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| Great White North |
| Judge says secret evidence links Canadian suspect to al-Qaida |
| 2010-01-23 |
| The judge overseeing the Mohamed Harkat terrorism case said the Ottawa man knew Ahmed Said Khadr and was responsible for “specific tasks' for the high-profile Canadian al-Qaida associate. Judge Simon Noel's statement came during cross-examination of a CSIS agent about the spy agency's case against Harkat, an alleged al-Qaida sleeper agent. Harkat's lawyers — who don't have the top-secret classified information CSIS amassed about their client — said Harkat and Khadr both worked for different Islamic charity groups in Pakistan in the early 1990s. However, the Federal Court judge in Harkat's security certificate case — who has overseen closed-door hearings on the confidential CSIS information — said Thursday there's evidence from the secret hearings that links Harkat “doing specific tasks' for Khadr and his charity, Human Concern International. “If I could say more...but there's a limit,' said Noel of the information that can't be made public due to national security concerns. Noel said it's now up to Harkat “if he decides to respond to it.' “He knew him well enough to be trusted by Mr. Khadr to assume specific tasks,' Noel said of Harkat's connection to Khadr before his arrival in Canada in 1995. Harkat, 41, has denied meeting Khadr before coming to Canada. During a fourth day of cross-examination of a senior CSIS agent, Harkat's lawyers continued to try to chip away at the spy agency's case against the one-time Ottawa pizza deliveryman. They spent most of Thursday going through allegations found in the public summary of the CSIS report on Harkat, zeroing in on the spy agency's claims that Harkat “indicated his loyalties' with the Groupe islamique arme (GIA), an Algerian terrorist group responsible for civilian massacres in the 1990s. |
| Posted by:ryuge |