Canada's security-certificate law may be crumbling, but it will keep one al-Qaeda suspect imprisoned for at least a few more months. Hassan Almrei, the only inmate of a multimillion-dollar prison built in Kingston to hold alleged terrorists whom Canada cannot legally deport, Friday lost his bid for bail. A Federal Court judge ruled he will continue to be held for his alleged ties to al-Qaeda. The Syrian national has been imprisoned for six years, remaining in custody even as he has seen four other al-Qaeda suspects released into strict forms of house arrest. In the other cases, judges have decided that the threat represented by the suspects has diminished over time. Spouses and immediate family members, it has been ruled, must watch them around the clock to ensure they are upholding release conditions. Unlike the others, however, the 34-year-old Mr. Almrei has no close family in Canada. His supporters have yet to find an acceptable bail surety.
Mr. Justice François Lemieux Friday reiterated that Mr. Almrei should be considered dangerous because of his lack of credibility, his role in the early-1990s Afghan jihad, his ties to a people-trafficking network in Thailand and his role in procuring a fake Canadian passport for a fellow mujahed in Toronto.
The Federal Court has found all of the security-certificate detainees represent probable threats to Canadian national security. But the courts have found it would be inhumane to deport these men to Egypt, Syria or North Africa, because the states have reputations for torturing Islamic fundamentalists.
It is unclear what constraints Mr. Almrei or any of the men under house arrest would face if the clock runs out on the security-certificate law.