A terrorism suspect out on bail has been arrested in Ottawa for allegedly violating his bail conditions.

Ottawa police and Canadian Border Services Agency officers raided the home of Mohamed Harkat around 3 p.m. Tuesday and took him back into custody, said his wife, Sophie Harkat.

Mohamed Harkat, shown in 2006, was arrested Tuesday after police alleged he violated his bail conditions, his wife said.
(CBC)

"He was actually in the shower, they even grabbed him from the bathroom," she said. "He just had a towel around."

Sophie Harkat said police arrived while she was in her office preparing for a Supreme Court challenge concerning her husband's case in a few days' time.

"I could see all these … officers at the door, and I knew even before I opened the door what was going on," she said, her voice rising to almost a wail.

Harkat, an Algerian refugee, had been released on bail with a long list of conditions in June 2006, three and a half years after he was arrested on a federal security certificate. The controversial certificates allowed authorities to hold suspects indefinitely without trial and keep evidence against them secret.

Their use was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in February 2007, but the government has been allowed to continue to hold the five Muslim men already arrested on security certificates while it worked on a new law. A bill proposing a new system was tabled in the fall.

One of Harkat's bail conditions is that he must live with his mother-in-law, and his wife said that is the condition he is accused of violating.

His lawyer, Paul Copeland, said he is still waiting for an explanation of the arrest from the Canada Border Services Agency.

"He has done zero to threaten the national security," Copeland said from Toronto.

A spokesman for the federal agency confirmed Harkat had been arrested but would not elaborate on why.

"We're going to be disclosing all of our allegations in the Federal Court," he said.

Sophie Harkat said that agents from the Canada Border Services Agency came to the house a few days earlier and took photos of some of her mother's possessions in boxes.

Mohamed Harkat's bail conditions

Wear an electronic monitoring device. Remain under 24-hour supervision, even at home. Inform authorities 48 hours in advance if he plans to leave his home. Submit in advance the names of people he plans to see for approval by the Canada Border Services Agency. Live in the same house as his wife and mother-in-law. Leave the premises no more than three times a week for a total of four hours each time. Always be accompanied by his wife or mother-in-law when he leaves the house. Not use the internet. Consent to having his phone tapped.

She said her mother is looking for a new place to live after separating from her longtime partner.

Copeland also said the conditions had not been breached, saying he suspects the raid might have been related to an upcoming court case in which Harkat plans to argue for a loosening of his stringent bail conditions. That federal court case will take place next week.

A Supreme Court hearing will also take place Friday challenging the new security certificate system tabled by the government last fall.

Harkat was arrested in December 2002. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service accused him of being an al-Qaeda "sleeper agent" and alleged that Harkat trained under Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants in Afghanistan.

He has denied the allegations.

With files from the Canadian Press