by Sophie Harkat
Source: Justice for Mohamed Harkat Email List
URL: [link]
Date: February 7, 2010


Come to court from Feb. 8th-12th, 2010 and support Moe ! Our 4th week !

This week:

* Thomas Quiggin, a security expert and author of the 2007 book “Intelligence In a Complex and Uncertain Age.”
* Dr. Wesley Wark, a professor of the University of Toronto who will provide an expert analysis of the CSIS summary of the security intelligence report (of Mohamed Harkat).
* Dr Given, a professor of library and information science of the University of Alberta will testify about methodology of open source research
* Many other witnesses for the defence will take the stand this week as part of the public hearing on the reasonableness of the security certificate of Mohamed Harkat.

So far, Thomas Quiggin is doing a great job and is VERY interesting and knowledgeable in many areas.

Court starts at 9:45am. Morning break at 11:15am and afternoon break at 3:15pm. We typically break for lunch from 12:30-1:45pm and resume until 4:30pm. Come in and out as you wish. Come for an hour or whenever you can !

East Courtroom, Supreme Court of Canada building
at 301 Wellington St., Ottawa.

Please tell others.

Thanks for your continued support. Thanks also to those who attended the hearing the past three weeks.

Sophie Harkat

Donations are also needed. Please visit www.justiceforharkat.com for info. See right sidebar.


Facebook group: HarkatUpdates

Follow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/HarkatUpdates

by Aedan Helmer
Source: The Ottawa Sun
URL: [link]
Date: February 4, 2010

=================

See also:
VIDEO REPORT : "Harkat Testimony"

=================

Insists he fled Algeria fearing arrest, not to join mujahedeen

Accused terror “sleeper agent” Mohamed Harkat refuted allegations from government lawyers that he fabricated testimony to cover up his participation in a jihad during the first full day of cross examination Wednesday.

David Tyndale, lead counsel for Citizenship and Immigration, which is seeking to deport Harkat to his native Algeria, repeatedly suggested to Harkat that the sworn account of his flight from Algeria through Saudi Arabia into Pakistan was “incredibly unlikely” and “implausible.”

During testimony on Monday, court heard that Harkat, fearing arrest based on his association with the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) political party in Algeria, dropped out of university, went into hiding and fled the country in 1990.

According to Harkat, he left the country with his entire $250 US savings in his pocket and the telephone numbers of Saudi contacts provided by a fellow student with ties to FIS.

“The only thing I start thinking about is to get out of my country,” Harkat testified.

[ Read the rest ... ]

by Mohammed Adam
Source: The Ottawa Citizen
URL:
Date: February 4, 2010

Suspected terrorist rejects accusation he cooked up plan to join jihad

Mohamed Harkat Wednesday rejected a government assertion that his flight from Algeria in 1989 to Saudi Arabia to escape arrest was really part of an elaborate plan to become a jihadist.

Government lawyer David Tyndale, during cross-examination of the former Ottawa gas station attendant, suggested Harkat was never in danger in Algeria, but cooked up the escape plan as a cover for his Afghan adventure.

Harkat said it made no sense for him to quit university where he was studying to be an engineer, and give up a promising life. He insisted his was life in danger then, as, he said, it is now if he ends up in his homeland.

"I will get arrested and I will pay the price," he said.

[ Read the rest ... ]

by Mohammed Adam
Source: The Ottawa Citizen
URL: [link]
Date: February 4, 2010


OTTAWA — Federal Judge Simon Noël Thursday denied Mohamed Harkat’s special advocate permission to speak on security certificates at a Toronto law conference this month, citing national security.

Paul Copeland, who represents Harkat in the closed hearings where sensitive information on national security is discussed, cannot speak publicly about the case without permission from Noël. In December, Copeland asked the court for permission to speak about the public phase of the Harkat hearing at the annual conference of the Law Union of Ontario, of which he is a founding member. The Toronto lawyer, who has been practising for more than 40 years, promised “not to discuss any aspect of the closed hearings or evidence that was regarded as subject to national security confidentiality.”

Government lawyers objected, saying Copeland could inadvertently revealed sensitive information that could harm national security. They pointed out that the speakers include Barbara Jackman who represents two people whose security certificate hearing is to begin soon. As well, Hassan Almrei, whose security certificate was quashed recently, had been invited to speak, even though he had not confirmed his participation. Copeland also acted as special advocate for Almrei.

[ Read the rest ... ]

by Aedan Helmer, QMI Agency
Source: CANOE.CA CNEWS
URL: [link]
Date: February 3, 2010


OTTAWA - Accused terror "sleeper agent" Mohamed Harkat refuted allegations from government lawyers that he fabricated testimony to cover up his participation in a jihad during the first full day of cross-examination Wednesday.

David Tyndale, lead counsel for Citizenship and Immigration, which is seeking to deport Harkat to his native Algeria, repeatedly suggested to Harkat that the sworn account of his flight from Algeria through Saudi Arabia into Pakistan was "incredibly unlikely" and "implausible."

During testimony on Monday, court heard that Harkat, fearing arrest based on his association with the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) political party in Algeria, dropped out of university, went into hiding and fled the country in 1990.

[ Read the rest ... ]

by Mohammed Adam
Source: The Ottawa Citizen
URL: [link]
Date: February 3, 2010


Mohamed Harkat ended two days of testimony Tuesday, laying bare his past ruinous gambling addiction and continuing to deny he was a sleeper agent or that he had any contact with Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, as the government contends.

He described to Federal Court Judge Simon Noël his expensive gambling habit that cost him up to $100,000 and acknowledged the corrosive addiction put him in debt and nearly ruined his marriage.

Harkat said he lost thousands playing mainly blackjack at the Lac Leamy Casino in Gatineau. He gambled every cent he had, even his savings. Eventually, he said he had to ask to be banned from the casino after his wife Sophie told him choose gambling or her. "I tell the security (at the casino) I like to ban myself. I did for a year," he said. "It was out of control. I lost all the business money I had."

[ Read the rest ... ]

by Aedan Helmer
Source: The Ottawa Sun
URL: [link]
Date: February 3, 2010


Mohamed Harkat categorically denies allegations by the Canadian government that he was an active jihadist and a member of “an international extremist network that supported Osama bin Laden.”

“That’s against my beliefs,” Harkat said Tuesday when asked by defence lawyer Matthew Webber if he supported using violence of any kind.

“It’s against my beliefs for somebody to use violence against a human being.”

Harkat took the stand in his own defence for the second day Tuesday, denying allegations that he ran a safe house for Afghan mujahedeen while he was living in Pakistan in the 1990s, denying that he ran errands and worked as a chauffeur for terrorists, and denying that he had close connections to Ahmed Said Khadr, a known associate of bin Laden.

“That’s not true,” Harkat said.

[ Read the rest ... ]

by Daniel Tubb
Source: The Leveller (Carleton University, Ottawa)
URL: [link] (direct link to PDF file)
Date: January 18, 2010

The case for extradition against Hassan Diab, the sociology instructor removed from the classroom by Carleton University administration on July 28, 2009, seems to be unraveling.

Hearings on extraditing Diab to France, originally scheduled for January 4, 2010, have been adjourned indefinitely to allow the French government to review the case. Diab is accused of being behind a 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue.

Assistant Crown Attourney Claude LeFrancois requested the adjournment on December 18, 2009 after Diab’s defence won the right to call witnesses to contest the controversial foundations of the French case against him at the conclusion of the evidentiary hearing on December 11, 2009.

The case for extradition is based on two questionable categories of material submitted as evidence. The first are two French handwriting analyses that possibly link five words on a hotel registry in Paris to Diab. The second is secret intelligence that may link someone with Diab’s name—a common name—to the bombing.

[ Read the rest ... ]

by Mohammed Adam
Source: The Ottawa Citizen
URL: [link]
Date: February 2, 2010

[PHOTO: Mohamed Harkat seemed in a lighthearted mood as his testimony began in the Security Certificate Hearing Monday, February 1, 2010 at the Supreme Court of Canada.]


OTTAWA — Mohamed Harkat completed two days of testimony Tuesday, saying he is neither a sleeper agent, an extremist nor a member of the Bin Laden network, as the government contends.

He told federal court judge Simon Noel that he never knew nor met alleged 9/11 mastermind Abu Zubaydah, and while in Pakistan, he did not associate with extremists.

“That's not true,” he said when asked about being a sleeper agent.

Harkat completed his testimony on a day that his expensive gambling habit, during which he lost between $65,000 and $100,000 was laid bare in court.

He acknowledged a corrosive addiction that put him in debt and nearly ruined his marriage.

Harkat said he lost thousands of dollars playing mainly blackjack at the Lac Leamy Casino in Gatineau. He gambled every cent he had, raiding his savings and deposit account. Harkat said he couldn't help himself, winning and losing large sums of money. Eventually, he had to ask that he be banned from the casino after his wife Sophie asked him choose gambling or her.

“I tell the security (at the casino) I like to ban myself. I did for a year,” he said.

“It was out of control. I lost all the business money I had.”

[ Read the rest ... ]

Source: Radio-Canada
URL: [link]
Date: 2 février 2010

La Couronne a commencé son contre-interrogatoire de l'Ottavien Mohamed Harkat, soupçonné d'activités terroristes, en fin d'après-midi mardi, en Cour fédérale. L'avocat du gouvernement, David Tyndale, a demandé au témoin pourquoi il était entré au Canada avec un faux passeport saoudien, en laissant derrière lui ses vrais documents algériens.

Mohamed Harkat, âgé de 41 ans, a répondu qu'il s'agissait du moyen le plus efficace pour être admis au Canada comme réfugié.

L'avocat a aussi interrogé l'homme d'origine algérienne sur son appartenance au Front islamique du salut (FIS). La Couronne voulait savoir s'il avait voyagé en Afghanistan en tant que partisan du FIS. Mohamed Harkat a nié avoir mis les pieds dans ce pays.

Plus tôt dans la journée, le témoin, interrogé cette fois par son avocat, a nié en bloc toutes les allégations voulant qu'il soit lié à des mouvements islamiques extrémistes.

Le tribunal se penche depuis la fin janvier sur la validité du certificat de sécurité émis contre Mohamed Harkat en décembre 2002. Les autorités canadiennes soupçonnent l'ex-livreur de pizza d'être un agent dormant du réseau terroriste Al-Qaïda, ce qu'il a toujours nié.

La Couronne poursuit son contre-interrogatoire mercredi.