23 August 2007

Adil Charkaoui was in Federal court for the past two days to argue that the conditions imposed on him since February 2005 should be lifted in light of the Supreme Court decision that the entire security certificate process is illegal.

Charkaoui argued that the Federal Court judge should set aside the secret evidence in Charkaoui's case both because of this decision and because of serious concerns about the conduct of CSIS in Arar's case and about the quality of the information the spy agency produces in general.

Charkaoui also presented the Court with substantial new evidence to refute the unproven allegations that have been made public in his court case (see summary of day one below).

The government response was very limited.

Government representatives agreed that information from Abu Zubaydah, who is known to have been tortured in US custody, notably on the admission of George Bush (www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/09/20060906-3.html), should be set aside.

The government had no answer to evidence indicating that Noureddine Nafiaa was tortured in Morocco. Nafia's "confession" has been cited by the government as evidence against Charkaoui. Although information about the possibility of torture was provided as early as 2005, the Public Safety Minister's legal representative Luc Cadieux was left speechless when Judge Noel asked him what the government had to say about this possibility.

The Ministers likewise provided no evidence to counter a document indicating that Morocco does not consider Charkaoui to be a member of the Groupe Islamique des combattants Morocains (GICM), as CSIS has theorized.

The government also failed to respond to several pieces of evidence undermining the credibility of Ahmed Ressam's apparent testimony against Charkaoui. Moreover, they did not explain why the Ministers had not provided the court with this information themselves, as they have a responsibility to do.

The government now has until 12 September to provide further information to the court. The judge will then consider the arguments and render his judgement in the following weeks.

Charkaoui will be in Federal Court again on 11 September to present arguments relating to the criminal leak of secret information in his case, with a view towards obtaining a stay of proceedings.