A decision that cleared the way for Canadian-born Algerian Mohamed Harkat to be deported because of alleged terrorist ties will not be reviewed next week as planned.
The court decided Friday that the challenge to the decision should be delayed until the Supreme Court of Canada has rewritten the security law that was used to arrest Harkat on suspicion of membership in al Qaeda.
Harkat's lawyers have reasoned that it's pointless to have the review while the law is being rewritten.
The government, however, has maintained that it has a duty to deport suspected terrorists detained on national security certificates.
A ministerial delegate ruled last year that Harkat could be returned to Algeria.
Harkat, speaking to 麻豆影视net from his home in Ottawa earlier Friday, said he had been unable to sleep in the days leading up to the decision -- a moment that had been "haunting" him since his arrest in 2002.
He maintains his innocence and says he has never been charged with a crime.
"Since they arrested me they have given me just allegations. Why they arrested me -- that part of the case is kept in secret and for national security reasons," he said Friday.
"I don't know what the charges are. I don't know the allegations."
Crown lawyer Donald MacIntosh says the government has a duty to try to deport Harkat and all other suspected terrorists detained on national security certificates.
MacIntosh says the Supreme Court ruling, issued in February, put the onus on the government when it suspended the legal effect of its ruling for a year.
The Supreme Court originally suspended the landmark decision to give the federal government a chance to change the law to include better protection for individual rights.
Matt Webber, a lawyer for Harkat, has called the federal position an affront to the administration of justice and wanted the deportation process halted until the law is changed.
"I regard that as a chilling state of affairs -- that the state would actually purport to have the right to remove this man from Canada after the Supreme Court has unanimously found that his Charter rights were violated,'' Webber said.
Harkat, now out on bail under strict conditions, is one of five Muslim men facing deportation on security certificates.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service maintains Harkat, who came to Canada as a refugee from Algeria, is an Islamic extremist and member of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.
The spy agency argues Harkat also supports Afghani, Pakistani and Chechen extremists.
CSIS watched Harkat for five years before he was arrested in December 2002 in Ottawa.
Harkat maintains his innocence and says if he is deported to Algeria he will be tortured.
"They're going to kill me or arrest me or put me in jail, they'll torture me -- something will happen (to) me if they send me back," he said.
Non-citizens who are suspected of being a threat to national security can be held indefinitely in Canada under security certificates.
While detained, they do not have the right to access details of their case.
During the certificate review, a delegate for the minister compared the risk of torture or punishment Harkat may endure if sent to Algeria versus the potential threat he poses to Canadian security.
The delegate deemed the evidence CSIS had on Harkat was enough to deport him.
Federal Court Judge Francois Lemieux will issue an order Friday on whether or not the hearing should proceed.
With files from the Canadian Press
