by Tonda MacCharles
Source: The Toronto Star
URL: [link]
Date: December 9, 2010

[PHOTO: Mohamed Harkat, middle, and his wife Sophie, right, wait outside Federal Court in Ottawa, in June, 2009. A federal court ruled Thursday there are reasonable grounds to declare Harkat a security threat, paving the way for his possible deportation.]

OTTAWA — Algerian-born Mohammed Harkat and his Canadian wife Sophie wept when they got word in his lawyers’ office that a judge has upheld CSIS claims he is a terrorist “sleeper agent.”

“He and his wife are devastated,” said lawyer Norm Boxall. They “never dreamed it possible.”

Despite eight years of legal battles, four of which Harkat spent in jail followed by strict house arrest, the man whom a Federal Court judge concluded was a member of the Osama bin Laden “network” thought a Canadian court would free him.

“To them, they know the truth,” said Boxall.

Harkat and his legal team are determined to appeal the ruling to the Federal Court of Appeal, said lawyer Matt Webber.

Harkat will argue that a judicial process that heard secret evidence against him and denied him access to the “special advocates” who were permitted to view evidence summaries behind closed doors is fundamentally unfair and unconstitutional.“Whether it’s immigration or criminal law, there’s a pretty basic principle, the procedures have to be fair,” said Boxall.

But Justice Simon Noel ruled Thursday the process that uses a special immigration warrant met the standards of fairness in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and was therefore constitutional.

Noel then went further. In the first ruling to uphold the “reasonableness” of a security certificate the federal government issued in an effort to deport a suspected terrorist — two other certificates had been deemed “unreasonable”— Harkat now faces deportation to Algeria.

Noel said his ruling was based on the belief Harkat, a former gas station attendant and pizza delivery man, was not credible — though his lawyers argue Harkat never had a chance to defend himself.

The judge said Harkat “surrounded himself in layers of clouds in which he does not let any light come through. At times, his testimony has been inconsistent, not only with his earlier statements, but also in comparison with the public and closed evidence presented by both parties. At times, his testimony was simply incoherent, implausible if not contradictory.”

While Harkat was not a member of bin Laden’s Al Qaeda core group, the judge said he was involved with two other affiliated groups — Chechen rebel leaders Ibn Khattab and Shamil Basayev.

The judge said that although Harkat denied it, he had indeed visited Afghanistan during his stay in Pakistan. Harkat says he simply worked for an aid agency in Pakistan before coming to Canada.

Noel said, Harkat ran a guesthouse for Ibn Khattab, and so “demonstrated active membership” in the extremist bin Laden network. He also found Harkat had links to Al Gamaa Al Islamiya (AGAI), an Islamic extremist group in Egypt.

The judge said the federal government produced evidence that “demonstrates that Mr. Harkat used ‘sleeper agent’ methods. More precisely, he arrived in Canada using false documents, employed various anti-surveillance techniques and, for a while, concealed his aliases used while in Pakistan.”

The ruling also declared that Harkat aided other known extremists in Canada. It says Harkat “did assist Abu Messab Al Shehre and Mohammed Aissa Triki, two Islamist extremists, in Canada. Indeed, I also find that the evidence supports a finding that Mr. Harkat provided financial assistance to Mr. Al Shehre by paying legal fees with the involvement of Abu Zubaydah.”

The judge said Harkat “knew Abu Dahhak, an individual related to Al-Qaeda,” and that while in Canada “Harkat maintained existing contacts with Islamist extremists such as Ahmed Said Khadr and Abu Zubaydah,” a Saudi now detained at Guantanamo.

In all, the judge found that after Harkat arrived in Canada he “continued to be an active member of the (bin Laden) network and provided support to it.”

“I find that although the danger associated to Mr. Harkat has diminished over time, he still poses a danger to Canada, but at a lesser level,” ruled Noel.

For now, Harkat remains at home under strict conditions. He wears an electronic bracelet that monitors his every movement. Access to computers is restricted. All contacts of his are monitored and approved by border services agents.

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