Collge de Rosemont severs ties with Adil Charkaoui group

The Collge de Rosemontin east-end Montrealsays it will no longer rent space for kickboxing andkarate courses to the Centre communautaire de l'est de Montral, an Islamic centre run by Adil Charkaoui.

Collegedirector Stphane Godbout said Thursdaythe collegewas unable to come to an agreement with the controversial imamthat would allow him to continue running courseswhile respecting the college's code of conduct.

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Godbout said the college wasconcerned specificallybylinks on the centre's Facebook page to what it characterized as"violent, radical" material.

Charkaoui also rents space at Collge de Maisonneuvefor hiscole des Compagnons, a school forArabic and Qu'ran studies.

Charkoui responded to the latest decision Thursday,first via hisFacebook page.

"The director of Collge de Rosemont is taking advantage of the arrest of a student from [Collge] de Maisonneuve (who is not even charged) to publicly air our failed discussions regarding the Compagnons karate and kickboxing coursesin their school," he wrote.

Charkoui later elaborated in a news release.

"This cancellationisunfounded, defamatory and discriminatory," his statement said.

"Throughout its discussions with the headsof [Collgede]Rosemont, the CompagnonsKarate and Kickboxing Club showed good faith, whilethe administration ofCollgedeRosemonthas continued to invoke various excuses to cancel the contract."

Courses suspended

In February, both colleges suspended Charkaoui's space-rental contractover concerns about some of the links on his group's Facebook page.

A month later, Collge de Maisonneuve reached an agreement with Charkaoui's cole des compagnonsallowing courses to continue, as long as there wereobservers in the classroom to ensure thatcollege's code of conduct was being respected.

Godbout said Collge de Rosemonttried to reach a similar agreement with Charkaouibutwas unsuccessful.

He said Charkaoui's group agreed to respect the college's code of conduct, but only while it was using the college's facilities.

Godbout said that's not good enough.

"The links that were put on the internet that we had aproblem with, that was done outside the college, but we wanted them to respect communication norms that are respectful and ethical," said Godbout.

No connection to arrests

Godbout said there was no connection between today's decision and the arrest yesterday of 18-year-old ElMahdiJamali.

Jamalihad previously supported Charkaoui on his personal Facebook page.

RCMP requested Wednesday thatJamaliand another teenager, SabrineDjermane,sign peace bonds because they had reason to believe they might commit a terrorism offence.

Both Jamali and Djermane are enrolled at Collge de Maisonneuve.