Harkat lawyer seeks end to security certificate process
OTTAWA — A lawyer for Mohamed Harkat says the security certificate process being used to deport the Algerian refugee is unconstitutional.
“The hearing we got was unfair,” Harkat co-counsel Norm Boxall told the Federal Court of Appeal on Tuesday.
Harkat, a former Ottawa pizza delivery man, faces removal from Canada under a certificate that declares him a security threat due to alleged terrorist links.
A judge who scrutinized the certificate said Harkat maintained ties to Osama bin Laden’s terror network, including Ahmed Said Khadr — the late father of Toronto’s Omar Khadr, who has spent years in a U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Harkat, 43, denies any involvement with political extremism.
He says he’s simply a refugee who fled strife-torn Algeria and worked with an aid agency in Pakistan before coming to Canada. Harkat argues he will be tortured if returned to Algeria.
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