Terrorism evidence against suspects rests on vague profile categories

Evidence

Charkaoui has taken martial arts training, as did one of the September 11 hijackers. Paradoxically, although he is normal, Charkaoui has several of the other elements of the terrorist profile, primarily the geographical profile of an Islamic extremist. First, he is from Morocco and CSIS alleged that he was in fact a member of a radical Islamic group. Second, he is religious, and through going to the mosques in the Montreal area he came into contact with a number of suspicious individuals. Third, Charkaoui travelled to Pakistan in February of 1998 and stayed until July. He maintains that he was undertaking Islamic studies in order to write a book, while CSIS alleges that he attended a training camp in Afghanistan. A key piece of evidence against him are the statements of Abu Zubaida and Ahmed Ressam (which are part of the summary of the evidence previously given to Mr Charkaoui on 26 May, 17 July, and 14 August 2003) identifying Mr Charkaoui, upon presentation of photographs, under the name of Al-Maghrebi and stating that he had been seen by them in Afghanistan in a camp. — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 134

Categorization

• QUESTION: The profile categories — martial arts training, Moroccan origin, mosque attendance, travel to Pakistan — are far too broad to discriminate terrorists from innocent people, yet form the entire case.