Globe and Mail to challenge secrecy of federal documents

Globe to challenge secrecy of federal documents

COLIN FREEZE

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

February 21, 2008 at 5:56 AM EST

The Globe and Mail will be represented in an Ottawa court this morning to fight against secrecy the federal government has imposed on documents flowing from a counterterrorism case.

The hearing will be largely closed to the public, but during the proceedings, Peter Jacobsen, a lawyer for The Globe and Mail, will argue that the information in question can be safely disclosed to the public.

The Crown contends the information's release could harm its relations with foreign security agencies.

The Globe and Mail was on the verge of publishing information about the document last year when Justice Department lawyers forced the story to be held with a last-minute warning to a reporter and his editor that publishing the material would be illegal, based on national security grounds.

Crown lawyers had released the document into a court file, but made it secret again after saying its release was a mistake.

The case concerns the extradition of Abdullah Khadr, a 27-year-old Egyptian-Canadian who the U.S. is seeking to have extradited from Toronto, where he is in jail.

In 2005, he was indicted in Boston on charges that he sold arms to al-Qaeda while he lived in Pakistan.

The Khadr case, launched two years ago, has stalled in Federal Court amid various constitutional challenges by his lawyers.

 
 

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