Mohamed Harkat

Mohamed Harkat (محمد حركات) (born August 6, 1968, Algeria) is a native-born Algerian and permanent resident of Canada who was arrested in 2002 on suspicion of ties to terrorism and was imprisoned under security certificates.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) alleged that he entered the country as a sleeper agent for al-Qaeda.

As a student at the University of Oran, Harkat joined the Front Islamique du Salut (FIS) in 1989, when it was still a legitimate political movement.

He offered them the use of a family-owned house in Zmalet El Emir Abdelkader as a registered district office.

Harkat was excused from Algerian military service because he broke his left leg as a child and it never properly healed.

He had worked in Pakistan from 1990-1994 for a charity that assisted refugees.

In March 1990, the Algerian government stormed the house and arrested the FIS members within.

Harkat was not present, and was warned by his uncle that security forces were seeking him.

Harkat departed in April 1990 for a trip to Saudi Arabia using a Hajj passport.

From there he travelled to Pakistan, where the Muslim World League employed him and sent him to Peshawar in May 1990, to help distribute relief packages and organise aid programs.

For the next four years, Harkat worked and lived out of a Babbi warehouse.

He picked up shipments of food and relief supplies for the refugee camps in the city from the Peshawar airport and train station, earning $300–500 monthly.

CSIS has alleged that during this time he also worked for Human Concern International.

They suggest that this meant he was a formal colleague of Ahmed Khadr, and that he may have run a guest house for foreign mujahideen traveling to participate in the Afghan civil war.

In June 1994 Harkat lost his job.

He lived off his $18,000 in savings for the next year.

He has made contradictory statements suggesting he either deposited $12,000 of his earnings in a bank through his friend Haji Wazir, or that he never used a bank and kept all his money with him.

CSIS contends that Pacha Wazir, to whom they believe Harkat is referring, is an Emirati citizen known to have connections to al-Qaeda.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) alleges that Harkat and "Mohammad Adnani" were the same person, and that during this time, he joined the more militant Groupe Islamique Armé wing of FIS.

They allege he eventually aligned with Gama`at Islamiyya.

CSIS will not provide a source for this claim, arguing that the information came from "open sources".

He contacted Taher, a colleague he had met in 1994 in Peshawar then living in Ottawa, Ontario.

He arranged to meet him at the Ottawa bus station, since he said he had been told that it was best to start a refugee claim from the city.

Taher met him at the bus terminal and took him to the mosque, where he was introduced to Abrihim, a convert to Islam who lived beside the mosque.

He allowed Harkat to live with him for a week or two.

Harkat said that he would be persecuted by the Algerian government if he returned, due to his past membership in the FIS.

After immigrating to Canada in 1995, Harkat applied for refugee status and for a Permanent Resident card.

He worked as a gas station attendant and a deliveryman for Pizza Pizza during his first seven years in Canada.

In September 1995, Harkat paid $5000 for airfare to travel from Pakistan to Malaysia, from where he hoped to catch a direct flight to Canada.

In Kuala Lampur, he purchased a forged Saudi passport in the name of Mohammed M. Mohammed S. Al Qahtani for $1200 from a stranger named Abu Abdallah Pakistani, to carry in addition to his legitimate Algerian passport.

Saudi passports did not require entry visas to visit Canada.

Holding about $1000, Harkat flew from Malaysia to Toronto via the United Kingdom on October 6, 1995.

His claim was accepted on February 24, 1997.

In March, he applied for Permanent Resident status.

While attending prayers at the Ottawa Mosque on Northwestern Avenue, he met Mohamed el-Barseigy, who was looking for someone to share his apartment.

Accepting el-Barseigy's offer of a drive back to Toronto, Harkat was introduced to Ahmed Khadr, who was also in the van.

Harkat has said that Khadr was silent during most of the trip, and his only advice to Harkat was "tell the truth to immigration authorities."

He was released on May 23, 2006 under house arrest, while fighting deportation.

Mohamed Harkat was born in Taguine, Algeria to El-Ait, and is one of seven sons.

His father was born in Algeria, but worked both there and in France in the construction business.