AARON HARRIS/TORONTO STAR Hassan Almrei, 35, under house arrest after seven years in jail, adjusts a tracking device on his leg. Monitoring the Syrian refugee in his Mississauga townhouse is a costly process.

A decision was issued this morning by the Honourable Richard Mosley of the Federal Court in file DES-3-08:

IN THE MATTER OF Hassan Almrei

Summary: On February 22, 2008, the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration signed a certificate in which they state that Hassan Almrei is a foreign national who is inadmissible to Canada on security grounds.

As required by subsection 77(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (“IRPA”), the certificate was referred to the Court for determination as to whether it is reasonable.

The Court is satisfied that Hassan Almrei is not and was not a member of an organization that there are reasonable grounds to believe has engaged in terrorism within the meaning of paragraph 34(1)(f) of the IRPA.

The Court recognizes that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Hassan Almrei was a danger to the security of Canada when he was detained in 2001 but finds that there are no longer reasonable grounds to believe that he is a security risk today.

The Court also found that CSIS and the Ministers breached their duties of utmost good faith and candour to the Court by not thoroughly reviewing the information in their possession, prior to the issuance of the February 2008 certificate.

Accordingly, the Court finds that the certificate is not reasonable and must be quashed.

The Court has signed a private set of reasons regarding the information and evidence heard in closed sessions that will be released only to the Ministers and Special Advocates.

A copy of the decision can be obtained via the Web site of the Federal Court:

http://cas-ncr-nter03.cas-satj.gc.ca/portal/page/portal/fc_cf_en/Index

Tags: Canadian government, CSIS, Federal Court, Hassan Almrei, IRPA, Ministers, special advocates

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