VZCZCXRO8567
OO RUEHGA RUEHHA RUEHMT RUEHQU RUEHVC
DE RUEHOT #0647 2331907
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 211907Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9778
INFO RUCNCAN/ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000647 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV CA
SUBJECT: NO PASSPORT FOR CONVICTED TERRORIST KAMEL 
 
REF:  OTTAWA 079 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary and comment.  The Supreme Court of Canada declined 
to hear an appeal on August 20 by convicted terrorist and 
naturalized Canadian citizen Fateh Kamel of the federal government's 
refusal to issue him a passport (reftel).  The decision decisively 
underscores the federal government's right to deny passports to 
individuals on the basis of national security.  End summary and 
comment. 
 
¶2. (U)  Fateh Kamel was born in Algeria in 1961.  He fought against 
the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the mid 1980s, and moved to 
Canada in 1988.  He married a Canadian schoolteacher and became a 
Canadian citizen in 1993.  In 1991, he allegedly attended a training 
camp in Afghanistan, and in 1993 fought in Bosnia.  In 1996, he met 
Osama Bin Laden in Khartoum and worked with al-Qaeda and Algerian 
groups.  He returned to Montreal in 1997, where he allegedly 
specialized in the forging of documents (especially Canadian 
passports) for Global Jihad, and allegedly headed a group of radical 
Islamists, including convicted "Millennium Bomber" Ahmed Ressam.  He 
currently resides in Montreal with his wife and young son. 
 
¶3.  (U)  Authorities arrested Kamel in Jordan in March 1999 and 
extradited him to France, where courts convicted him in 2001 on 
charges of supporting terrorism and plotting to blow up Paris metro 
stations.  The court sentenced him to eight years imprisonment.  He 
served four years in prison.  Authorities reduced his sentence for 
good behavior and released him in January 2005.  He returned to 
Canada on January 29, 2005. 
 
¶4.  (U)  Kamel applied for a Canadian passport in June 2005.  The 
then-Liberal government denied the application, but in March 2008 
the Federal Court ruled that the denial infringed Kamel's 
constitutional right to leave and enter Canada.  The Federal Court 
of Appeal set aside the ruling in January 2009, prompting Kamel's 
final application to the Supreme Court, which on August 20 declined 
to hear the case.  According to practice, the Supreme Court did not 
provide its reasons, while assigning any and all costs to Kamel. 
 
 
HOPPER