Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui, 14 July 2004

Montreal, 14 July 2004 – In the first of two days of hearings in the Charkaoui case, Abdurahman Khadr gave testimony which threw the case against Adil Charkaoui into question.

Khadr, whose sensational story about his family’s involvement in Al Qaeda made headlines earlier this year, explained that he was in a unique position to have met Charkaoui had the latter ever come to train in Afghanistan. As Canadians in Afghanistan closely associated with bin Laden, the Khadrs made a point of meeting other Canadians who entered the tightly-knit networks in which they moved. Khadr was also at Khalden training camp in 1998. In the public summary of the secret evidence being used against Mr. Charkaoui, Khalden camp is named in implied connection with a trip Charkaoui made to Pakistan in 1998. "I have never seen Adil Charkaoui before today," Khadr confirmed.

Khadr also testified at length concerning the torture he experienced and witnessed in US-operated prisons in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. "Khadr put into context the kind of evidence we believe to have been presented to the Ministers who signed the security certificate against Adil," said Johanne Doyon, Charkaoui’s lawyer. "What value is evidence that is extracted under torture? How can Canada, which opposes crimes against humanity, use such information?" she demanded.

Because Charkaoui and his lawyer are denied access to the evidence that is used against him, they are unable to counter specific claims that are made or to cross-examine witnesses.

Khadr had been called by Charkaoui to testify in his third detention review. Among the twenty people who came forward with bail for Charkaoui are Quebec MNAs Louise Harel (PQ, Hochelaga-Maisonneuve) and Daniel Turp (PQ, Mercier), a former Professor of Charkaoui’s at University of Montreal, Gregory Baum (renowned theologian and author, retired McGill University professor), and Pascale Montpetit (comedian), in addition to Charkaoui’s father and sister. Together they offered around $50,000 in bail for Charkaoui’s conditional release. If the judge decides against releasing him, Charkaoui will have to spend another six months in prison – which will mean more than 18 months in prison without charge, on secret evidence. The second day of the hearing will take place today, 14 July.

One of the "secret trial five", five Muslim men who are imprisoned without charges under secret evidence in Canada, Mr. Charkaoui has been in prison in Montreal since May 2003. If the security certificate under which they are imprisoned is judged "reasonable", Charkaoui and the other men face deportation to their countries of origin where they risk further abuse of their rights and even death. A security certificate is a measure of the Immigrant and Refugee Protection Act. It has been described as "fundamentally flawed and unfair" by Amnesty International and is being used in a larger pattern of attacks on Muslim and Arab communities and on civil liberties.

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The Coalition for Justice for Adil Charkaoui formed in Montreal in a matter of days after his abrupt arrest. The Coalition - an alliance of Muslim groups, refugee and immigrant rights organizations, anti-oppression groups and the Charkaoui family - demands the immediate release of all Security Certificate detainees, no deportations, a fair trial, an immediate end to the "Security Certificate" system, an end to scape-goating in response to American pressure, and an end to the harassment of Muslims and Arabs.