OTTAWA - Supporters of Mohamed Harkat called for abolition of the security certificate system on the eve of court hearings that may finally decide the Algerian-born man's fate.
Proceedings resume Monday in the case of Harkat, a former Ottawa pizza delivery man arrested just over seven years ago under a certificate on the basis of alleged extremist ties.
National security certificates are seldom-used immigration tools for deporting suspected terrorists and spies.
Opponents led by Harkat's wife Sophie said Friday the certificate process is unfair because detainees like her husband are not given full details of the allegations against them.
"Why is this injustice still going on?" she said at a news conference. "Give him a fair and open trial. Give him the evidence."
Sophie Harkat was flanked by Christine Jones of the Canadian Peace Alliance, George Kuehnbaum of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Ihsaan Gardee from the Canadian Council of American-Islamic Relations, and Monia Mazigh, wife of falsely accused terror suspect Maher Arar.
Gardee decried the fact national security certificate detainees must live in limbo under the constant threat of removal from Canada.
"We believe that the security certificate process is severely flawed."
Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan says he is reviewing the troubled certificate system, conceding it needs fixing. But he has outlined no timetable.
A certificate case involving Montrealer Adil Charkaoui, a native of Morocco, recently fell apart when the government withdrew supporting evidence, saying its disclosure would reveal secret sources and methods.
A judge also threw out the certificate against Hassan Almrei of Syria -- arrested following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- saying he could no longer be deemed security threat.
But Harkat and two Egyptian-born men, Mahmoud Jaballah and Mohamed Zeki Mahjoub, still face removal from Canada. All three say they reject terrorism and that they face torture if returned to their homelands.
Last year the Canadian Security Intelligence Service watered down its assessment of Harkat, having originally characterized him an al-Qaida sleeper agent.
CSIS said Harkat is not known to have engaged in acts of violence and that his role in the international Islamic extremist movement prior to his arrival in Canada appears to have been limited largely to logistical support.
Harkat's release terms have been loosened, though he and Sophie remain under the watchful eyes of Canada Border Service agents.
In October, Federal Court Justice Simon Noel said CSIS had "seriously damaged confidence" in the court process and must help restore trust by handing over a secret file in the Harkat case.
Noel ordered the spy service to give him details of a confidential source it is using to support allegations against Harkat.
The judge said CSIS "undermined the integrity" of the court's work by failing to disclose relevant details of a polygraph examination of another source in the Harkat affair.
CSIS neglected to tell him a secret informant in the case failed portions of the lie-detector test -- a lapse the service itself has called "inexcusable."
The latest Federal Court hearings, which begin Monday with testimony from a CSIS officer, are expected to last six weeks.
The court will weigh all of the evidence before deciding whether to uphold the certificate against Harkat or toss it out.
Sophie Harkat refused to consider what would happen if her husband loses.
"There is no other option," she said. "We have to win this case."
