Implausible Denial

"Mr. Harkat has not explained his past life and leaves the impression to any neutral observer that something remains untold. His lack of truthfulness about his past, his persistent denials in the face of the evidence presented by the Ministers against him show that danger still exists, although lessened to a certain extent." Justice Simon Noel

This is part of a 186-page ruling brought down by Justice Noel in a long-awaited decision on the status of Ottawa resident Mohammed Harkat. It is quite obviously not the result that Mr. Harkat and his faithful wife Sophie anticipated. Clearly, from their shocked reactions they had expected that Mr. Harkat would be completely exonerated of all charges brought against him by a vengeful and inept secret service.

Which obviously has nothing better to do than wrongfully, maliciously, pursue an innocent man. With the intention of ruining his life and that of his wife. Justice Noel is not quite correct in his assertion, since there are those among the general public, and including some quite public political figures, along with social-liberal-minded activists who do believe every word that Mr. Harkat expresses, particularly those attesting to his aggrieved innocence.

Liberal Member of Parliament Justin Trudeau comes immediately to mind. NDP Member of Parliament Paul Dewar is another who comes to mind in this affair. Mrs. Harkat adds her doleful tears to those of her husband, wailing that a dreadful wrong has been done. Neither she nor her husband will accept this ruling. Which, theoretically, clears the way for the government to proceed with its plans to return Mr. Harkat to the land of his birth, Algeria.

Where, he claims, he will face mortal danger. Both he and his wife, it would seem, prefer to remain in Canada. But neither the government, nor the Border Services Agency, nor the RCMP nor CSIS see this scenario as feasible or desirable. For Mr. Harkat is seen by all of them, and many within the Canadian community as a danger and a threat to this society - albeit purportedly one whose potential for harm has been somewhat reduced.

"Having carefully considered the evidence presented during the public and closed hearings and after having assessed it on a balance of probabilities, I conclude that the Ministerial position on almost all the allegations made against Mr. Harkat must be accepted." Justice Simon Noel

While Mr. Harkat's plight tore at the heartstrings of the liberal-left in Canada, most Canadians would be pleased to see the end of his stay in this country, with his extradition. A panoply of 'unfortunate' conditions and circumstances appear to clearly point to his guilt as charged, that he is/was a sleeper agent for al-Qaeda and most certainly was involved in terrorist activities while living in Pakistan.

Information made available to Justice Noel, and kept from Mr. Harkat's defence on the basis of the Security Certificate that was issued on him, appear to point unequivocally to a conspiracy which he shared for covert activities within Canada. He conveyed the information to colleagues that he meant to marry a Canadian to assist in obtaining Canadian status. He arrived in Canada on a false Saudi passport, in and of itself sufficient reason to deny him entry and later extradition.

"I find that Mr. Harkat has engaged in terrorism, that he is a danger to the security of Canada and that he is a member of the Bin Laden Network through his past work for the Khattab group and his association with known terrorists and/or Islamist extremists, such as A. Khadr and Al Shehre." Justice Simon Noel

There's that infamous Khadr al-Qaeda family, a symbol of a grotesque and unfortunate installation of fanatical Islamism within Canada. Mr. Khadr senior and Mr. Harkat were confederates in terror central in Pakistan, where Mr. Harkat operated a wayside guesthouse for al-Qaeda trainees transiting the country to jihadist training camps located in Afghanistan.

Intercepted telephone conversations between Mr. Harkat and his jihadi confreres told the story of his infiltration into Canada, his furtive low-level contacts, and his support of the terror organizations that threaten and inflict untold damage internationally, with plans to do the same in North America. From Canada, Mr. Harkat continued to provide support to the terror network.

"From his arrival in Canada in the fall of 1995, Mr. Harkat lived a life full of unanswered questions. As the evidence shows, he was here to obtain Canadian status and then be 'ready'. To be ready for an unknown objective is of concern to the court and it would have been extremely helpful to understand more about it. His silence and denials on such important facts is troubling. " Justice Simon Noel

Justice Noel was troubled by the revelation of the many prevarications and outright lies that Mr. Harkat regularly indulged in, and in which he was constantly caught out. The most obvious of his lies was his reiteration of innocence. An additional litany of denials and lies truly impressed Justice Noel that there was a good deal more to this humble pizza delivery man than met the casual eye.

That Mr. and Mrs. Harkat now state that they have every intention of drawing out this legal farce any longer by another appeal is beyond tedious. We would all far more prefer to bid them both a speedy and rather unfold farewell.

And then Canadian justice will truly be seen to have been accomplished.