Federal court orders reassessment of Harkat deportation case
Judge rules government's decision that accused terrorist should be deported is unreasonable after 24 years of legal battle.
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A Federal Court judge has ordered the government to reconsider its decision to deport Mohamed Harkat, an Algerian-born refugee who has lived in Ottawa for three decades.
On June 4, Judge John Norris sent the case back for reassessment, ruling that a senior Immigration Canada official's conclusion that Harkat posed a serious threat was unreasonable. Norris found a key finding — that Harkat was complicit in terrorism by Chechen extremists — was not supported by the evidence, including findings from an earlier judge about the strength of the security certificate against him.
The ruling caps an eight-year judicial review of whether the government made a fair decision in concluding Harkat should be deported to Algeria, where he says he would be tortured or killed.
Harkat, now 57, arrived in Canada in 1995 and was granted refugee status. He was arrested in December 2002 on a security certificate deeming him a terror suspect. The government alleged he operated a guest house in Peshawar, Pakistan, for Chechen rebel Ibn Khattab and helped move fighters through Afghan training camps. Harkat has always denied any connection to terrorism.
The case has now stretched longer than many criminal trials — a reminder of how slowly security certificate cases move through the courts.