Terror suspect left in the limbo
Government loses bail appeal but issues deportation order
Mohamed Harkat's case takes a turn as he receives bail, faces a deportation order, and the government loses its bail appeal. But the final word is the Supreme Court's.
Mohamed Harkat, the alleged terror suspect on Canadian soil, continues to face the threat of deportation to a country he states could be a serious threat to his life.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) formally presented Harkat, who is currently in house arrest, with his deportation order to Algeria on July 14, a day after a three-judge panel rejected the government's appeal to have Harkat placed behind bars once again.
Harkat said he still does not understand why Canada Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), who carries the baggage of allegations against Harkat is trying to deport him.
"I look back into my life and I try to figure out what I did to deserve time in jail and I can't find anything. I have no charges in any country and I have spent three and a half years in jail and I am still facing deportation and I am still in house arrest. My life is destroyed completely. I am still suffering," he said.
He said CSIS insists on sending him back to Algeria, a country where the military decides the rule of law and where anything could happen to him--from torture to even death.
Harkat was granted bail on June 21, and since then he has been living with his wife Sophie in Ottawa. He was granted bail with strict conditions including a GPS ankle-band to locate him at all times.
Harkat was not granted bail based on his innocence or lack of evidence, rather based on what Judge Eleanor Dawson found to be an unreasonable delay by the government in providing the deportation order.
The deportation order has now been issued-- a day after the government's appeal of Harkat's bail suffered a huge blow.
A deportation order is a document that consists of a danger opinion, an opinion that is generated by creating a balance between the threat the Algerian-born terror suspect poses to the Canadian public with the threat Harkat himself faces if he is deported to his native country.
Although Harkat was happy that he was finally released on bail, the threat of deportation and the allegations stamped on his name continue to deter him from leading a normal life.
For CSIS,the investigative wing of the government,a normal life is out of the question. CSIS still maintains that Harkat faces a significant threat to the Canadian public and is deemed inadmissible to Canada on the basis of their evidence, which remains mostly secret from Harkat and his lawyers.
Barbara Campion, the head spokesperson for CSIS did not comment on Harkat's case, which remains in the courts, but confirmed the government's position that Harkat posed a threat to Canadian society.
"He is still considered a threat to national security, which is why the government appealed the bail," she said.
Campion explained that over a year ago Judge Eleanor Dawson found the security certificate against Harkat to be reasonable.
"Judge Dawson said multiple times during her judgment that Harkat was a liar and was not credible," Campion said. "She gave him bail now not on the basis that he is not a threat to society but based on what she thought was an unreasonable delay by Citizenship and Immigration and CBSA in issuing a deportation order."
Maria Iadinardi, the departmental spokesperson for CBSA did not comment on Harkat's case either, but described the procedure of the deportation order as "something that takes some time."
"When Citizenship and Immigration do a danger opinion they have to be able to balance the risk to Canadians versus the risk to the person being returned to a country of citizenship, and that may take time," she said.
Although the deportation order has now been issued, Harkat cannot be deported until the Supreme Court of Canada makes a judgment on the constitutionality of the security certificate process,an issue that is now in front of the courts.
If the Supreme Court upholds the security certificate process then Harkat's security certificate will be confirmed and his legal battle against the government will be further narrowed. But until then, he will remain in house arrest under strict bail conditions, unless he violates any of the bail conditions.
A final word from the Supreme Court is still awaited, but until then uncertainty will continue to loom in the lives of Harkat and his wife.
