Security officials judged Almrei’s profile rather than verified specific conduct

Evidence

The significance of where and with whom Almrei stayed in Afghanistan and Tajikistan and what he did there are hard to establish. His counsel suggests that one of the guest houses at which Almrei stayed in Afghanistan was run by a man who is now a minister in the government of Afghanistan and who is clearly of the Northern Alliance; she shows that CSIS relied uncritically on right-wing think tanks for some of its information; Almrei’s ‘military training’ consisted in learning how to shoot a rifle; and his ‘scouting mission’ with the well-known Ibn Khattab amounted to little else than checking out the conditions for establishing a camp. While there is clearly disagreement on these details, they do not form the heart of the case that Almrei presents a security risk to Canada today. Of more concern is his characterization as having been associated with forged passports and with other Arabs. As the CSIS agent insists, it is the fact that Almrei has a profile, the profile of a man of potential use to Al Qaeda, that counts the most. — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 107

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the concept of racial profiling and the security certificate regime in Canada’s post-9/11 response.