'I'm Dying Inside', Harkat says

posted on December 13, 2010 | in Category Mohamed Harkat | PermaLink

by Don Butler Source: The Ottawa Citizen URL: [link] Date: December 12, 2010 ========= See also two video clips at the Ottawa Ciitizen link above. One video of the press conference and one at the Rally at the Human Right's Monument;

========= OTTAWA - Mohamed Harkat's family and supporters vowed Friday to fight on despite this week's Federal Court finding that the Ottawa man is a member of the Osama bin Laden terrorist network. "This fight is just beginning," Harkat's wife, Sophie, said at an emotionally charged news conference. "I will stand by my husband to the end. My husband will never admit to things he did not do, or to knowing people he did not know." Norm Boxall, one of Harkat's lawyers, said almost all of Noël's findings were based on information that was kept secret, even from Harkat's own lawyers, on national security grounds. "We will be doing everything we can to challenge this judgment," he vowed. Harkat, 42, who repeatedly dabbed his eyes with tissue throughout the hour-long event, again denied that he'd ever been part of bin Laden's network. He said his life is now in danger because Noël put a terrorist "stamp" on his face. Since learning of Thursday's decision, Harkat said, "I can't sleep, I can't think straight. I have a pain in my side. I'm really devastated." When he heard the decision, his wife said, he told her, "I am dying inside." Thursday's 186-page decision means Harkat, who has lived in Ottawa since September 1995, faces the prospect of being deported to his native Algeria where, he contends, he will be tortured or killed.

[ Read the rest ... ]