National
Alleged terrorist wants inquiry; denies plot to fly plane into foreign target
By PETER RAKOBOWCHUK
Friday, June 22, 2007

MONTREAL (CP) - Alleged terrorist Adil Charkaoui vehemently denied on Friday a published report that said he was involved in a plot to fly a plane into an unspecified foreign target.

A Montreal newspaper quoted a report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service as saying the Moroccan-born Charkaoui was involved in a terrorist plot in 2000.

An agitated Charkaoui called for a public inquiry into CSIS at a hastily-called news conference Friday.

He said he didn’t trust Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, the government’s point man for the security agency.

"I’m asking Prime Minister Stephen Harper to do a public inquiry about the work of CSIS in my case," he said.

In Ottawa, Harper said he would not comment because the Charkaoui case is still before the courts, but added that "these questions are very serious."

Day’s office also refused to comment.

Barbara Campion, spokeswoman for CSIS, said an investigation has been launched into how the material got into the hands of the media.

"We do not condone the unauthorized disclosure of information," she said. "Any type of allegation of a possible leak is taken very seriously. It is definitely being looked at."

Charkaoui, who was detained for 21 months under a federal security certificate until his release in 2005, continues to maintain his innocence.

"All that information is false," said Charkaoui, surrounded by supporters. "I am not a terrorist. I have never had any conversation about a plot, or anything, here in Canada or outside."

A news report cites a CSIS document that says Charkaoui discussed an apparent terrorist plot with Hashim Tahir in June 2000.

The newspaper says the document claims Tahir travelled to Pakistan in 1999 and has links with Islamic groups in Montreal.

Charkaoui acknowledged that he had hired Tahir to work in a pizzeria, played soccer with him and saw him regularly at a mosque, but insisted there was never any talk of plots.

"He (Tahir) is free and he has never faced any accusations," he added.

According to the news report, the CSIS document was prepared using information from intelligence agencies in the U.S., Britain, New Zealand and Australia.

Charkaoui, a landed immigrant, was arrested in Montreal almost four years ago.

He was detained in part on the strength of accusations made by convicted terrorist and fellow Montrealer Ahmed Ressam.

The Algerian-born Ressam was caught trying to slip across the British Columbia-Washington border in 1999 with a trunk full of explosives to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on the eve of the millennium. Following his conviction in the United States in 2001, Ressam co-operated extensively with authorities in the hope of leniency.

He received 22 years behind bars, but earlier this year a judge ordered a review of the sentence.

CSIS has said that Ressam identified Charkaoui as someone he met at an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan - an allegation Charkaoui denies.

A Montreal newspaper reported in April that Ressam recanted the accusation against Charkaoui in a letter responding to an inquiry from the newspaper.

In the letter, written in Arabic, Ressam said he was under great psychological pressure following his conviction, and that his statements therefore can’t be taken seriously.