A terrorism suspect accused of violating his bail conditions will spend another night behind bars after a Federal Court judge in Ottawa postponed a decision Thursday on whether to release him for the weekend.

Judge Eleanor Dawson is expected to decide Friday morning whether to grant Mohamed Harkat his freedom.

Police and Canadian Border Services Agency officers raided Harkat's Ottawa home on Tuesday and rearrested him.

Mohamed Harkat and his wife, Sophie, in 2007.
(Fred Chartrant/Canadian Press)

Government lawyers claimed Harkat's mother-in-law, Pierrette Brunet, is no longer a full-time resident of the house where Harkat and his wife, Sophie Harkat, live in a basement apartment. They said that constitutes a breach of a condition that Harkat live with both women.

A decision about whether Harkat violated his bail conditions will not be made until a Federal Court review of the conditions, which is scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

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.

The review had been scheduled before Harkat's rearrest, and his lawyer, Matt Webber, called the timing of the arrest suspicious.

Another detainee in a similar case was not arrested after allegedly violating bail conditions, Webber said. Instead, the alleged breach was brought up at the man's bail review.

"Would it have been better or more appropriate, from my perspective, to do that and bring it [Harkat's case] up on court on Monday? Yes," he said Thursday.

Webber argued in court that Harkat should not have been thrown back in jail over a change in his living arrangements.

Harkat's behaviour has been impeccable since he was freed under strict conditions 19 months ago, Webber said.

The court heard Thursday that Brunet began staying elsewhere in November after breaking up with her longtime boyfriend, who owns the house.

However, the court was told no one raised any concerns until this week, even though Harkat's home is under constant surveillance through wire taps and two cameras and by officers who sit in a car at the end of the driveway.

Canadian Border Services Agency lawyers reiterated in court that they believe Harkat is a risk to national security, but only found out last week that Pierrette Brunet was no longer living full-time at the house.

'Where is our privacy?': Sophie Harkat

Harkat's wife, Sophie Harkat, said she doesn't believe her husband breached the conditions.

"We [she and Brunet] have never left my husband alone in 18 months since June 21, 2006 [the date of Harkat's release] … We respected every, every order to the T."

She said she was disgusted that lawyers were arguing in court over whether her mother has been sleeping at the house.

"Where is our privacy? We have no privacy," she said.

Sophie Harkat visited her husband at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre on Wednesday and said he is confident the judge will be on his side.

The Algerian refugee was first arrested in 2002 and accused by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) of being an agent for an al-Qaeda sleeper cell.

Harkat was released on bail with a long list of conditions in June 2006, 3½ 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.

While their use was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court last February, Ottawa has been permitted to continue to hold five suspected terrorists arrested on the certificates while it works on a new law. A bill proposing a new system was tabled in the fall.

With files from the Canadian Press