Harkat granted new hearing
Posted Apr 25, 2012 02:27:45 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – A suspected terrorist that the federal government wants to deport has won a partial victory before the Federal Court of Appeal.
In a complex ruling, the court upheld the constitutionality of Canada’s security certificate process in the case of Mohamad Harkat, but also found that some evidence against him must be excluded from a new court hearing.
The former Ottawa pizza delivery man faces removal from Canada under a certificate that declares him a security threat due to alleged terrorist links.
The court ruled that the use of so-called special advocates, lawyers appointed as watchdogs for the accused during closed-door hearings, is constitutional.
But it also said that because the originals of certain conversations were destroyed by security officials, any such material should be excluded from a re-hearing of Harkat’s bid to quash the security certificate against him.
Harkat, 43, was arrested more than nine years ago on suspicion of being an al-Qaida sleeper agent although he denies any involvement in terrorism.
