Lawyers for the federal government have dismissed suggestions that a
Hamilton man convicted by a French court of supplying forged documents to a
terror cell is an innocent man caught up in a conspiracy concocted by spy
agencies.
"There is no evidence of that," Justice Department counsel Howard Piafsky
told a Toronto judge. "None."
Mr. Piafsky, who is representing the government at the extradition hearing
of 38-year-old Abdellah Ouzghar, scoffed at theories advanced by Mr.
Ouzghar's lawyer, Rocco Galati, who has told the court that Mr. Ouzghar is
the victim of a payback scheme orchestrated by the Canadian Security
Intelligence Service after his client refused to spy for them.
"He [Mr. Galati] seems to indicate that there was some sort of conspiracy,"
Mr. Piafsky said. "There wasn't."
Mr. Ouzghar is at the centre of a high-stakes extradition case that will
determine whether he will be sent to France, where a court convicted him in
absentia for supplying forged documents to terrorists responsible for a
string of attacks in Europe.
Mr. Galati has dismissed the French case against his client as "smoke and
mirrors," concocted after Mr. Ouzghar refused to spy for CSIS. Mr. Piafsky
painted a far more sinister picture of Mr. Ouzghar, linking him to a long
list of players in an international web of terror, including Ahmed Ressam,
a former member of the Montreal Islamic community who was convicted in 2001
of plotting to blow up the Los Angeles airport.
The court was told that Mr. Ouzghar, who used to lived in Montreal, often
visited an apartment in Ville d'Anjou where Mr. Ressam lived.
Mr. Ouzghar has admitted that he knew Mr. Ressam, but says that the
association meant nothing -- he said in court that he knew Mr. Ressam only
as a casual acquaintance.
Mr. Piafsky also cited Mr. Ouzghar's links to Fateh Kamel, who also lived
in Montreal at the same time as Mr. Ouzghar, and is described in
investigative documents as a member of a terror cell. According to a French
court document, Mr. Kamel was recorded on a European wiretap espousing
violent fundamentalism.
Mr. Galati told the court earlier this week that there is no actual
connection between his client and the terrorists cited in the French
documents. He said Mr. Ouzghar has been ensnared in a scheme that involved
intelligence services in France, Morocco and Canada.
Mr. Galati told the court that the scheme began after Mr. Ouzghar was
visited by CSIS agents in 1996 and asked to provide information about other
members of the Montreal Islamic community, including Mr. Ressam. When he
refused, Mr. Galati said, CSIS trapped him by having him detained during a
visit to Morocco, where secret police took away his passport and told him
he would never get back to Canada unless he agreed to spy for CSIS.
Mr. Piafsky told the court yesterday that there is no proof of any such scheme.
"The evidence does not indicate any credible link between the French,
Moroccan and Canadian agencies," he said. "He [Mr. Galati] seems to
indicate that there was some sort of conspiracy. There wasn't."
Mr. Piafsky said CSIS agents had visited Mr. Ouzghar four times, and that
there had been an obvious reason for each visit -- as when agents visited
him after Mr. Ressam's arrest in 1999, and again in 2001, shortly after the
Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington.
"It is obvious from the timing of the interviews why CSIS would be
interested in talking to anyone who knew Ahmed Ressam," Mr. Piafsky said.
"Each visit coincided with a significant event with which Mr. Ouzghar had a
connection."
Mr. Galati has subpoenaed CSIS agents involved in the case against his
client, insisting that their testimony is vital to the court's decision on
whether to extradite Mr. Ouzghar. Lawyers for the federal government have
asked that the subpoenas be quashed. The judge is expected to rule today on
whether the agents can be ordered to testify.
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