by Naseem Mithoowani, Special to QMI Agency
Source: The London Free Press
URL: [link]
Date: January 25, 2010


Recently, Federal Court Judge Richard Mosley released a landmark 182-page decision in the case of Hassan Almrei, an individual who has spent much of the past eight years in detention, on the basis of a security certificate.

Security certificates allow our federal government to deport non-citizens who appear to pose a risk to national security, except where they would face almost certain torture or death in their home country. In these cases, individuals face indefinite detention without the benefit of typical legal protections, including an open trial. Problematically, the security certificate process relies heavily on secret evidence gathered by CSIS, Canada's spy agency.

Although Almrei remained unaware of the secret evidence against him, Mosley was able to review the entire case justifying his detention. Mosley ultimately reached the conclusion that Almrei "has not engaged in terrorism and is not and was not a member of an organization that . . . has, does or will engage in terrorism. I find that there are no reasonable grounds to believe that Hassan Almrei is today, a danger to the security of Canada."

This unequivocal conclusion begs the question: How could Almrei have been kept in jail for nearly eight years, if the case against him can be so confidently dismissed?

The answer lies in the extraordinary measures that CSIS took to deceive the court. The decision describes CSIS's many underhanded tactics, including failing to disclose exculpatory evidence and relying on outdated and unreliable evidence to support its position, without verifying accuracy.

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