The Federal Court of Canada yesterday set aside the last of the tough restrictions against a Moroccan man the government wanted to deport because of alleged links to al Qaeda.
Ottawa had imprisoned Adil Charkaoui or kept him under surveillance for six years under a security certificate, based on classified information from Canada’s spy agency. The government was seeking court approval to deport Charkaoui, a Montreal resident who emigrated from Morocco but was not a Canadian citizen.
Based on information from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Ottawa had claimed that Charkaoui had trained at an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan.
But because the court had ordered that the information from CSIS be made public, the government decided to withdraw it, rather than endanger the spy agency’s sources.
Once the information was withdrawn, the Federal Court lifted restrictions on Charkaoui last month, and yesterday it declared the security certificate itself to be void.
Pic: Flag of Morocco
