OTTAWA - Canada should consider following Britain's lead by reworking the provisions of controversial national security certificates so that people who are deemed security risks but cannot be deported are not jailed indefinitely, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said yesterday. As two committees reviewing post-Sept. 9, 2001, anti-terrorism legislation raise questions about the controversial use of security certificates, Mr. Cotler said the compromises proposed in Britain might be useful here. Britain's so-called control measures include house arrest and a variety of conditions that include curfews, restrictions on using telephones and other communication devices, and the use of electronic-tagging devices, such as ankle bracelets.Canada's security-certificate system suffered a blow this week when a Federal Court judge ordered the release of terrorism suspect Adil Charkaoui, who spent 21 months in jail.

Charkaoui was back in a Montreal courtroom yesterday to challenge the certificate, used because of allegations he is an al-Qaeda sleeper agent. "We have the chance to show this certificate is unreasonable," Mr. Charkaoui said outside the courtroom.

Mr. Charkaoui, 31, spent his first weekend of freedom under police supervision. He is out of jail on $50,000 bail and is awaiting the installation of an electronic ankle bracelet.

Security certificates are a secretive mechanism that can be used to deport non-Canadians deemed to be security threats. But when such suspects cannot be deported because they would face torture or death in their home countries, the government jails them. Critics complain that this permits the government to jail terrorism suspects indefinitely and never charge them. Mr. Cotler said yesterday that the government also wants a middle-ground option. "The Home Secretary in the United Kingdom just came up with a provision for some sort of a supervisory control mechanism, and it is something that we, as a government, will be looking at, as well," he said after speaking to a Senate committee reviewing the terrorism laws.

However, in his formal testimony at the committee meeting, Mr. Cotler defended the security certificates, arguing that detention is used only when deportation is impossible. But several of the senators on the committee said they want a closer look at the system because the certificates have become the government's prime measure against terrorism. Similar sentiments have been put forward by members of the Commons justice committee, which also is reviewing the terrorism laws.

Critics argued that any misuse of certificates could suggest the abuse of provisions against terrorism in the future.

Mr. Charkaoui, meanwhile, said he would use his freedom to fight not only the certificate against him but the entire system.

Under the security-certificate system, a federal judge reviews the allegations made by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, but the court provides only a summary of evidence to the suspect. Mr. Charkaoui said it is "absurd" to hold a person based on evidence that is kept secret.

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