In a classical collision between an accused’s rights and the right of journalists to maintain the confidentiality of sources, Canadian Federal Court Judge Simon Noël has come down on the side of the accused.  The case involves Adil Charkaoui, a Moroccan, who was imprisoned in 2003 under a security certificate, accused of being an al-Qaeda agent.

Charkaoui was released under strict bail conditions in 2005.  His name appears as the lead appellant in a successful Supreme Court challenge to the security certificate legislation.  The Court gave the government until February to rewrite the legislation to bring it into conformity with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Two journalists from Montreal’s La Presse cited a top secret document from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) which accused Charkaoui of attending a military training camp in Afghanistan in 1998 and of talking about using an airplane to crash into a building.  According to Noël, because evidence for the security certificate is secret, it was illegal for the reporters to reveal it.  In ordering them to reveal the sources, he said that the report was hurtful to Charkaoui and to the justice system.  Charkaoui denies the allegations made.