Mohamed Harkat back in jail

OTTAWA: At 2:45 today, the Ottawa City Police paid a surprise visit to the home of Sophie and Mohamed Harkat and arrested Mohamed as he emerged from the bath wrapped in a towel. He was ordered to get dressed and while he complied Sophie Harkat railed at the police. " I expect this sort of harassment from CBSA (Canadian Border Security Agency), she cried, "but not from the City Police. I will never trust you again!"

In her shock and angst, she called them a few choice names, but the police simply demurred, of course, that they were only following orders. "They couldn't even look me in the eye," said Sophie. "They knew they were doing wrong!"

They did indeed seem to know at some level, because when Sophie placed her hand on one officer's arm during her bitter complaint, he asked her to remove it and the word "harassment" escaped his lips. She was being accused of harassing him!

As for Mohamed himself, he quietly said to his wife, "I'm okay. I've been through this before. Go to your meeting; don't let the people down."

You're going to read in the media that Harkat's bail conditions were breached; that his mother-in-law, a surety, no longer lives at the same residence as per the bail conditions. You may also hear, as I did on Omni Asian News, that "his mother is supposed to supervise him at all times". His mother lives in Algeria!

The facts are that Sophie Harkat and her mother Pierrette Brunette are Harkat's sureties, and they take turns being with him 24/7 as per his bail conditions. At the time of his arrest, Sophie was with her husband and in fact has rarely left his side for the past year, mother-in-law present or not.

Ms. Brunette had not given up her address, and is free to come and go as she likes. And where she goes, as long as Harkat is supervised by a surety, is nobody's business. But if some must know, she was staying overnight at a friend's house to avoid her live-in partner with whom relations have become strained - no doubt partly due to the tensions created by Harkat's severely restrictive bail conditions.

It has been confirmed by Harkat's legal team that there was no breach of bail conditions. The arrest appears to have been ordered to make some kind of point. No doubt it has something to do with the government's court-enforced revision of the Security Certificate legislation (Bill C3) and its fast approaching deadline (Feb. 23).

Harkat was detained over 5 years ago under the old legislation, and it may be that somebody feels a need to reinforce in the mind of the public the need for this regressive and cruel mechanism, where people can be indefinitely deprived of their freedom with no charges laid and no access to the information against them.

Visit the Justice for Mohamed Harkat website to read the latest news releases and learn about the other victims of the Security Certificate. See YayaCanada's "Abolish the Security Certificate" page to learn more and read the bail hearing testimony.

Below is the scene at the City Police station this afternoon as friends and acquaintances began to gather to show their support for the Harkats.


Several of the Ottawa Raging Grannies also arrived to express their concern.


Below is what I prefer to call the "Non-Information Desk". I find it amusing that police often cover their faces like criminals when being photographed. But this one was smiley if not informative when approached. I asked him if Harkat was being held there but he didn't seem to understand the question. Can he have visitors, I asked. "Only his parents," was the reply. His parents don't live in Canada, I said. Would his grannies be allowed to see him? The policeman laughed, and shook his head, but he didn't say "He isn't here."


As far as could later be ascertained by other means, Harkat will spend tonight at the Innes Road detention centre among maximum security's general population. There will be a bail hearing at some point, and his lawyers hope to be successful in getting him back home by Friday.

The group of supporters eventually moved to a downtown meeting room to discuss the situation. Below are about half of the 30 or so people who, over a period of less than four hours, had dropped whatever they were doing to come and see what could be done.


If the government thinks the public doesn't get it, they are sadly mistaken. The Security Certificate is widely viewed as travesty. The Security Certificate violates fundamental human rights and does nothing to enhance the security of Canadians. It was successfully challenged as such in Supreme Court. The government is hoping to salvage it with some revisions. One thing they don't seem to want is fair trials for the detainees, trials that would expose the weakness of the cases against them.

Below, Christian Legeais, communications person for the Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee, makes recommendations regarding press conferences:


You can see by the faces that Harkat's arrest is a disheartening turn of events where it had seemed that progress was being made:


Community groups opposed to the legislation are demanding full releases for all detainees, or if any case against them actually exists, that they be allowed to defend themselves in open, fair and independent trials with full disclosure of the case against them. There is no way the government is going to gracefully allow this to occur.

You can help pressure the decision makers in a number of ways. Click on the image below to find out how:


You can also keep yourself aware of upcoming events that you might be able to attend.

If you do write to the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers, why not email copies to all members of Parliament and the Senate. You can download plain text lists of their email addresses for easy batch emailing.

After listening to Sophie Harkat describe the harrowing experience of her husband's sudden arrest, I asked her if there was anything else she'd like to say. "Only this," she replied, tears gathering. "I've been with my husband 24/7 for a whole year. I don't know how to be without him. How am I going to sleep tonight?"

I can't help wondering how many women could tolerate their husbands on a 24/7 basis without wishing for a break. Nobody could possibly be a threat to national security who is that easy to be around day and night.