by Andrew Duffy
Source: The Ottawa Citizen
URL: [link]
Date: January 11, 2011


OTTAWA —_Lawyers for Ottawa's Mohamed Harkat say an Appeal Court must settle a dispute among judges about the legacy of Chechen rebel leader Ibn Khattab.

In appeal documents filed in the Federal Court of Canada, Harkat's lawyers call Judge Simon Noel's conclusions about Khattab "unreasonable and unsafe," given the mixed expert opinion about the Saudi-born jihadist.

Harkat, 42, has been declared a security threat and now faces deportation to his native Algeria, where he says he will be tortured or killed.

Federal lawyers have announced they will not seek stricter release terms for Harkat while the security certificate case moves forward.

Harkat must now wear a GPS ankle bracelet whenever he leaves his Ottawa home.

In upholding the security certificate against Harkat last month, Noel declared Khattab a terrorist who shared ideology, training and money with al-Qaida.

The judge linked Harkat to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network through his association with Khattab.

One year earlier, however, another federal judge, Richard Mosley, dismissed the terrorism case against Toronto's Hassan Almrei, ruling that Khattab "could not reasonably be said to be part of al-Qaida."

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