by Monia Mazigh
Source: Rabble.ca
URL: [link]
Date: October 6, 2009

The week of September 21 was an important one. Well, it is true that it is a special week when Muslims celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr and were happy congratulating and visiting each other. But for two other Muslim families, one in Ottawa and another in Montreal, this week had a special meaning.

I am speaking about Sophie Lamarche and her husband Mohamed Harkat who live in Ottawa, and about Adil Charkaoui and his family who live in Montreal. For Harkat and Charkaoui this week meant an extraordinary change in their lives.

For the first time Harkat was able to take his 10 year-old niece for a walk without any approval from the CBSA (Canadian Border Services Agency) agents and for the first time Charkaoui was able to remove his GPS ankle bracelet that monitored his movements for many years.

Those light bail conditions for Harkat and the removal of security certificate for Charkaoui did not happen suddenly. They came after about seven long years of detention, extremely harsh bail conditions and of course sorrow and hardship for the detainees and their families.

In December 2002, Mohamed Harkat, an Algerian refugee who worked in pizza delivery, was arrested in front of his house. Two Canadians Ministers signed a security certificate against him. He was designated as a threat to the security of Canada and proceedings were initiated against him to remove him to his homeland.

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