Mohamed Harkat

Original author: Tobi Cohen Source: The Ottawa Sun URL: [link] Date: March 24, 2005 'The end of my story' Terror suspect awash in despair as he awaits deportation

Hopeless and frightened, terror suspect Mohamed Harkat likens this week's Federal Court decision to uphold the security certificate that has kept him locked up for 27 months without charge to a death sentence. "I feel now just like somebody blocked my life. Took my life away," he told the Sun yesterday during an interview at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre. "I see it like it's at the end of my story." His body trembling more and more as he spoke of his hearing and the allegations against him, Harkat struggled to fight back tears. "(Tuesday) I never slept. I cried all night in my bed," he said from behind the Plexiglas barrier. "I just feel like my brain is not working anymore. "Before I thought about getting out and starting to build myself and coming back and catching up with what I left 21/2 years ago ... I miss my family. I miss my wife. Now I'm just disappointed. I'm just waiting for what's next."

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Original author: Tobi Cohen Source: The Ottawa Sun URL: [link] Date: March 24, 2005 Marchers demand stop to Canada's 'secret trials'

Despite his loss of hope following the latest setback in his attempt to clear his name, Mohamed Harkat said knowing so many people are standing behind him does bring some comfort. "I just want to thank my supporters and my wife. All the people who supported me from coast to coast," he said yesterday from the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre. Just two hours later, more than 100 of those supporters gathered at the Human Rights Monument to protest Tuesday's Federal Court decision to uphold his security certificate. "The process continues to be as flawed as it has been since the security certificate process was introduced," said Jessica Squires of the Justice For Mohamed Harkat Committee which hosted the event. Noting the security certificate process is a gross breach of human rights and fundamental justice, as it allows people to be detained without charge and tried in court without the benefit of being privy to all the evidence, the committee is calling for the entire security certificate system to be abolished.

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Original author: Canadian Press
Source: The Ottawa Sun
URL: [link]
Date: March 27, 2005


MONTREAL -- Four days after a judge set the stage for Mohamed Harkat's deportation, his wife lashed out at the federal government for holding the Ottawa terror suspect without charges. "I have enormous rage against the Canadian government," said Sophie Harkat, who travelled to Montreal yesterday to join several dozen others in protesting national security certificates used to detain five alleged terrorists without trial or charges.

"I'm a Canadian citizen and I don't have the right to know how my husband came to be detained for 27 months without knowing the charges or the evidence ... it's unacceptable."

Last Tuesday, a Federal Court judge upheld the certificate issued against Harkat, who's been detained since December 2002 on suspicion of being an al-Qaida sleeper agent. Harkat faces deportation to his native Algeria.

Suspected Moroccan terrorist Adil Charkaoui, another man detained under a security certificate, also blasted the feds at the rally.

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Source: CBC News Ottawa
URL: [link]
Date: March 24, 2005


OTTAWA - Sophie Harkat is vowing to fight to keep her husband in Canada. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service believes Mohamed Harkat is an al-Qaeda sleeper agent who's been living in Ottawa since the late '90s.

Earlier this week, a federal court judge upheld the security certificate that has been used to keep Harkat in jail for more than two years.

About 100 of Harkat's supporters gathered in Ottawa, Wednesday, to protest his expected deportation to Algeria. Sophie Harkat spoke briefly to the gathering at the human-rights monument on Elgin Street. She promised to fight her husband's deportation.

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Original author: Terry Pedwell Source: Canadian Press and CANADA.COM URL: [link] Date: March 23, 2005 Harkat supporters denounce court ruling, vow to fight security certificates OTTAWA (CP) - Supporters of alleged terror suspect Mohamed Harkat vowed Wednesday to keep battling federal security certificates like the one that has kept Harkat in prison for over two years. A Federal Court judge on Tuesday upheld a security certificate issued against Harkat, setting the stage for his deportation to Algeria. Justice Eleanor Dawson concluded there were reasonable grounds to believe Harkat had "supported terrorist activity" as a member of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, based on her assessment of secret evidence against him. Harkat supporters denounced the decision as another step in an unjust process. "Of course we were hoping for a different decision but we are not shocked by (the) outcome," said Christian Legeais of the Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee. "There is no justice with a process that does not conform to essential international legal standards," he said in a statement. Harkat's wife, Sophie, who has been leading a campaign to free him, said she's outraged by the ruling. "The justice system in Canada is in a sad state, and today I am outraged," she said through tears at an Ottawa news conference. "I am disgusted that I had to face my husband in jail . . . to let him know that the Canadian government had ruled against him," she said. "I was basically confirming a death sentence."

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Original author: John Steinbachs Source: The Ottawa Sun URL: [link] Date: March 23, 2005 Terror suspect lied about ties to extremists

MOHAMED HARKAT lied about his past under oath and the feds have reasonable grounds to deport him, a federal court judge ruled yesterday. Justice Eleanor Dawson's decision comes as another blow to Harkat who has been fighting allegations of having links to terrorism for two years. Dawson also ruled the legislation being used against him is constitutional. "I'm disappointed," said Harkat's lawyer Paul Copeland. But despite the loss, Copeland said Harkat's deportation is not imminent. "The minister's delegate still has to decide whether or not it's appropriate to send him back to Algeria (where he could be tortured or killed)," said Copeland.

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Source: Press Release from The Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee Date: March 23, 2005 For Immediate Release 23 March 2005 Harkat Federal Court decision "unjust" Supporters vow to continue fight

OTTAWA - Supporters of Mohammed Harkat vowed today to continue their fight against "security certificates" in the face of a Federal Court Decision that upholds the controversial tool that has kept Harkat in prison for over two years without charge. Justiice Eleanor Dawson stated in her decision which was announced yesterday and based on secret "evidence" heard in the absence of Mr. Harkat and his counsel that: "an order will issue determining the security certificate to be reasonable." Supporters of Harkat denounced the decision as just another step in an unjust process.

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Original author: Michelle Shephard Source: The Toronto Star URL: [link] (subscribers only) Date: March 23, 2005 Court upholds certificate against Mohamed Harkat Detainee alleged to be Al Qaeda sleeper agent

A federal court justice has upheld a national security certificate against an Ottawa gas station attendant, bringing Mohamed Harkat one step closer to being deported to Algeria. The 36-year-old has been held since Dec. 10, 2002, on allegations that he is a sleeper agent for Al Qaeda. Canada's spy service claims Harkat, while supposedly working at a Muslim charity in Pakistan in the early 1990s, operated a guesthouse for jihadis travelling to Chechnya. He is also accused of travelling to Afghanistan and associating with Abu Zubaydah, who was third on the U.S. list of most-wanted Al Qaeda suspects, behind leader Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri.

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News: Media Advisory
For immediate release March 22, 2005 Harkat Federal Court decision "unjust" Supporters vow to continue fight

Event #1: News Conference Date: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 Time: 4:30 p.m Place: PSAC Building, 233 Gilmour St., 0ttawa Event #2: Rally Date: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 Time: 5 p.m. Place: Human Rights Monument in Ottawa (Elgin and Lisgar) The Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee will hold a press conference to respond to the Federal Court decision to uphold the Security Certificate. Family and supporters will gather at the Human Rights Monument in support of Mohamed Harkat and to denounce the Government of Canada's oppressive use of Security Certificates and disregard of human rights. For more information contact English: Kevin Skerrett, Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee: (613) 864-1590 French: Christian Legeais, Comite Justice pour Mohamed Harkat: (613) 276-9102 [link]


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Original author: CBC News Staff
CBC News Ottawa
URL: [link]
Date: March 22, 2005


OTTAWA - A federal court judge has upheld the use of a security certificate against Ottawa's Mohamed Harkat, who has been held in jail for more than two years.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service says the Algerian-born man is a member of Al-Qaeda who trained in Afghanistan, then entered Canada as a sleeper agent.

On Tuesday, Madam Justice Eleanor Dawson ruled that the grounds for that certificate are reasonable, opening the way to Harkat's deportation.

She also rejected Harkat's constitutional argument that security certificates â?” which allow non-citizens to be detained on suspicion of being terrorists â?” violate fundamental justice.

The judge had agreed during the hearing not to rely on evidence against Harkat from some witnesses who may have been tortured or may have given false evidence, including Maher Arar and the so-called millennium bomber, Ahmed Ressam.

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