GLOBE AND MAIL, 2007.11.10, COLIN FREEZE

Adil Charkaoui's name may be forever affixed to a landmark civil-liberties decision by the Supreme Court of Canada, but Amnesty International organizers are being forced to scratch it off a scheduled speakers' list for a youth conference today.

The Federal Court yesterday ruled that the security considerations surrounding the Moroccan immigrant, still considered a potential "al-Qaeda member", preclude him from addressing the conference bearing his name - The Use of Security Certificates: The Experience of Adil Charkaoui.

Mr. Justice Simon Noel had been considering Mr. Charkaoui's application that he be allowed to speak at the conference. But yesterday he ruled nothing exists in "the suspect's" strict bail conditions that would allow the court to contemplate a 500-kilometre return trip from Montreal, a city where "the suspect's" every move is watched by federal agents.

The court blocked the travel plans, arguing it would be more appropriate for Mr. Charkaoui to speak through video link to students gathering at a high school in Levis, Que.

In an interview, Mr. Charkaoui stated he would not speak by video link and "complained" the federal government is silencing him. "They are using national security to not allow me to speak," he said.

Last year, the Supreme Court examined the case of Mr. Charkaoui and two other "al-Qaeda suspects" as it found Canada's practice of using security certificates to jail and deport immigrants unconstitutional because of the secrecy surrounding the proceedings.

Parliament is considering legislation intended to improve the law, by allowing government-appointed "special advocates" to hear secret evidence that "suspects" remain barred from seeing.

Deportations of the "al-Qaeda suspects" have universally stalled under fear they would be tortured in their homelands.