Palestinian man Canada deported is welcomed as Belgian citizen

Jim Bronskill And Sue Bailey, Canadian Press, 15 December 2009

BRUSSELS, Belgium - A Palestinian man turfed from Canada as a national security risk has become a citizen of Belgium - one of Ottawa's steadfast European allies, The Canadian Press has learned.

It's the latest twist in the strange, often painful saga of Wahid Baroud. He was shipped off to Sudan 14 years ago this month under a national security certificate.

Along the way he lost a job, a son and his respect for Canada before gaining a country to call home after decades as a stateless wanderer.

"Canada is the reason for destroying my family, really," Baroud, 59, said during an interview in Brussels, the first time he has publicly told his story since being deported.

The security certificate, an immigration law process for removing suspected terrorists and spies, is buckling under the weight of successful court challenges and human-rights criticism.

Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan says the government is reviewing the certificate system after conceding it needs an overhaul.

Alleged Sikh extremist vanishes after Canada deports him to Belize

Jim Bronskill and Sue Bailey, Canadian Press, 14 December 2009

OTTAWA Officials in Belize don't know what happened to an alleged Sikh extremist who made global waves when he bought a passport for the tropical paradise after being ordered out of Canada.

Iqbal Singh has quietly vanished.

Ten years ago next month, Singh left Toronto for the Central American fun-and-sun destination.

His arrival in an unsuspecting Belize caused a media sensation. The spotlight glare was apparently intense enough to drive Singh from the oasis he found upon paying about US$50,000 for a passport through a since-cancelled immigrant investor program.

At the time, flummoxed Belizean officials said they hadn't been warned about the terror allegations against Singh.

These days, they're not sure how to find him.

"We're not certain where Mr. Singh is at this time," said Insp. Bert Bowden of the Belize police department's Joint Intelligence Co-ordinating Center.

"But he no longer resides in Belize."

Canada delivers deportee into arms of abusive Algerian secret police: watchdogs

Sue Bailey and Jim Bronskill, CP, 16 December 2009

MONTREAL - Canada deported a refugee to face a notoriously abusive intelligence service in Algeria where he was questioned under duress and denied a lawyer, say international justice watchdogs.

A United Nations working group says former Montrealer Mourad Ikhlef, removed to Algeria under a national security certificate, was jailed and interrogated in breach of basic legal principles.

Amnesty International found Ikhlef was held incommunicado and was refused counsel after Canada handed him over six years ago.

He left behind a devastated wife and two young children who have lived without him in Montreal ever since.

His brother, Nabil, still lives and works in the same Montreal neighbourhood where Mourad came under surveillance.

He says Canada abused security certificates in the rush to judgment after 9-11.

"When you accuse somebody of being a terrorist, that's it. He gets stuck with that title for his life.

Thomas Walkom, Toronto Star, 15 December 2009

Another of Ottawa's national security claims has proved bogus. For more than seven years ((CJFA: actually more than eight)), the federal government and its security bureaucrats insisted that alleged terrorist Hassan Almrei so threatened Canada that he had to be imprisoned without trial.

Even when Almrei was released earlier this year, he had to submit to an Orwellian form of house arrest.

Now, we find out that he was never a terrorist at all. More to the point, in quashing the security certificate that has kept the 35-year-old refugee in legal limbo for eight years, Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley ruled that the government's evidence against him was largely a confection, backed up by dubious newspaper clippings, sloppy history and unreliable evidence from informants who "had motive to concoct stories that cast Almrei in a negative light."

Mosley's 183-page ruling should be required reading. It lays out in painstaking detail how easy it is for national security bureaucrats and their political masters to misuse the extraordinary powers given to them.

Ruling another blow to controversial certificate system

TU THANH HA, Globe and Mail, 15 December 2009

New disclosure obligations set out by the Supreme Court of Canada have played a key part in the collapse of a federal security certificate case against a second terrorism suspect.

In quashing the certificate against the Syrian-born Toronto resident Hassan Almrei, a Federal Court judge said yesterday that the material the Canadian Security Intelligence Service disclosed to the court under the new rules contradicted information from its informants.

In his ruling, Mr. Justice Richard Mosley also said CSIS filed outdated, unreliable information about how al-Qaeda operates.

The ruling is the latest blow to the controversial certificate system, which relies on evidence heard in secret to detain and deport foreign residents.

"This decision proves this process is a flawed process," said Mr. Almrei's lawyer, Lorne Waldman. The new rules have helped, he said, but "I still don't believe it is a fair process."

Mr. Almrei is a former mujahed who went to Afghanistan in the 1990s. His arrest in 2001 was justified, but he's no longer a security threat, Judge Mosley wrote.

Two down; three to go ...

extracts from a report by the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada

In a 183-page decision released today, Judge Richard Mosley of the Federal Court found, "Having considered all of the information and other evidence presented to the Court, I am satisfied that Hassan Almrei has not engaged in terrorism and is not and was not a member of an organization that there are reasonable grounds to believe has, does or will engage in terrorism. I find that there are no reasonable grounds to believe that Hassan Almrei is today, a danger to the security of Canada. Thus, I find that none of the grounds of inadmissibility in subsection 34(1) of the Act have been made out and, accordingly, I find that the certificate is not reasonable and must be quashed."

... and our Solidarity !

To all friends, allies and supporters,

After six long years of struggle, it is finally time to celebrate a massive victory in the battle against the security certificate regime. Adil Charkaoui and the Coalition would like to invite you to a party on Thursday, November 26th, 6pm, to celebrate with Adil, his family, friends and supporters.

The evening includes:

Sidhartha Banerjee, THE CANADIAN PRESS, 14 October 2009

MONTREAL - Adil Charkaoui spent more than six years under suspicion of being a terrorist operative, spent 21 months in jail, had his movements tracked with an electronic bracelet, and missed the birth of his son.

Now he wants the federal government to pay.

After a Federal Court judge ruled his security certificate null and void Wednesday, the Montreal man said he'll be seeking reparations for the years he spent trying to clear his name.

In the meantime, the Moroccan native said he simply wanted to celebrate.

"Finally, after six and a half years, I can enjoy not only freedom, but justice," he told a news conference.

"We'll be organizing a huge party and everyone will be invited."

Charkaoui, a married father of three who has steadfastly denied any links to terrorists, said he's elated by Wednesday's judgment.

Federal Court Justice Daniele Tremblay-Lamer wrote that the certificate must be quashed and that Ottawa has no right to appeal.

Tremblay-Lamer said the notion of national security is a question of perspective and that grey zones can exist.

October, 14, 2009, THE CANADIAN PRESS

MONTREAL - A security certificate against a Montreal man ((formerly)) accused of having terrorist ties has officially been declared null and void.

Adil Charkaoui says he is elated about the judgment which he received today.

He says the certificate has been quashed and that the federal government does not have the right to appeal.

Charkaoui tells The Canadian Press he has been waiting for six years to officially be a free man again.

Federal Court Justice Daniele Tremblay-Lamer removed the remaining conditions against Charkaoui at the end of September and said the security certificate would fall.

Charkaoui says he is demanding an apology and compensation from the federal government.

Charkaoui and his supporters are planning a news conference in Montreal later this afternoon.

He says he'll have more to say when he's had a chance to read the 68-page decision.

Federal Court issued a ruling this afternoon: the certificate against Adil is quashed and the government is denied an appeal after Judge Tremblay Lamer decided that there was no basis for an appeal. The Charkaouis' six+ year for justice is over at last!

Press conference:

4pm, Wed., October 14th 2009
Centre St-Pierre, Montreal

Video from press conference