Canada's high court on Friday quashed extraordinary security detentions of foreigners suspected of terror ties without charges for many years, saying they breach civil rights.
Lawyers for three men with alleged terror links asked the Supreme Court of Canada in June 2006 to review the so-called security certificates. They were backed by 11 civil rights groups.
The nine justices said in their decision: "The procedure, under (sections) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, is inconsistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and hence of no force or effect."
However, the law will remain in effect for one year to allow Parliament to amend it.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said he would "carefully" review the decision. "In the interim, the security certificate process remains in place."
The certificates allow secret court hearings, undisclosed evidence and indefinite incarceration as part of Canada's immigration act since 1978.
Since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, the certificates were used to jail five suspected terrorists, including the appellants, Moroccan Adil Charkaoui, Algerian Mohamed Harkat and Syrian Hassan Almrei.
The men asked the Supreme Court to overturn the law, saying its circumvention of normal judicial process makes it unconstitutional, as well as discriminatory.
Harkat's lawyer, Paul Copeland, said in June 2006 the government's refusal to divulge secret evidence in such cases, much of it gleaned from foreign intelligence sources, "emasculated" defense attorneys.
Government lawyers argued the secrecy prevents disclosure of intelligence and spy techniques to terrorists abroad.
The Supreme Court ruled that this secrecy and the slowness of the process to determine whether security certificates were reasonable violated suspects' constitutional right to a fair and speedy trial.
"Before the state can detain people for significant periods of time, it must accord them a fair judicial process," Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote.
The lengthy review process "violates the guarantee against arbitrary detention," she added.
Barbara Jackman, a lawyer for Almrei, said she was elated the process was deemed unfair.
"I don't think you ever diminish the security of the country when you provide a fair hearing ... It doesn't in any way at all jeopardize national security interests of Canada. If anything, it strengthens our democracy," she said.
"I also think that it's an indication to other countries that do detain people and mistreat them, that it's not satisfactory, that there are ways to provide fair hearings in the face of national security concerns."
Alex Neve of Amnesty International Canada said the decision "clearly conveys the message that in the domain of counterterrorism law, policy and practice, governments don't get off the hook when it comes to human rights."
Authorities pointed out that detainees may opt to return to their home countries at any time, but critics argue they face possible torture or death there.
Canada's top court acknowledged: "Confronted with a terrorist threat, state officials may need to act immediately, in the absence of a fully documented case. It may take some time to verify and document the threat."
"Where state officials act expeditiously, the failure to meet an arbitrary target of a fixed number of hours should not mean the automatic release of the person, who may well be dangerous," the justices wrote.
"However, this cannot justify the complete denial of a timely detention review."
Harkat and Charkaoui have been released under strict bail conditions, which include electronic monitoring, after spending several years in a Canadian jail.
Harkat, who was granted refugee status when he arrived in Canada in 1997, is contesting a deportation order to Algeria. His Canadian-born wife Sophie, in tears, told reporters: "This has been four years of hell for us."
Officials have not yet determined whether a security certificate used to arrest and detain Charkaoui was reasonable.
Hassan Almrei and Egyptian-born Mahmoud Jaballah remain in custody, and have been on a hunger strike for more than two months to protest their conditions at a Kingston, Ontario, detention center. Supporters called for their immediate release on Friday.
Almrei arrived in Canada in 1999, claimed refugee status and is appealing a deportation order.
A fifth detainee, Egyptian Mohammad Mahjoub, was ordered released last week.
