information made it "clear and beyond doubt" that Harkat lied to the court about several key points, including his association with extremists.

Many details of the government's case remain classified, available only to the court.

Harkat's supporters have complained about the lack of information disclosed by authorities concerning the specific allegations against him.

"Everything was secret," Christian Legeais, a Harkat spokesman, said Tuesday. "With this decision, it just confirms what we always said."

CSIS said Abu Zubaydah, one of bin Laden's chief lieutenants, had identified Harkat as the operator of a guest house in the Pakistani city of Peshawar for extremists travelling to Chechnya. The intelligence service, whose officers interviewed Harkat at least four times over the years, also claimed he had visited Afghanistan, once a hotbed of al-Qaida activity.

Dawson gave no weight to information provided to the court through Zubaydah, saying she had doubts as to how he had done so. But that point did not affect the outcome of the case.

Harkat flew to Toronto in 1995 from Malaysia using a false Saudi Arabian passport, bought for $1,200 US. He promptly made a refugee claim based on fear of persecution by the Algerian government.

Harkat won refugee status in February 1997 and applied for permanent residence in Canada the next month.

Settling in Ottawa, he married and worked long hours as a pizza delivery man and gas station attendant to support his family.

In his refugee claim, Harkat acknowledged supporting Algeria's Islamic Salvation Front, or FIS, which was a legitimate political organization when he became involved in the late 1980s. After an Algerian government crackdown on the FIS, Harkat went into hiding.

CSIS contends that when the FIS severed its links with the Armed Islamic Group, or GIA, Harkat indicated his loyalties were with the GIA. The group aims to establish an Islamic state in Algeria through terrorism and to eliminate Western influences.

Harkat's wife, Sophie, has been leading a campaign to free him. She has repeatedly denied her husband has any terrorist links and says her faith in Canada's justice system is hanging by a thread.

She and other supporters were expected to comment on the case Wednesday.

Appearing at a Commons committee Tuesday, Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan defended the use of security certificates.

"There is recognition of the serious implications of using a certificate," she said. "They are used sparingly as, obviously, they should be. They are an extraordinary tool."

There are currently six cases outstanding in which security certificates were issued, five of them since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the minister said. Twenty-seven have been issued since 1991.

By comparison, McLellan said, 10,000 would-be immigrants are removed from Canada each year by other means.

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