Mohamed Harkat () (born August 6, 1968, Algeria) is a native-born Algerian and permanent resident of Canada who was arrested in 2002 on suspicion of ties to terrorism and was imprisoned under security certificates. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) alleged that he entered the country as a sleeper agent for al-Qaeda. He had worked in Pakistan from 1990-1994 for a charity that assisted refugees. After immigrating to Canada in 1995, Harkat applied for refugee status and for a Permanent Resident card. He worked as a gas station attendant and a deliveryman for Pizza Pizza during his first seven years in Canada. He was released on May 23, 2006 under house arrest, while fighting deportation. Early life and education Mohamed Harkat was born in Taguine, Algeria to El-Ait, and is one of seven sons. His father was born in Algeria, but worked both there and in France in the construction business. As a student at the University of Oran, Harkat joined the Front Islamique du Salut (FIS) in 1989, when it was still a legitimate political movement. He offered them the use of a family-owned house in Zmalet El Emir Abdelkader as a registered district office. Harkat was excused from Algerian military service because he broke his left leg as a child and it never properly healed. In March 1990, the Algerian government stormed the house and arrested the FIS members within. Harkat was not present, and was warned by his uncle that security forces were seeking him. Leaving Algeria Harkat departed in April 1990 for a trip to Saudi Arabia using a Hajj passport. From there he travelled to Pakistan, where the Muslim World League employed him and sent him to Peshawar in May 1990, to help distribute relief packages and organise aid programs. For the next four years, Harkat worked and lived out of a Babbi warehouse. He picked up shipments of food and relief supplies for the refugee camps in the city from the Peshawar airport and train station, earning $300–500 monthly. CSIS has alleged that during this time he also worked for Human Concern International. They suggest that this meant he was a formal colleague of Ahmed Khadr, and that he may have run a guest house for foreign mujahideen traveling to participate in the Afghan civil war. In June 1994 Harkat lost his job. He lived off his $18,000 in savings for the next year.