Harkat’s lawyer says terrorism case against him ‘hyperbolized’

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The lawyer for accused terrorist Mohamed Harkat says the federal government’s “hyperbolized” case against him does not justify his deportation to Algeria, the country from which he fled more than 30 years ago.

Barbara Jackman contends the government is relying on guilt by association to label Harkat a threat to Canadian security.

“It (guilt by association) should also be found impermissible in the case of Mr. Harkat, who, even accepting the maximum extent of the minister’s allegations, had multiple degrees of separation between himself and terrorist acts,” Jackman argues in a submission filed recently with the Federal Court.

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There’s no evidence, she said, that Harkat himself engaged in any violent acts, or knowingly contributed to the terrorist acts of others.

“The activities he allegedly undertook were themselves benign – running a guest house, working for a relief agency, trying to assist others with legal problems,” Jackman argued.

The federal government has been trying to deport Harkat, a convention refugee, for the past 22 years through its controversial security certificate process.

A Federal Court hearing early next month will review the “minister’s opinion,” written by an unnamed senior official at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, that concluded Harkat poses a serious threat to Canada as a member of the al-Qaida network and should be deported despite his refugee status.

The judicial review will decide if that opinion, issued in October 2018, is legally fair and reasonable.

Harkat, now 56, arrived in Canada in October 1995 and has lived in Ottawa, or jail, ever since.

He says he will be tortured or killed if returned to Algeria, a country he fled in 1990 as a university student opposed to its then military-backed government. After leaving Algeria, he spent five years in Pakistan.

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The minister’s opinion said that although Harkat did not commit terrorist acts directly, he was “complicit” in the crimes of those he assisted in Peshawar, Pakistan, where he operated a guest house, and in Ottawa, where he offered assistance to two Islamic extremists who travelled to Canada.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service said Harkat operated the Peshawar guest house for Chechen rebel leader Ibn Khattab, and helped move Mujahideen fighters in and out of training camps in Afghanistan.

Khattab is a key figure in the Harkat case.

Revered by his followers as the “Lion of Chechnya,” the Saudi-born Khattab was killed in 2002 with a poisoned letter – likely the handiwork of Russian security agents.

Both the judge who upheld the security certificate against Harkat, and the immigration official who said he should be deported, declared Khattab a terrorist who shared ideology, training and money with al-Qaida.

That finding knit Harkat to Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network.

But there’s no consensus among historians – or judges – that Khattab was, in fact, a terrorist. In 2010, Federal Court Judge Richard Mosley, dismissed the security certificate against Toronto’s Hassan Almrei, ruling that Khattab “could not reasonably be said to be part of al-Qaida.” Almrei admitted he twice travelled to camps in Afghanistan with Khattab in 1994 and 1995.

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Jackman contends Khattab’s alleged ties to al-Qaida might not survive an assessment based on the higher evidentiary standard that should have been used by the senior official who ordered Harkat’s deportation.

Jackman argues that officials should have assessed the case against Harkat on a balance of probabilities, instead of the lower standard of reasonableness. The higher standard, she said, should apply when deciding whether to deport a refugee to a country where he could face torture.

“It is wrong to refoul refugees on the possibility that they might have engaged in egregious acts justifying this,” she wrote.

In ordering Harkat deported, the immigration official rejected the idea that he would face torture in Algeria. Harkat, the official said, holds little value to the Algerians as an information source about potential threats given that his terrorism connections are so outdated.

Harkat was first arrested in Ottawa on the strength of a security certificate in December 2002, in the heated aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks.

At next month’s hearing, Jackman will ask Federal Court Justice John Norris to quash the minister’s opinion and let Harkat stay in Canada permanently.

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Jackman contends Harkat has been treated unfairly by the government’s reliance on secret evidence, by its use of an unnamed immigration official, and by the system’s extraordinary delays. The immigration official also ignored or misinterpreted evidence, Jackman said, and rendered an unreasonable decision using the wrong evidentiary standard.

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