by Steven Mazey
Source: The Ottawa Citizen
URL: [link]
Date: March 28, 2010

A supporter of Mohamed Harkat says she's cautiously optimistic about his case as final arguments are set to begin Tuesday in the security certificate hearing in Federal Court.

"It's hard not to feel optimistic because the public case went so clearly in support of everything we've been saying, that intelligence isn't evidence and that when you start to look at intelligence, it starts to fall apart," said Jessica Squires, an organizer with the Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee.

Squires was one of the speakers at a rally at Ottawa's Human Rights monument Saturday in support of Harkat and against security certificates and secret trials.

Squires told about two dozen supporters that it could be the final such event for Harkat, as arguments wrap up and Harkat and supporters await a decision.

The government alleges that Harkat, a pizza delivery man in Ottawa, came to Canada in 1995 from Pakistan as a sleeper agent. In 2002, he was declared a national security threat and detained under the security certificate process, which allows the government to present evidence in secret.

The hearing is to determine whether the government was right to detain him. He faces deportation to his native Algeria if the judge rules against him. Harkat has denied he was a sleeper agent or that he had any contact with Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, as the government contends.

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by Allison Burney Date: March 17, 2010 "I believe in my husband's innocence" A Profile of Sophie Harkat

by Allison Burney A prisoner in her own home. A full-time jailer to her husband. A living hell for the past seven years. Sophie Harkat’s life was turned upside down in 2002 when her husband, Mohamed, was arrested just short of two years after they were married. Detained under a security certificate issued by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Mohamed was deemed a threat to national security based on allegations that he has been, is, or will be involved with terrorism. Mohamed was eventually released on bail three and a half years later in 2006, only to spend another three and a half years living under the strictest bail conditions in Canadian history. He has never been charged, and has been denied access to a fair trial because the evidence against him must be kept secret. For the last seven years, Sophie Harkat has put her own life and her career on hold to support her husband and to fight for justice. She devotes most of her free time to answering emails, responding to interview requests, campaigning, planning events, preparing flyers, and updating websites for her husband’s cause.

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by Bill Siksay , opinion piece
Source: Straight.com - Vancouver's Online Source
URL: [link]
Date: March 18, 2010


With court cases challenging their constitutionality and evidence mounting that they have been abused, it is time for Canada to eliminate the ill-conceived security certificate process.

Over the past 10 years, the government has used security certificates to imprison people for years without charge, trial, or conviction. Those jailed and their lawyers don’t know the evidence against them. Engaging this process, the government has twisted the very foundations of Canada’s legal traditions.

The ministers responsible for administering these certificates and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service have abused the system by failing to review and withholding crucial information.

These were the findings of Federal Court justice Richard Mosley on December 14, when he quashed the security certificate against Hassan Almrei.

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by Andrew Duffy Source: The Ottawa Citizen URL: [link] Date: March 17, 2010 [PHOTO: Mohamed Harkat, a former pizza delivery man in Ottawa, has always denied any connection to terrorism.} U.S. grants freedom to key figure tied to Ottawa al-Qaeda suspect, documents reveal

OTTAWA — The federal government’s case against alleged al-Qaeda terrorist Mohamed Harkat has suffered another significant setback. Court documents filed in the case show that Haji Wazir — a Harkat associate whom the Canadian Security Intelligence Service has characterized as the “main money handler for Osama bin Laden” — was released last month from U.S. custody. Wazir, an Afghan citizen, had been arrested in the United Arab Emirates in October 2002 and flown to Bagram, Afghanistan, by the CIA. He was held for seven years as an enemy combatant at the U.S.-run Bagram prison on suspicion that he offered money and loans to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The prison has drawn condemnation from international human rights groups. Some detainees have been held for years without formal charges or access to lawyers. The deaths of two Afghan prisoners there in 2002 led to abuse charges against U.S. soldiers. Documents filed in the Federal Court of Canada by Harkat’s defence team show Wazir was released from Bagram on Feb. 24 after his case was assessed by a military review board, which concluded he was not an “enemy belligerent.”

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Source: The The Canadian Press via CTV News
URL: [link]
Date: March 12, 2010


MONTREAL — A simple "sorry" and an offer to pay his legal fees might have sufficed, but Adil Charkaoui said he didn't even get that courtesy from the federal government.

So the Moroccan-born Montrealer who was accused by Ottawa of being a terrorist and who spent several years living under tight restrictions believes he was left with little choice but to sue the federal government.

Charkaoui said Friday he intends to sue for $24.5 million to restore his tattered reputation after failing to get an apology from Ottawa.

He said the civil suit, filed in Quebec Superior Court on Feb. 22, is not about the money.

"I'm doing it to clear my name, this is very important for me," Charkaoui told The Canadian Press in a telephone interview between teaching classes.


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by Andrew Duffy
Source: The Ottawa Citizen
URL: N/A
Date: March 12, 2010


A Cambridge University professor who specializes in Algeria says Mohamed Harkat had reason to fear security forces in that country when he fled in 1990.

Professor George Joffe told Federal Court on Thursday that Harkat's explanation of why he left his native Algeria was a plausible one.

Harkat has testified that he fled Algeria in April 1990 after a family-owned property was raided by police, who arrested local leaders from the Front Islamique du Salut (FIS).

Harkat was a member of the FIS, an Islamist party that promoted free markets, lower taxes, cuts to military spending and an end to government corruption.

The party had been allowed to take root by the Algerian government after riots rocked the country in 1988, but Algeria's military and security forces bought into that political liberalization only insofar as it allowed them to hold onto power, Joffe testified Thursday. "Algerians had the public space to express themselves for the first time, but that public space was still disciplined by the security forces and the army."

Arrests and harassment were commonplace for FIS members, Joffe said, even during the relative calm between 1988 and 1991.

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by Andrew Duffy
Source: The Ottawa Citizen
URL: [link]
Date: March 9, 2010 8:25 PM


OTTAWA — A U.S. terrorism expert says the threat of al-Qaida "sleeper agents" deploying to Western countries years before launching terror attacks is overblown.

Professor Brian Williams, associate professor of Islamic history at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, told Federal Court that alarm bells went off in his head when he read that Canadian officials had accused Mohamed Harkat of being an al-Qaida sleeper agent.

"I don't believe in the notion of sleepers in general," Williams testified Tuesday. "It's an over-exaggeration."

Williams has been called as a witness by Harkat's defence team during the public portion of his security certificate case.

The federal government contends Harkat was an al-Qaida sleeper agent who came to Canada in 1995 after working in Peshawar, Pakistan in the early 1990s. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) says Harkat served as a chauffeur for Saudi-born jihadist Ibn Khattab while in Peshawar.

Harkat, who claimed refugee status in Canada in 1995, denies any link to terrorism. The federal government is trying to deport him to his native Algeria as a threat to national security.

Williams told court that the government's written summary of its case against Harkat raised red flags with him because of several "flaws."

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par René Hardy Source: Radio-Canada URL: [link] Date: 8 mars 2010 --- Voir aussi: AUDIO: René Hardy s'est rendu en Cour fédérale.

--- Un autre expert est venu témoigner en faveur de Mohamed Harkat, lundi, en Cour fédérale à Ottawa. La défense dispose d'une dernière semaine pour démontrer que le résident d'Ottawa soupçonné d'activités terroristes n'a rien à se reprocher. Le professeur Brian Williams de l'Université Dartmouth au Massachusetts, spécialiste de l'islam radical et du monde arobe-musulman, est venu dire en cour qu'il ne croit pas que Mohamed Harkat est un agent dormant du réseau terroriste Al-Qaïda. Selon M. Williams, le fait d'être jihadiste ne signifie pas nécessairement qu'on est membre du réseau terroriste de Ben Laden. Les autorités canadiennes allèguent que Mohamed Harkat est un agent dormant d'Al-Qaïda, parce qu'il a travaillé dans un refuge pour terroristes au Pakistan. Le centre était exploité par Ibn Khattab, soupçonné d'être membre d'Al-Qaïda. Le professeur Williams affirme toutefois qu'il n'a pas de liens entre Khattab et Harkat. D'ici la fin de la semaine, la défense présentera d'autres experts, dont un qui témoignera depuis l'Algérie par vidéoconférence. Les audiences publiques doivent se terminer cette semaine. À la fin du mois, les deux parties doivent présenter leurs plaidoiries. 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 le soupçonnent d'être un agent dormant du réseau terroriste Al-Qaïda, ce que Harkat a toujours nié. Jusqu'à maintenant, deux certificats ont été invalidés par les tribunaux : ceux de Hassan Almrei et d'Adil Charkaoui. TOUS DROITS RÉSERVÉS © CBC/RADIO-CANADA 2010

by Aedan Helmer Source: The Ottawa Sun URL: [link] Date: March 8, 2010 ========= See also this short VIDEO report by Aedan Helmer produced for The Ottawa Sun online edition. Moe's lawyer Norm Boxall is interviewed.

========= The defence team for accused terrorist Mohamed Harkat spent Monday picking apart expert testimony delivered on behalf of the Canadian government in January. Using words like “outlandish,” “staggering” and “inconceivable,” Prof. Brian Williams criticized earlier testimony by Dr. Martin Rudner, the lone expert witness called by lawyers representing the Canadian government, which is seeking to deport Harkat to his native Algeria. Williams was recognized by the federal court as an expert witness, having taught Islamic History at the University of Massachusetts, and listing counter-terrorism work with the US Army and Central Intelligence Agency on his resume. Harkat is accused of serving as a chauffeur to Ibn Khattab — a Saudi Arabian national who used guerrilla warfare to resist the Russian military in Afghanistan in the 1980s and in Chechnya in the 1990s. Harkat was in Pakistan in the early 1990s.

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by Andrew Duffy
Source: The Vancouver Sun
URL: [link]
Date: March 8, 2010


OTTAWA — A U.S. historian who specializes in the war on terror has urged the judge in the Mohamed Harkat case to carefully distinguish between jihadists and terrorists.

Professor Brian Williams, associate Professor of Islamic History at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, told Federal Court that there's an unfortunate tendency to link all Muslim fighters to al-Qaida.

"Since 9/11, al-Qaida has lost its meaning," he testified Monday, noting that jihad existed long before Osama bin Laden rose to fame.

Williams was called by Harkat's defence team to offer expert opinion about Saudi-born jihadist, Ibn Khattab, whom the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has labelled a terrorist.

Harkat, who claimed refugee status in Canada in 1995, denies any link to terrorism.

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