Final national security certificate suspect released

posted on January 03, 2009 | in Category Security Certificates | PermaLink

by Canwest News Service
Source: The Calgary Herald
URL: [link]
Date: January 2, 2009


[PHOTO: Hassan Almrei was arrested in 2001 after the Canadian Security Intelligence Service alleged he was part of a Sunni extremist network. A Federal Court judge ruled Jan. 2 Almrei can no longer justifiably be detained.]

A Federal Court judge ruled Friday that the final terrorism suspect being held in Canada on a national security certificate be released.

Justice Richard Mosley ruled Hassan Almrei, who has been in custody since October 2001, can no longer justifiably be detained.

"I have concluded that his continued detention can no longer be justified and that he should be released under strict conditions pending a determination of the reasonableness of the security certificate under which he is presently detained, and if the certificate should be found to be reasonable, until a determination is made whether he can be removed from Canada to his country of nationality or some other country," Mosley wrote.

Almrei, a Syrian, came to Canada in 1999 as a refugee claimant.

He was arrested in Toronto in 2001 after the Canadian Security Intelligence Service alleged he was part of a Sunni extremist network. He initially denied the allegations against him, but later explained he had taken part in paramilitary activities in Afghanistan until 1995.

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