Students seek love, not terror: Charkaoui
MONTREAL — Adil Charkaoui has been a household name since 2003 when he was detained by the Canadian government on a security certificate alleging he was a sleeper agent.
Charkaoui successfully fought the government and obtained Canadian citizenship — and his freedom — in 2014.
But over the past four months, Charkaoui’s name has surfaced again and again as the tie linking 19 young Quebecers who have travelled, or attempted to travel, abroad to conflict zones in the Middle East.
At least 11 of the 19 went to Collège Maisonneuve, where Charkaoui has taught Arabic and Koranic lessons. Some of the youths attended prayer sessions and other activities at the Centre Communautaire Islamique de l’Est de Montreal, or CCIEM, where Charkaoui is president of the board of directors.
But that is where the association ends, Charkaoui insists.
In an interview Thursday, Charkaoui addressed the latest allegations against him, and explained why he believes he is the focus of so much negative attention.
Q: The media and others have pointed to you as the common denominator that ties these youths together. How do you respond to that? A: When the news first came out that Collège Maisonneuve students were at “Charkaoui’s school,” I was with my lawyers and we were just about to react to a Supreme Court decision that said the government had to divulge its evidence to the defending party — me, who was suing them for $26.5 million. (Charkaoui is seeking compensation for lost income, legal fees, and time spent in detention or under house arrest between 2003 and 2009.) So the two articles came out at the same time. ... Someone called me and gave me the name of the student and I said he was at two sessions (with the school) then he dropped the course. But the journalist still called him a “student of Charkaoui.”
Q: Why do you think so many people are focusing on your relationship to these youths? A: If I hadn’t been arrested under a security certificate would people still say the same thing? What about other teachers at the CCIEM or the CEGEP? It’s because my name is known.
Now they say “It’s him again.” … But as long as there is no formal apology and compensation, like with Maher Arar, people can associate my name to anything. … The day after the election, the CCIEM was attacked with a Molotov cocktail and an axe, and it was tagged with “f--k Liberals, kill Muslims.” The debate put so much pressure on society and created a certain hate for Muslims and people saw me as Public Enemy No. 1.
Q: You knew some of the 10 youths arrested at the airport. What can you tell me about them? A: We heard that 10 youths were arrested and we were in total shock. They were not talking of one or two, but 10 trying to reach a conflict zone, probably to join a terrorist group. Then we investigated. I talked to three parents, including the father who alerted police. And we learned that it’s five couples — five love stories — and the parents are against their marriage. One was an Algerian with a Moroccan, another from a Lebanese Shiite family who wants to marry someone from a Moroccan Sunni family. But none of this was said. When we started to look at this, we realized the media is playing Conservative politics. Prime Minister Harper comes to Dorval Airport and says: “There’s no place for jihadis in Canada ...” The father didn’t call the police because his son was going to engage in jihad, but because he was leaving without his permission. So it’s five attempted marriages.
(Editor’s note: The father of one of the minors told La Presse and the Toronto Star that his daughter was leaving for Italy to get married — but that Charkaoui had radicalized her and filled her with hate. On May 19, the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team released a statement in which it said the 10 youths were arrested at Trudeau airport, and “suspected of wanting to leave the country to join jihadist groups.” They had their passports confiscated but no charges were laid. The RCMP would not comment on the alternative explanation.)
Q: That’s hard to believe. They were all going to get married? A: I’m telling you what the parents told me. They are minors. We are not naive. … We asked the parents and they say they were going to get married and come back and they were registered for (school) next year. They deny categorically that they were going to a conflict zone.
Q: Anonymous sources, cited by La Presse, assert that someone or several people at the CCIEM had been advising youths on how to get to Syria and Iraq. Could this be true? A: It’s anonymous. “Sources.” We’re scandalized by this and we thought to ourselves, if it did happen, was it entrapment? Did people from CSIS or elsewhere come to the centre and brainwash (the youths)? We’ve sent messages to youths to say if people come to you with radical speeches you have to alert the police. Everyone starts doubting everyone else. It’s a terrible atmosphere.
There are about 1,000 people a week at the centre attending prayers, courses and activities. There’s no registration — no one will ask you who you are or tell you to wear a veil. In the classes I give I don’t know who the students are. I don’t take attendance. I can know faces but I don’t know all the people — that’s how it works in mosques and other centres.