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July 14, 2006

Canada: Islamist Suspect Can Remain At Home

We wrote of Algerian Mohammed Harkat on October 24, when he was appearing before a Federal Court in Canada. His psychiatrist was saying that long periods of incarceration in solitary confinement were becoming detrimental, and that Harket was suffering from visions and anxiety.

Harkat (pictured) had been effectively detained as an Al-Qaeda terrorist in a ruling by Judge Eleanor Dawson from March 2005. Harkat had been in detention since December 2002. Judge Dawson, utilising evidence not made available to the public, or even Harkat himself, concurred with an earlier Canadian government "designation" made against him.

Harkat had entered Canada from Malaysia in 1995 on a false passport, and had married Sophie, a Canadian woman and had children. He was granted refugee status in February 1997, after claiming fears of persecution from the Algerian government. He was conditionally given bail in May this year, under strict restrictions, while the government moved to have him deported.

Now, news from Ottowa Citizen, Yahoo Canada, CTV, 900chml, CBC, Globe & Mail, and Canoe News reports that an attempt by the government to have Harkat returned to jail have proved unsuccessful.

CSIS states that Harkat is an Islamic radical and bin Laden collaborator.

The Federal Court of Appeal in Ottawa ruled that the government had spent too long bringing Harkat's case forward, and saying that the three years that Harkat had spent in jail had been an "unjustifiably long time".

The problem with sending Harkat back to Algeria concerned whether or not Harkat would receive torture upon his return.

This has been the second attempt the government has made to have bail rescinded within a month.

The court did not have recourse to hearing from Harkat's lawyers and made its decision yesterday, with a ruling by the three judge panel given out by Mr Justice Gilles Letourneau at 3 pm.

Matt Weber, a lawyer for Harkat, said: "The court found the appeal had no merit. We weren't asked to present arguments. That happens when a case has no merit."

37-year old Harkat has been "free" for three weeks, returning to his Ottowa home on June 21. This "freedom" means he must wear an electronic tagging device on his ankle, as well as 22 other bail conditions. Judge Letourneau said that there was no "absolute certainty" that the public would not be at risk, but deemed the bail conditions to be adequate.

Donald MacIntosh had argued that as well as the inefficiency of the tagging device when inside a tunnel or underground car park, there was also the risk that Harkat could blurt something over a phone in Arabic which could damage national security.

The May ruling which allowed him bail was made by Judge Eleanor Dawson, who said he should wear a GPS tagging device, remain under house arrest, give up his travel documents, and not converse in Arabic.

MacIntosh had said that Sophie, Harkat's wife, was adequate to play a supervisory role, as she had been unaware of Harkat's past gambling addiction. The former pizza delivery man had once lost $18,000 at a casino.

Sophie Harkat said later: "It's absolutely ridiculous that they brought this up in arguments today. That just shows they have nothing else."

A statement from the Algerian embassy, released yesterday, read: "It is perfectly normal for for him to want to defend himself in the Canadian justice system against the accusations he faces, but he should not do that by invoking fallacious arguments which are not in keeping with the Algeria of today."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at July 14, 2006 3:11 PM

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