by Andrew Duffy
Source: The Ottawa Citizen
URL: [link]
Date: May 15, 2008


OTTAWA - Ottawa terror suspect Mohamed Harkat will not be leaving his unhappy basement apartment anytime soon. A Federal Court judge ruled Thursday that Mr. Harkat cannot move to a new condominium townhouse until he meets the security concerns raised by government officials.

It means that, at least for the immediate future, Mr. Harkat and his wife, Sophie, will continue to live in the basement of a home that belongs mostly to Alois Weidemann, a retired Citizen employee, and the former romantic partner of Ms. Harkat's mother, Pierrette Brunette.

Ms. Brunette moved out of the house last November after the acrimonious collapse of that relationship, leaving Mr. Weidemann with the Harkats in his basement.

"I've been trying to get out of this situation since last fall," Mr. Weidemann said in an interview. "How are things going? Terrible. I want to get on with with my life." Mr. Weidemann, who reluctantly acts as one of Mr. Harkat's sureties, wants to sell his house, but he cannot do that without Ms. Brunette's approval since she owns 10 per cent of the property. Ms. Brunette, however, doesn't want to sell yet because her daughter and son-in-law are still in the house along with her grand piano.

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