~head~desk~
Sometimes I have to wonder what goes on in people's heads.
Damn, this is stupid.
"Can't deny terrorist's bid for a passport, judge rules"
TheStar.com
Federal Court says `arbitrary' security grounds don't override guarantee of freedom of movement
March 14, 2008
Sean Gordon
Quebec Bureau Chief
MONTREAL-A Federal Court judge has dealt another blow to Canada's anti-terrorism legal framework by striking down rules allowing Ottawa to reject passport applications for reasons of national security.
Justice Simon Noël ruled the process used to deny a passport application by Canadian citizen and convicted terrorist Fateh Kamel violates the freedom of movement guaranteed in the Constitution.
Noël also characterized the process as "arbitrary" and "unacceptable," giving the federal government six months to overhaul its regulations - approved by order-in-council in 2004.
"The rights of the applicant were not respected, he wasn't adequately informed as to the evidence used against him, he did not have the opportunity to be heard, and as a consequence the minister did not have the required information to make an informed decision," Noël wrote.
A Foreign Affairs spokesperson said the department, which oversees the passport office, was not yet in a position to comment on the judgment, released yesterday.
The ruling represents a second major legal triumph in a year for Kamel's lawyer, Johanne Doyon. She successfully challenged the federal security certificate law in an unrelated case involving the detention of another alleged Montreal terrorist, Adil Charkaoui.
The ruling is also the second time in recent years the Federal Court has quashed a decision to reject a passport application.
The first case involved Toronto resident Abdurahman Khadr, whose passport application remains in legal limbo, and provoked the 2004 changes to the law.
Civil liberties experts hailed the new ruling as more evidence the anti-terrorism laws were an overreaction to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"The government in these cases has done what the police and security services wanted, without giving any weight whatsoever to the constitutional rights of individuals," said Toronto civil rights lawyer Clayton Ruby. "It's nice to see the courts say they drew the line in the wrong place."
Ruby represented Khadr, who spent time in Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and at a U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where his younger brother is now on trial before a military court.
Kamel - an Algerian-born former shopkeeper who turns 48 today - arrived in Montreal in 1987. He denies any terrorist involvement.
But Canada's intelligence services consider Kamel a security risk - the government has mused about stripping him of his citizenship - and identify him as the mastermind of a Montreal cell of Islamic extremists that included "millennium bomber" Ahmed Ressam, and had links to Al Qaeda.
Ressam is serving a jail sentence in the U.S. for plotting to blow up Los Angeles airport in 1999.
That same year, Kamel was arrested in Jordan and extradited to France, where he was convicted of plotting to bomb the Paris Métro and other targets and sent to prison for eight years.
Kamel claims he was railroaded by the French authorities because of his Algerian roots.
After leaving prison in early 2005 he returned to Montreal and applied for a passport, saying he wished to travel to Thailand to pursue business opportunities. Last Dec. 14, the application was denied.
Yesterday's ruling wasn't a total victory for Kamel; Noël refused a request that a passport be issued immediately.
Damn, this is stupid.
"Can't deny terrorist's bid for a passport, judge rules"
TheStar.com
Federal Court says `arbitrary' security grounds don't override guarantee of freedom of movement
March 14, 2008
Sean Gordon
Quebec Bureau Chief
MONTREAL-A Federal Court judge has dealt another blow to Canada's anti-terrorism legal framework by striking down rules allowing Ottawa to reject passport applications for reasons of national security.
Justice Simon Noël ruled the process used to deny a passport application by Canadian citizen and convicted terrorist Fateh Kamel violates the freedom of movement guaranteed in the Constitution.
Noël also characterized the process as "arbitrary" and "unacceptable," giving the federal government six months to overhaul its regulations - approved by order-in-council in 2004.
"The rights of the applicant were not respected, he wasn't adequately informed as to the evidence used against him, he did not have the opportunity to be heard, and as a consequence the minister did not have the required information to make an informed decision," Noël wrote.
A Foreign Affairs spokesperson said the department, which oversees the passport office, was not yet in a position to comment on the judgment, released yesterday.
The ruling represents a second major legal triumph in a year for Kamel's lawyer, Johanne Doyon. She successfully challenged the federal security certificate law in an unrelated case involving the detention of another alleged Montreal terrorist, Adil Charkaoui.
The ruling is also the second time in recent years the Federal Court has quashed a decision to reject a passport application.
The first case involved Toronto resident Abdurahman Khadr, whose passport application remains in legal limbo, and provoked the 2004 changes to the law.
Civil liberties experts hailed the new ruling as more evidence the anti-terrorism laws were an overreaction to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"The government in these cases has done what the police and security services wanted, without giving any weight whatsoever to the constitutional rights of individuals," said Toronto civil rights lawyer Clayton Ruby. "It's nice to see the courts say they drew the line in the wrong place."
Ruby represented Khadr, who spent time in Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and at a U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where his younger brother is now on trial before a military court.
Kamel - an Algerian-born former shopkeeper who turns 48 today - arrived in Montreal in 1987. He denies any terrorist involvement.
But Canada's intelligence services consider Kamel a security risk - the government has mused about stripping him of his citizenship - and identify him as the mastermind of a Montreal cell of Islamic extremists that included "millennium bomber" Ahmed Ressam, and had links to Al Qaeda.
Ressam is serving a jail sentence in the U.S. for plotting to blow up Los Angeles airport in 1999.
That same year, Kamel was arrested in Jordan and extradited to France, where he was convicted of plotting to bomb the Paris Métro and other targets and sent to prison for eight years.
Kamel claims he was railroaded by the French authorities because of his Algerian roots.
After leaving prison in early 2005 he returned to Montreal and applied for a passport, saying he wished to travel to Thailand to pursue business opportunities. Last Dec. 14, the application was denied.
Yesterday's ruling wasn't a total victory for Kamel; Noël refused a request that a passport be issued immediately.