When told that a Federal Court judge had labelled him a terrorist, Mohamed Harkat banged his head against the glass partition that separated him from his wife, Sophie, at the Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre. "Oh my God. Oh my God," he repeated as he absorbed the meaning of the judgment. Tuesday's decision by Judge Eleanor Dawson means Mr. Harkat will likely remain in custody while government officials decide whether he can be deported to Algeria, where he believes he will be tortured or killed. Sophie Harkat told the Citizen in an interview yesterday that Tuesday's meeting with her husband was more difficult than the one after his sudden arrest in December 2002. "It was horrible ... for me to face him and tell him he's a terrorist in the eyes of the government," she said yesterday. "We both had faith in the court system; we both believed he could finally be getting out. That was the biggest disappointment."Her husband was visibly upset, Ms. Harkat said, when he told her: "I thought Canada was democratic and fair. But I've changed my mind."

Ms. Harkat said she was angered by Judge Dawson's decision, which concluded, based on secret evidence, that her husband lied on the witness stand when he denied any connection to al-Qaeda.

Judge Dawson said there's credible, reliable information from a number of independent sources, including the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), that contradicted Mr. Harkat's sworn testimony. "On the basis of the confidential information," she said, "it is clear and beyond doubt that Mr. Harkat lied under oath to the court in several important respects."

Based on evidence heard in camera, the judge concluded Mr. Harkat lied when he denied helping Islamic extremists abroad and in Canada; when he denied any association with al-Qaeda lieutenant Abu Zubaydah; and when he denied travelling to Afghanistan or living in Peshawar, Pakistan, where CSIS alleges he ran a guest house for jihadis travelling to Chechnya.

Ms. Harkat, who took part in a rally yesterday in support of her husband at Ottawa's human rights monument, insists her husband told the truth on the witness stand.

Ms. Harkat said her husband had no way to defend himself against the secret informants who evidently contradicted his story.

"People don't understand what we're going through. The government is ruining our lives," she said. "It's all so unreal to me that we have to go through this."

Ms. Harkat vowed yesterday to continue to fight on her husband's behalf as defence lawyer Paul Copeland put in motion an appeal of Judge Dawson's ruling on the constitutionality of the security certificate process.

The judge's decision that the security certificate is reasonable cannot be appealed. But the question of whether the court process is constitutional can be taken to a higher court.

Mr. Copeland said he will seek leave from the Federal Court of Appeal to join a Supreme Court challenge to the security certificate process being prepared by lawyers for Adil Charkaoui.

Mr. Charkaoui, of Montreal, and Mr. Harkat are two of five Arab men the federal government wants to deport as terrorist threats.

In the Harkat case, federal immigration officials must now decide whether he can be deported to his native Algeria, a country from which he fled in 1990 as a political dissident. Officials must weigh the possibility that Mr. Harkat will be tortured or killed in Algeria against the threat he poses to Canada's national security.

Mr. Harkat could be deported immediately if he voluntarily agreed to return to Algeria, but his wife said that is not a consideration.

"He said from the beginning he's innocent and he needs to defend that," said Ms. Harkat. "He has a Canadian family and he intends to stay here."

Mr. Copeland said Judge Dawson's finding that Mr. Harkat continues to be a member of the GIA -- an Algerian terrorist group dedicated to the violent overthrow of the government -- only increases the chances he will be in mortal danger if deported.

"Her finding that he favours the GIA puts him in the 'dead' category as opposed to the 'tortured' category," said Mr. Copeland. "It's total war over there still with the GIA."

Meanwhile yesterday, federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler appeared before the Commons committee that's examining Canada's anti-terrorism laws, including the law that underpins the security certificate.

"These security certificates," he told the committee, "appear to have emerged as a remedy of choice to protect Canadians from terrorist activity."

He conceded, however, that the certificates are viewed by many Muslims as a "standing threat" to them and a powerful symbol of the new security environment after Sept. 11, 2001. "This is an important concern," Mr. Cotler told the committee, "and I look forward to receiving your views on it."

© The Ottawa Citizen 2005