No proof, Charkaoui supporters say
Michelle Lalonde, The Gazette, 23 February 2008
Newly released documents on what led Canada's spy agency to conclude that Montreal teacher Adil Charkaoui is an Al Quaida terrorist contain plenty of hearsay and unsupported allegations, but not a shred of proof, supporters of Charkaoui say.
On Friday, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service released summaries of the information used to support new "security certificates" filed in Federal Court on Charkaoui and four other foreign-born Muslims who CSIS suspects are members of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.
The controversial security certificates procedure is being used by the federal government to jail and deport suspected foreign terrorists in secret court proceedings where defendants are not permitted to see the evidence being used against them.
"There are no precise charges, just these vague allegations and no evidence, and he is still being put through a process that is unconstitutional, unjust and discriminatory," Mary Foster, a member of Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui, said in an interview Saturday.
The new certificates were issued just as previous certificates were set to expire after the Supreme Court ruled last year that parts of the law upon which they were based were unconstitutional. The five men targeted by the certificates include the Moroccan-born Charkaoui, Hassan Almrei of Syria, Mohamed Harkat of Algeria, and Egyptians Mahmoud Jaballah and Mahamed Zeki Mahjoub.
Foster said Charkaoui himself will not comment further until after a meeting convened by the Federal Court on Tuesday in Ottawa between court officials, Charkaoui's lawyers and those of the four other men. In a statement issued late Friday, Charkaoui categorically denied allegations made in the CSIS document.
In the statement, Charkaoui noted that the government continues to rely on information "which there are serious grounds to believe was produced under torture."
Charkaoui, now 34, came to Canada in July 1995. In May 2003, he was was arrested under a security certificate and imprisoned until February 2005. He has never been allowed to see the evidence against him, nor respond to any specific charges in a court of law.
Charkaoui currently teaches French at a private primary school in Montreal. He is married with three young children.
The CSIS document states that Charkaoui is a member of the Al Quaida network, that he participated in terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, that he associates with Islamic extremists, that he has discussed the planning of terrorist attacks, that he has committed crimes to finance jihad (a religious war against non-Muslims), and that he is a sleeper agent for Al Quaida.
The document states that in June 2000, Charkaoui had a conversation with two individuals who expressed interest in taking control of a commercial airliner by violent means.
It says that in July 2002, Charkaoui told CSIS agents that he had once applied for a job in flight information and air traffic control with Air Canada and was once offered a part-time job at Mirabel airport in the baggage section. He said he was interested in the jobs because of the prospect of cheaper flight fares for airport employees. CSIS maintains the June 2000 conversation and his job-seeking at the Montreal airports are evidence he was involved in the planning of a terrorist air attack. ((So where is the proof? Why isn't he arrested for conspiracy to commit a criminal act if this is really true? - CJAC))
The document also claims Charkaoui once watched a video where two people debated jihad, and that he agreed with one speaker who said those who oppose Islam should be killed. ((CSIS admitted in court in January 2005 that it had destroyed records of interviews in Charkaoui's case; so, conveniently for CSIS, the actual comments made and the context of this and other alleged conversations apparently no longer exist. - CJAC))
The CSIS document does not say whether this and many other statements allegedly made by Charkaoui were obtained through wiretap evidence, undercover agents or hearsay.