Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui, 22 August 2007

Montreal, 22 August 2007 - Mr. Charkaoui's Federal Court hearings are set to continue tomorrow, Thursday, 23 August, from 9:30 am at 30 McGill St, Montreal. Me. Johanne Doyon will present arguments relating to the criminal leak of secret information in Mr. Charkaoui's file, with a view towards ending the security certificate proceedings against Mr. Charkaoui. The major part of the day is likely to be devoted to hearing further arguments presented by Me. Dominique Larochelle to support Mr. Charkaoui's bid to lift the conditions imposed on him since 2005.

In today's hearings, Me. Larochelle brought forward information to support Mr. Charkaoui's innocence, including: a letter written by Ahmed Ressam retracting his testimony against Mr. Charkaoui; evidence that two other people who have been named as having given information against Mr. Charkaoui were tortured; and an official document of the Moroccan government indicating that Morocco does not consider Mr. Charkaoui to be a member of the GICM. She argued that, in light of the information she provided and of the Supreme Court's ruling in February that the security certificate procedure is unconstitutional, the government has failed to demonstrate to the public that Mr. Charkaoui represents any danger and that, consequently, the federal court should lift the restrictions on Mr. Charkaoui's liberty. The argument will continue tomorrow.

The legal motion to lift the conditions is available here. Supporting documents are available on request: justiceforadil@riseup.net or 514 222 0205.

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More information: 514 222 0205 (en) or 514 880 4600 (fr)