Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui, April 2007

Selection of media coverage of press conference held in Parliament in April 2007, calling on Stockwell Day to review Charkaoui's certificate. View statement that was released here.

Ci-dessous / Below:

1. Radio Canada: Adil Charkaoui veut rétablir sa réputation
2. CP: Review of evidence would clear his name
3. Montreal Gazette: Charkaoui calls for an inquiry into his case

Adil Charkaoui veut rétablir sa réputation
Radio Canada, 25 April 2007

Adil Charkaoui demande au gouvernement de revoir son dossier en profondeur et de blanchir son nom, à la lumière des récents aveux du terroriste Ahmed Ressam publiés la semaine dernière dans le Journal de Montréal.

Le montréalais d'origine marocaine demande en outre la tenue d'une commission d'enquête publique sur son cas, à l'instar de celle instaurée pour Maher Arar, afin que la preuve retenue contre lui soit rendue publique.

Lors d'une conférence de presse à Ottawa en compagnie de représentants des partis d'opposition, Adil Charkaoui a soutenu que la nouvelle version des faits présentés par M. Ressam, tout comme celle d'un autre suspect de terrorisme, Noureddine Nfiâ, permettent de conclure que la preuve à son endroit a été inventée de toutes pièces.

Ahmed Ressam, détenu aux États-Unis, a reconnu avoir menti aux services secrets canadiens en 2002 en alléguant avoir croisé Adil Charkaoui dans un camp d'entraînement islamiste en Afghanistan.

Noureddine Nfiâ, un autre suspect de terrorisme détenu au Maroc, est revenu, en juin dernier, dans une lettre dévoilée par Radio-Canada, sur la présence de M. Charkaoui dans un camp d'entraînement au Pakistan. Il dit avoir fait ces aveux sous la torture.

Le témoignage d'un autre terroriste allégué, Abu Zubayda, avait déjà été rejeté par la Cour fédérale du Canada parce que peut-être obtenu sous la torture.

M. Charkaoui demande au ministre de la Sécurité publique, Stockwell Day, et à la ministre de l'Immigration, Diane Finley, d'écarter en conséquence de son dossier toute la preuve obtenue sous la torture.

Adil Charkaoui a été détenu pendant 21 mois en vertu d'un certificat de sécurité. Il vit à Montréal où il est en liberté conditionnelle depuis février 2005. Il a obtenu la permission exceptionnelle de sortir de l'île de Montréal, mercredi, afin de rencontrer des députés et des journalistes à Ottawa.

Des conditions de libération trop sévères

Les représentants des trois partis d'opposition estiment à l'unisson que les conditions de libération pour M. Charkaoui sont trop sévères.

Ils demandent aussi à ce que le ministre de la Sécurité publique dévoile les preuves supplémentaires qu'il dit détenir. Stockwell Day met de l'avant ces preuves pour justifier son refus de rouvrir le dossier, ce que dénonce vertement M. Charkaoui.

« Je trouve que c'est faire preuve de mépris et d'incompétence que de se prononcer sans avoir pris la peine d'examiner de nouveau le dossier à la lumière de la décision de la Cour suprême et surtout à la lumière des révélations d'Ahmed Ressam », a-t-il dit.

En février, la Cour suprême du Canada a donné un an au gouvernement pour modifier la loi sur les certificats de sécurité afin de permettre à la défense d'avoir accès à l'essentiel des éléments retenus contre les accusés.

En mars, le plus haut tribunal du pays a également accepté d'examiner une contestation du certificat de sécurité émis contre Adil Charkaoui.

Accused terrorist: Review of evidence would clear his name
CP, SUE BAILEY, April 26, 2007

OTTAWA (CP) - Opposition MPs joined forces Wednesday with a coalition demanding a full review of the case against accused terrorist Adil Charkaoui. (NOTE: Charkaoui is NOT an accused terrorist. He has been asking to be accused since May 2003. That is the point of security certificates, people are detained and deported without charge or trial. After all this time, it is discouraging that journalists and major news agencies like CP have not registered this central fact of the debate. - CJAC.)

They gathered on Parliament Hill to urge Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day to scrap the security certificate scheme under which Charkaoui was initially detained. "I want to clear my name," Charkaoui told a news conference. He called on Day to consider fresh developments, including a report in a Montreal newspaper last week that key testimony against Charkaoui has been recanted.

Liberal MP Andrew Telegdi, vice-chairman of the Commons citizenship and immigration committee, says the security certificates are a flawed practice for which Ottawa will likely wind up apologizing.

"This is not the kind of country we want Canada to become."

Telegdi conceded that it was the former Liberal government that initially signed the certificate against Charkaoui. But he said he has always been personally concerned about the process, and voted accordingly.

Charkaoui, a landed immigrant from Morocco, was arrested in Montreal almost four years ago and accused of being an al-Qaida sleeper agent. He spent almost two years in jail in part on the strength of accusations made by convicted terrorist and fellow Montrealer Ahmed Ressam.

Charkaoui was freed on bail two years ago under strict conditions as the case against him proceeds.

Canada's spy service claims that Ressam tapped Charkaoui as someone he met at an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan.

Charkaoui denies the allegation, and points to a report last week that Ressam recanted his story in a letter to Le Journal de Montreal.

According to the paper, Ressam says in a letter written in Arabic that he was under great psychological strain after his conviction, and his statements can't be taken seriously.

Day's office says evidence against Charkaoui comes from "many sources" and the matter is now before a judge.

"Our position remains the same," said Day's spokeswoman, Melisa Leclerc, in an e-mailed response.

"The information the government has submitted to the court in the case against Mr. Charkaoui comes from many sources. As this matter is presently being adjudicated by a judge, it would be inappropriate to comment on the evidence.

"The government of Canada has reasonable grounds to believe that individuals subject to security certificates pose a risk to national security."

Mary Foster, a member of the coalition working to clear Charkaoui, challenged that assertion.

"We would like to know at this point who those other sources are.

"Are they sources coming from torture? Are they sources coming from coercion?"

Charkaoui calls for an inquiry into his case
Elizabeth Thompson, CanWest News Service, Wednesday, April 25, 2007

OTTAWA - Montrealer Adil Charkaoui called on Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day to review his file and order an inquiry into how his case has been handled, saying new evidence counters the government's charge that he is a al-Qaida sleeper agent.

Speaking Wednesday on Parliament Hill - only the second time since he was first arrested in 2003 that he has been allowed to leave Montreal - Charkaoui said a newspaper report last week in which convicted terrorist Ahmed Ressam said he never testified that Charkaoui was a terrorist is the third time that secret evidence used to arrest and detain him has been discredited.

Day has said that Ressam's assertion won't prompt him to revisit Charkaoui's case. Charkaoui was sharply critical of that decision.

"I think it shows contempt and incompetence to pronounce yourself without having taken the trouble to examine the file again in light of the Supreme Court's decision and above all in light of the revelations by Ahmed Ressam," said Charkaoui. He was flanked by Bloc Quebecois, New Democrat and Liberal members of Parliament's citizenship and immigration committee who support him. "Since 2003, my lawyers....have asked to cross examine Mr. Ahmed Ressam and it was refused on the basis of secret evidence."

The Supreme Court of Canada struck down the security certificate process in February, saying it contravened the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and gave the government a year to rewrite the law. However, that did not wipe out the security certificate proceedings pending against Charkaoui, which have been suspended since 2005 when it came to light that he faced possible torture if deported to Morocco.

While he is currently out of jail after being detained for nearly two years, Charkaoui has to live with strict conditions, including wearing a GPS bracelet and being accompanied by family members named by the court. As he spoke to reporters on Wednesday under the watchful eye of an officer posted at the back of the room, Charkaoui had to cut his news conference short because he was only allowed to be on Parliament Hill for a total of 30 minutes.

Earlier in the day, Charkaoui testified before members of the International Commission of Jurists, which is holding hearings on terrorism, counter-terrorism and human rights.

Charkaoui told the panel that what he has lived through over the past few years is an illustration of what is wrong with the security certificate system Canada uses to target suspected terrorists - from racial profiling to reliance on secret evidence  that in his case has been found to have been obtained through torture or is erroneous.

In the case of two apparent witnesses against him, it has since come to light that their evidence was obtained through torture and its accuracy is now in question.

The hearings are part of a series the ICJ is conducting around the world to determine whether human rights are being sacrificed as government's seek to counter the threat posed by terrorism and where the line between fighting terrorism and protecting human rights should be drawn.

ethompson@thegazette.canwest.com