Mohamed Harkat

[video] The Agenda with Steve Paikin: Secret Trials, Secret Evidence

posted on December 05, 2014 | in Category Mohamed Harkat | PermaLink

Source: The Agenda - TVO website URL: [link] Date: November 27, 2014 Click on the image below to watch the 32 minute television show online.
[link]

About the video: The Canadian government can use a legal tool called a 'security certificate' to detain and deport non-citizens suspected of terrorist activities using secret evidence the accused and their lawyers cannot see. Over the last decade, five Muslim men - dubbed the Secret Trial Five - have been detained in Canadian prisons without charges under security certificates. The Agenda convenes a panel to discuss the security and civil liberty issues surrounding this legal tool.

Copyright © 2014 The Ontario Educational Communications Authority (TVO)


ByTowne to screen film of five terror suspects jailed without trial

posted on November 11, 2014 | in Category Mohamed Harkat | PermaLink

by Lucy Scholey Source: MetroNews URL: [link] Date: November 9, 2014 Five men who were jailed without trial and never shown the evidence against them — it sounds like something from Soviet-era Russia, but it happened here and it’s still happening. Filmmaker Amar Wala said he was shocked, as were many Canadians, to hear that five men men were detained in this country without due process. In his first feature-length film, The Secret Trial 5, being screened in Ottawa next weekend, Wala tells the stories of Adil Charkaoui, Hassan Almrei, Mahmoud Jaballah, Mohamed Harkat and Mohammad Zeki Mahjoub. Each man each spent anywhere from three to seven years in jail, plus time in strict house arrest under the country’s controversial security certificates. The law allows the government to detain and deport non-citizens if they are considered a threat to national security. Under that law, these five men were never charged and never saw the evidence against them, said Wala. “A person should never be held in prison without being charged with a crime,” he said. “That’s something we believe in, very deeply, in Canada. We believe in the right to a fair trial and we’ve abandoned that principle here. So I really hope that the film makes them understand just how these things effect people, not just the men but their wives, their children, their communities, us as a country.” Sophie Harkat, wife of former pizza deliveryman Mohamed Harkat, said they are starting to feel a sense of freedom now that her husband’s strict house arrest conditions have been relaxed. The Algerian immigrant was issued a security certificate in 2002 and spent 43 months in prison, both at the Ottawa-Carleton District Detention Centre and the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre (dubbed “Guantanamo North”). After his release, he spent three and a half years under house arrest in Ottawa. In a Supreme Court ruling, security certificates were deemed unconstitutional in 2007, but the law was amended the following year. Harkat has challenged the new law, but it was upheld in the spring. The government is now able to deport him. Sophie Harkat said she hopes The Secret Trial 5 will shed light on his story and security certificates, in general. “His family believes in him, we all believe in his innocence, but that’s not the important thing here,” she said. “Due process is the important thing. Due process for him, for the others and for anybody that will come after us.” Wala raised about $50,000 through Kickstarter to fund the making of The Secret Trial 5. Now he and his fellow producers have started another campaign to fund a cross-country tour of the film. The Secret Trial 5 will be at the ByTowne Cinema Nov. 16-18. Copyright 2001-2014, Free Daily News Group Inc.


Independent Jewish Voices Appalled by Court Rulings on Hassan Diab and Mohamed Harkat

posted on May 20, 2014 | in Category Mohamed Harkat | PermaLink

by Press Release Source: Independent Jewish Voices URL: [link] Date: May 15, 2014 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 15, 2014 Independent Jewish Voices Appalled by Court Rulings on Hassan Diab and Mohamed Harkat

OTTAWA – With the decision to extradite Hassan Diab to France affirmed by the Ontario Court of Appeal, human rights supporters across the country are appalled by the decision, and fearful of the precedent this sets for Canadian citizens. “Independent Jewish Voices is stunned by the Kafkaesque trial against Dr. Diab, who has been wrongly accused of a heinous crime committed decades ago,” says IJV spokesperson Sid Shniad. “Despite the fact that Dr. Diab’s fingerprints, palm prints, handwriting and physical description do not match those of the suspect, he still faces extradition to a foreign country. What kind of democracy are we living in?” Due to Canada’s extradition laws, it makes no difference that according to an Ontario judge, the evidence levelled against Dr. Diab is “confusing,” “weak,” and “suspect.” The request — however unreasonable — of a foreign country, takes priority over the rights of a Canadian citizen. Dr Diab’s extradition is opposed by countless civil society organizations that support human rights. There is, however, one organization in particular that has been publicly supportive of Dr. Diab’s extradition: The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA). “Independent Jewish Voices is deeply disturbed that the pro-Israel lobby group CIJA — which falsely claims to represent Canada’s diverse Jewish communities — has been supportive of Dr. Diab’s extradition,” says Shniad. “It is an affront to the Jewish tradition of support for universal human rights, including due process under the law, to support the extradition of a man accused of a crime despite the absence of any valid evidence against him.” This decision directly follows the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Security Certificate process in the case of Mohamed Harkat. “Canada’s treatment of Dr. Diab and Mr. Harkat are reflective of the same systemic flaws,” says Shniad. “Our government and judicial system are in the business of violating international law, demonizing Arabs and Muslims, and branding them terrorists while denying them the right to a fair trial. All those who believe in justice should be outraged. We should demand that Parliament intervene immediately to abolish Security Certificates and end unjust practices like the extradition proceedings against Dr. Diab.” For more information contact: Sid Shniad, Steering Committee member of Independent Jewish Voices – Canada 604-314-5589, ijv-vancouver AT ijvcanada.org


LETTER: Where's the Justice?

posted on May 18, 2014 | in Category Mohamed Harkat | PermaLink

by Alma Norman Source: The Ottawa Citizen, letter to the editor URL: [link] Date: May 17, 2014 Re: Harkat promises fight 'to the end,' May 16.

Where has my Canada gone now that Mohamed and his wife, Sophie, have lost their struggle for justice? As a result of secret trials where he saw neither the evidence nor his accuser, Harkat is to be deported to Algeria, where he may face possible torture and death. Do we really feel safer because their battle for justice has been lost? Is democracy more secure in Canada because secret trials have been Ok'd? Or has democracy been sacrificed to the so-called "war" on terrorism? Oh Canada, my shameful chosen land. Alma Norman

Ottawa © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen



Supreme Court rules against Harkat; deportation proceedings imminent

posted on May 16, 2014 | in Category Mohamed Harkat | PermaLink

by Michelle Zilio Source: iPolitics URL: [link] Date: May 14, 2014 The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled the security certificate issued against accused al-Qaida sleeper agent and Ottawa resident Mohamed Harkat reasonable, making proceedings for his deporation imminent. In a ruling issued Wednesday morning, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the controversial security certificate process. The decision, issued by all eight Supreme Court judges, marks the end of the security certificate appeal process for Harkat, who has been fighting the government on this front for more than 12 years. It’s a worst-possible outcome for Harkat, who now faces deportation. “The ruling is difficult to describe in words. It’s more than disappointing. It’s devastating for Mr. and Mrs. Harkat,” said Boxall. “This does bring an end to the security certificate proceedings, but I’m sure it doesn’t bring an end to Mr. Harkat’s right to clear his name and maintain his right to live here.” Harkat and his wife Sophie first heard the news from Boxall Wednesday morning. While they were at the Supreme Court when the ruling was issued, they did not speak with reporters. Harkat was born in Algeria and moved to Canada as a refugee in September 1995. The former pizza delivery man was arrested outside his Ottawa home in 2002 on a national security certificate. The security certificate regime allows the federal government to detain and deport non-citizens deemed security threats without presenting all evidence against them.



[ Read the rest ... ]

VIDEO: CBC Power and Politics Talks With Mohamed and Sophie

posted on May 16, 2014 | in Category Mohamed Harkat | PermaLink

Watch this 12 min. television interview on CBC News. Host Evan Solomon talks to Mohamed Harkat and wife Sophie Harkat about their reaction to the recent Supreme Court decision: VIDEO LINK


Supreme Court upholds terror law in Harkat case

posted on May 14, 2014 | in Category Mohamed Harkat | PermaLink

by Andrew Duffy Source: The Ottawa Citizen URL: [link] Date: May 14, 2014 Ottawa’s Mohamed Harkat once again faces deportation to his native Algeria after the Supreme Court of Canada on Wednesday declared the federal government’s security certificate regime constitutional. In a unanimous ruling, the high court said the security certificate regime crafted by Parliament in 2008 – although an “imperfect process” — offers a fundamentally fair process that also protects national security information. The Supreme Court ruling provides a detailed roadmap for trial judges to ensure that future security-certificate cases are conducted fairly. In upholding a key element of the government’s anti-terrorism strategy, the Supreme Court decided that Harkat’s lawyers had failed to show that his security certificate hearing was unfair or had undermined the integrity of the justice system. “In the present case, Mr. Harkat benefited from a fair process,” the court declared in a ruling that puts Harkat back on the legal road to deportation. The high court reinstated the December 2010 judgment of Federal Court Judge Simon Noël, who deemed Harkat a terrorist threat to national security. Noël said Harkat was a member of the al-Qaida network and linked him to a number of Islamic extremists, including Saudi-born Ibn Khattab, Canadian Ahmed Said Khadr, a key al-Qaida figure, and Abu Zubaydah, a facilitator in the Osama bin Laden network. The ruling represents a much-needed victory for the government at the Supreme Court and a devastating loss for Harkat, who had been hoping the court would put an end to his almost 12-year legal odyssey.


[ Read the rest ... ]

Supreme Court to decide the fate of Harkat, federal terrorism law

posted on May 14, 2014 | in Category Mohamed Harkat | PermaLink

by Andrew Duffy Source: The Ottawa Citizen URL: [link] Date: May 11, 2014 [PHOTO: Mohamed Harkat speaks with his wife Sophie in front of the Supreme Court of Canada, Thursday, October 10, 2013 in Ottawa. Harkat is challenging the constitutionality of the security certificate provisions in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.] The Supreme Court of Canada will decide Wednesday whether to strike down the federal government’s security certificate regime for the second time since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In making that ruling, the court will also decide the immediate fate of Ottawa’s Mohamed Harkat, an Algerian-born terrorism suspect who has been fighting against his deportation under terms of the law, and its predecessor, for more than a decade. The government contends Harkat, 45, is a member of the al-Qaida network and has been trying to deport him since December 2002, when he was arrested outside his Ottawa apartment building. “I have always kept my faith in the Supreme Court, but I am extremely anxious right now,” said Harkat’s wife, Sophie, when informed of the pending high court decision. Harkat refused to speculate on how the court will rule. “We’ve been wrong every single time,” she said. “The ideal outcome for us is that it’s found unconstitutional for the second time and that we finally see an end to this. . . . But this will change our entire lives — one way or the other.” The first version of the federal law to deport foreign-born terrorism suspects was struck down by the high court in 2007. The law had been introduced in 1978 as a means to deport foreign nationals and permanent residents tied to terrorism but against whom the government did not have enough evidence to charge criminally. It attracted little attention until 9/11 when it suddenly became a central plank in the government’s anti-terrorism strategy. The Supreme Court, however, said the legal process it created was so secretive that it denied terrorism suspects the constitutional right to defend themselves. That ruling nullified a Federal Court judge’s finding that Harkat, a former pizza delivery man and gas station cashier, was a dangerous al-Qaida terrorist. Harkat has lived in Ottawa as a refugee claimant since September 1995. He came to Canada from Pakistan, where he spent five years after fleeing Algeria. He has always maintained that he has no connection to al-Qaida and will be tortured or killed if deported to the country from which he fled as a university student. In 2008, Parliament introduced a revised security certificate law that gave foreign-born terrorism suspects more information about the cases against them, and afforded them better legal representation during secret court hearings where national security information was presented. In December 2010, using the new rules, Federal Court Judge Simon Noël declared Harkat an active and dangerous member of the al-Qaida network. He ruled that Harkat operated a guest house in Pakistan for Saudi-born terrorist Ibn Khattab, and had links to Al Gama’a al-Islamiyya, an Islamic extremist group in Egypt. But in April 2012, the Federal Court of Appeal overturned the findings. It said Harkat’s right to a fair trial had been compromised by the destruction of 13 wiretap recordings made by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service between 1996 and 1998. Written summaries of those conversations offered critical evidence against Harkat, but without the full original recordings defence lawyers had no way to challenge their context or accuracy, the court said. At the Supreme Court, government lawyers asked that Noël’s original judgment against Harkat be restored, while Harkat’s lawyers argued that the entire security certificate regime should be torn down again as unconstitutional. When the government revised the security certificate law, it introduced “special advocates” — security-cleared lawyers assigned to protect the interests of the accused. The advocates attend the secret hearings and have access to some of the classified evidence. But Harkat is contending that restrictions placed on the advocates prevent them from mounting an adequate defence, and therefore that the regime is unconstitutional. The advocates cannot communicate with a named person or their “public” lawyer about the evidence presented in secret or the advocate’s legal strategy. They are not allowed to know the identity of or cross-examine crucial government informants. They cannot call witnesses or gather their own information and are limited to working with only the information the government chooses to share with them and the court. The government contends, for its part, that protection of national security secrets needs to be given priority. © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen


Terror suspect Mohamed Harkat awaits crucial Supreme Court ruling

posted on May 14, 2014 | in Category Mohamed Harkat | PermaLink

by: Jim Bronskill (CP) Source: CTV News Website URL: [link] Date: May 13, 2014 [PHOTO: Mohamed Harkat pauses during a press conference on Parliament Hill marking the 10th anniversary of his arrest and detention on a security certificate in Ottawa, Monday, Dec. 10, 2012. ] OTTAWA -- The fate of terror suspect Mohamed Harkat -- and the controversial security certificate system being used to deport him -- will become clearer Wednesday when the Supreme Court of Canada issues a long-awaited ruling. But the Ottawa man's case has taken so many twists and turns over the last dozen years that the end of the road may still be some way off. The high court will rule on the constitutionality of the certificate regime, a rarely used means of removing non-citizens suspected of involvement in extremism or espionage. It is also slated to decide crucial issues related to evidence in the certificate case of Harkat, an Algerian refugee accused of terrorist ties. As a result, the ruling could have implications that reach far beyond the world of security certificates, said Norm Boxall, a lawyer for Harkat. "There's a tremendous number of issues involved in the case," Boxall said Tuesday. "It's very complex." Harkat, 45, was taken into custody in December 2002 on suspicion of being an al-Qaida sleeper agent. The former gas station attendant and pizza delivery man lives quietly in the national capital with wife Sophie. Last year border agents removed an electronic tracking bracelet from his ankle. Harkat was also given more freedom to travel but he can't leave the country and must check in with authorities regularly. The person named in a security certificate receives only a summary of the case against them, stripped of supporting details to protect sensitive intelligence sources and methods. The federal government issued a revised certificate against Harkat in 2008 after the secretive process was struck down by the courts and subsequently overhauled to make it more fair. The Supreme Court will decide Wednesday whether those reforms went far enough. In revamping the system, the government introduced special advocates -- lawyers with access to secret material who serve as watchdogs and test federal evidence against the person singled out in the certificate. Harkat's counsel argued during a Supreme Court hearing last year that the special advocates do not make up for weaknesses in the certificate process, noting these lawyers are greatly restricted in what they can say about the case and cannot initiate their own investigations. Federal lawyers told the high court the certificate process was fair, meeting the guarantee of fundamental justice under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In April 2012, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld the constitutionality of the security certificate system, but ruled that summaries of some 1990s conversations be excluded from evidence against Harkat because the Canadian Security Intelligence Service destroyed the original recordings. The appeal court also said that human sources recruited by CSIS do not have the sort of blanket protection that shields the identities of police informants, even from the judge. In the case of CSIS, the issue is instead decided on a case-by-case basis. Neither side was pleased with the ruling, and each asked for a hearing in the Supreme Court. One of three scenarios is likely: The court upholds both the security certificate system and rules the certificate against Harkat reasonable, opening the door to the next step in deporting him. The judges find the security certificate regime constitutional but rule that the case against Harkat must be re-examined or even tossed out. The court rules the security certificate system unconstitutional, making the certificate against Harkat invalid as well. Two other men -- Mahmoud Jaballah and Mohamed Mahjoub, both originally from Egypt -- could face removal from Canada in long-running certificate cases. © 2014 Bell Media All rights reserved.


D-day for Harkat as Supreme Court rules on security certificates

posted on May 13, 2014 | in Category Mohamed Harkat | PermaLink

by Kelly Roche Source: The Ottawa Citizen URL: [link] Date: May 12, 2014 The fate of alleged al-Qaida sleeper agent Mohamed Harkat will be decided by the Supreme Court of Canada on Wednesday following a 12-year legal battle. “This day’s going to change our lives, so it’s do-or-die,” said his wife, Sophie Harkat. A former pizza delivery man, Harkat, 45, has been contesting the federal government – maintaining innocence – after being arrested outside his Ottawa home in 2002 on a national security certificate. He’s accused of running a safe house in Pakistan when he was 19, and communicating with senior al-Qaida members. The issue at hand in this ruling is whether security certificates, which allow non-citizens deemed security threats to be detained and deported without seeing all evidence against them, are constitutional. Public and private hearings, excluding Harkat and his lawyers, took place last October. If the Supreme Court decides in Harkat’s favour, “he would be a free man,” said Norm Boxall, one of Harkat’s lawyers. “Mixed success” means there could be a new hearing, Boxall continued, while a government victory would move the process to a pre-removal risk assessment, with Harkat facing deportation to Algeria. Harkat has said he will be tortured or killed if sent back. Appeals have been filed by the feds and Harkat’s legal team regarding constitutionality in this case. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled the security certificate unconstitutional because it relied on secret evidence, denying a right to a fair trial. The feds introduced special advocates in 2008 — essentially lawyers with security clearance who could attend secret hearings and partially access secret evidence. Harkat wants to see the proof and challenge its sources. Other concerns with the Harkat file include determining if Canadian Security Intelligence Service informants have the same protection privilege as police sources, Boxall said, as well as the destruction of evidence. “I think it’s pretty important to note that Mr. Harkat has been in the country since 1995. He never committed a criminal offence,” said Boxall. Harkat spent nearly four years behind bars after his arrest. “We think the security certificate process, as it exists, violates international human rights standards with respect to fair trials, and it needs to be struck. It needs to be overturned,” said Amnesty International Canada Secretary General Alex Neve. Sophie Harkat said family and close supporters will be in court for the decision. Copyright © 2014 All rights reserved The Ottawa Sun is a member of Canoe Sun Media Urban Newspapers.


Go to page  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10  last