Accused 9/11 terrorist actually had nothing to do with the attacks

"Captured", waterboarded, detained for years, accused of being a prominent mastermind of 9/11 and a terrorist, now found to have had nothing to do with the attacks"

The federal government's case against Mohamed Harkat appears to have suffered a significant blow Wednesday when a document was introduced in court showing that Abu Zubaydah, once considered a master terrorist and 9/11 mastermind, actually had nothing to do with the attacks.



Even more surprising, the document, which quotes U.S court filings declassified last week, shows that Zubaydah, once believed to be one of the top leaders in al-Qaida, was not even a member of the terrorist group.



One of Harkat's lawyers, Norm Boxall, said the information is significant because part of the government's case against Harkat is that he is an associate of Zubaydah. If Zubaydah has no ties to al-Qaida, as now appears to be the case, a large chunk of the case against Harkat is under question.



The government alleges that Harkat, a pizza delivery man in Ottawa, came to Canada in 1995 from Pakistan as an al-Qaida sleeper agent.



The document, a report under the byline of Jason Leopold, quoted U.S. court documents, which say the American government now admits that Zubaydah did not have "any direct role in or advance knowledge of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001," and was neither a "member" of al-Qaida nor "formally" identified with the terrorist organization.



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