Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui, 23 August 2007

Montreal, 23 August 2007 -- Adil Charkaoui, a Montrealer subject to the illegal security certificate process since May 2003, ended two days of Federal Court hearings today. Charkaoui was in court to argue that the conditions imposed on him since February 2005 should be lifted in light of the Supreme Court decision that the security certificate process is illegal. Charkaoui argued that the Federal Court judge should set aside the secret evidence in Charkaoui's case 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. (READ full legal motion here.)

Charkaoui also presented the Court with substantial new evidence to refute the unproven allegations that have been made public in his court case.

The government response was limited. Government representatives agreed that information from Abu Zubaydah, who is known to have been tortured in US custody, should be set aside. The government did not respond to evidence indicating that Noureddine Nafiaa was tortured in Morocco. Nafia's "confession" has been cited by the government as evidence against Charkaoui. 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).  The government also failed to respond to several pieces of evidence undermining the credibility of Ahmed Ressam's apparent testimony against Charkaoui, and did not explain why the Ministers had not provided the court with this information themselves.

The government 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.

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