Thursday, 31 January 2008
Supreme Court, 301 Wellington Street, Ottawa
 
* 9:00am, throughout day
Supreme Court Hearing, Charkaoui contests the destruction of evidence in his case
 
* 12:15pm to 1:30pm
Public Rally: End CSIS impunity, No to security certificates, No to C-3!
End the criminalization, profiling and harassment of refugees and immigrants!
 
* Lunch break (Court will determine time)
Press scrum with Adil Charkaoui and intervenors in case

 
On Thursday, 31 January, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear a bid by Adil Charkaoui to have the ‘security certificate’ against him quashed on the grounds that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) destroyed sources of secret evidence.
 
In January 2005, government lawyers admitted during a court hearing that the spy agency had destroyed notes and recordings of interviews in Mr. Charkaoui’s file. The Federal Court was only given access to secret summaries prepared by CSIS, which have not been disclosed to Mr. Charkaoui or his lawyer.
 
Mr. Charkaoui will also contest the legal right of the Ministers to add new allegations and information, that were not part of the original file given to the Ministers who signed Mr. Charkaoui’s certificate nor the Federal Court. The timing of such belated additions has, on more than one occasion, raised serious questions of bias.
 
The Canadian Bar Association, the Barreau du Québec, Amnesty International, the Association Québécoise des Avocats et Avocates en Droit de l'Immigration (l’ACADI), the Association des avocats de la défense de Montréal, and the Criminal Lawyers' Association (Ontario) are intervening in the case in Mr. Charkaoui’s favour.

The hearing will expose the weakness of the secret information on which security certificate and similar cases rely: hearsay, rumours, and information obtained under torture. This information can be as tenuous – and potentially biased - as CSIS assessments of foreign intelligence agencies’ assessments of informers' unconfirmed allegations. On this basis, immigrants have been refused entry to Canada, kept in legal limbo for decades ("security delayed"), put under surveillance, held under house arrest, imprisoned, deported, and even sent to places where they have been tortured.

If it passes, Bill C-3, the new security certificate law, will continue to allow the use of such secret information to justify indefinite detention, house arrest and deportation, even when there is an acknowledged risk of torture.
 
The Supreme Court ruling striking down the security certificate provisions of immigration law will go into effect on 23 February 2008, whether or not there is a new law in place.
 
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More information: 514 222 0205

Analysis of C-3: www.adilinfo.org/?q=en/node/232
 

::::Background on Charkaoui::::
 
Mr. Charkaoui teaches French full-time at a Montreal school and is working on a PhD part-time at the University of Montreal. He is married and has three young children. Mr. Charkaoui came to Canada in 1995 with his parents and sister as a Permanent Resident.
 
Mr. Charkaoui was arrested under a “security certificate” – a deportation process - in May 2003. Mr. Charkaoui spent almost two years in prison, and was released under severe conditions in February 2005. The security certificate case against Mr. Charkaoui has not yet undergone any court review, and the case has been suspended since March 2005.

In April 2007, following a revelation that Ahmed Ressam, an alleged informant in Charkaoui’s case, had withdrawn allegations, the Coaliton Justice for Adil Charkaoui called on the Minister of Public Safety to review his file. In June 2007, following a criminal leak of secret information, leading to the publication of damaging allegations against Mr. Charkaoui, the Coalition called for an inquiry into the actions of CSIS in the case. The call for an inquiry was renewed in January 2008, following a new public attack on Mr. Charkaoui’s reputation.

Immigration Canada’s latest pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA), completed in 2007, evaluated Charkaoui to be at risk of cruel and unusual punishment, torture or death if deported to Morocco.
 
Mr. Charkaoui continues to assert his innocence and has repeatedly challenged the government to charge him if they have any case against him, or to free him and clear his name of suspicion.