Adil Charkaoui, a Moroccan whom the Canadian government suspects of belonging to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda group, pressed his case on Monday to be released after 20 months in detention. At a Federal Court of Canada hearing in Montreal, Charkaoui's lawyer presented the results of a polygraph test in which the Moroccan denied having ever planned a crime with members of al Qaeda. Polygraph expert John Galianos said he believed Charkaoui was being truthful when taking the test.
Charkaoui, 31, won permanent resident status in Canada in 1995. He has been held since May 2003 under a "security certificate" -- which allows detention without trial under limited circumstances -- on government accusations that he had been seen with Al Qaeda officials and trained in Afghanistan. Charkaoui denies that. "I have never been and I am not a member of any terrorist network and I reject all forms of terrorism, including state terrorism," he said in a statement handed out by a coalition seeking his release.
The government won the right last month to detain Charkaoui indefinitely after a federal appeals court ruled that the individual right to liberty lost its meaning when "the society charged with ensuring its protection has lost its own right to liberty and security as the result of terrorist activities." Canadian officials have said senior Bin Laden lieutenant Abu Zubaida had reported having seen Charkaoui in Afghanistan in 1993 and 1997-98, and another al Qaeda operative said he trained with him in Afghanistan in 1998. The coalition said supporters are prepared to put up C$50,000 bail ($41,000) bail to allow Charkaoui to run away be conditionally released from a Montreal prison. Canadian courts have rejected Charkaoui's three previous requests for bail. Charkaoui's sister, Hind, told reporters that her brother still does not know the details of any of the Canadian government's accusations or evidence against him. "He is making a great effort to show that he is innocent, to show that the accusations against him are based only a newspaper articles, which I find preposterous on the part of the court," she said.
| That's being a loyal sister. Now shut up and fix him a steak. |
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