Harkat's past a mystery

Original author: Lisa Lisle
Source: The Ottawa Sun online
URL: http://tinyurl.com/6osw2
Date: July 22, 2003


Wife says she knows little of terror accused's history

OTTAWA -- If Sophie Harkat's husband was a terrorist, she believes she would have known. Amid heavy security, the 28-year-old woman took the stand yesterday as the first witness at Mohamed Harkat's so-called security certificate hearing, which could see him deported to his native Algeria.

Breaking down in tears several times during her testimony, Sophie Harkat described her husband as an "open book" and was adamant about there being nothing suspect about the accused sleeper-cell agent's behaviour.

Even Harkat's gambling problem -- one of the only sources of turmoil in their relationship -- was out in the open, his wife said.

Other than a series of hang-up calls at 11:30 p.m. every night during the months prior to Harkat's December arrest, Sophie Harkat said their lives were ordinary.

'UPSET' AT ATTACKS

Arrested under a rarely used section of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that deals with security certificates, Harkat is accused of having ties to al-Qaida, the mujahedeen and the GIA, a radical anti-western Sunni Muslim group based in Algeria.

However, Sophie Harkat doesn't remember her husband talking about these groups except after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. She said her husband explained that Osama bin Laden was a "respected man" in some countries.

"Moe was just as upset and concerned as anyone," she added of his reaction to the attacks.

Admitting that she knew little of her husband's past, Sophie Harkat said he didn't like to talk about it because it was painful and emotional for him. As she choked back tears on the witness stand while talking about Harkat's family, the 34-year-old man wiped tears from his own face.

Although the woman hated her husband's gambling habit, which saw their $10,000 line of credit drained at least three times, one good thing did come of it -- he sent thousands of dollars in winnings to his family in Algeria. While the couple have some receipts from the transactions, others were lost when their car was stolen.

Focusing in his cross-examination on what Sophie Harkat doesn't know about her husband, counsel for the solicitor general Michael Dale pointed out her lack of concern for these details.

Unable to name all three guests at her wedding, Sophie Harkat was asked if a man named "Wael" was among them. She said that the name sounded familiar. CSIS documents indicate Harkat was asked about Tunisian Mohamed Aissa Triki, whom he knew as "Wael."

Harkat told CSIS agents in 1998 Triki planned to start a business in Canada but changed his mind. He'd brought $60,000 with him and gave $18,000 to Harkat because he liked him. Harkat said he lost the money gambling.

Copyright © 2004, CANOE. All rights reserved.


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