Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui, 22 June 2007

The Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui held a press conference this morning to respond to the leak of a secret document, apparently part of Mr. Charkaoui's security certificate file, to the Montreal daily newspaper La Presse.

At the Press Conference, Mr. Charkaoui categorically denied the allegations which La Presse reported were contained in the secret document and the Coalition called for 1) a police inquiry into the criminal leak of the secret document; 2) a public inquiry into the actions of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) in Mr. Charkaoui's case; and 3) the retraction of the security certificate issued against Mr. Charkaoui.

As Charkaoui heads into a second Supreme Court hearing in January 2008, this time challenging CSIS' destruction of evidence in his file, there are very serious questions about possible motivations for the leak to which the government will need to respond. The incident strongly recalls the leak of secret information to Ottawa Citizen reporter Juliet O'Neill in Maher Arar's case (see below).

Today's news follows a string of violations and embarassments for the government in Charkaoui's unravelling file, including a Supreme Court decision declaring the security certificate procedure unconstitutional.

Click here to see several articles and extracts from media (in French and English) covering the story.