The Mounties executed search warrants issued under the new Security of Information Act, Canada's response to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. The new act replaced the old Official Secrets Act, but its so-called leakage provisions were drawn directly from the old act, which had been criticized as archaic and poorly written.

However, in October 2006, the Ontario Superior Court struck down the leakage sections of the act and rendered those warrants null and void.

"It's a tremendous affirmation of the importance of freedom of the press and freedom of expression," said O'Neill's lawyer, David Paciocco.

"This is also an ultimate vindication of Ms. O'Neill," he said.

O'Neill's legal team argued the Security of Information Act provisions used to obtain the RCMP search warrants violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

If the decision is not appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, it would pave the way for the return of O'Neill's seized papers, notebooks, contact listings and computer files.

Klaus Poehl, who teaches media law at Carleton University's School of Journalism, told CBC News Online that the raids on O'Neill's home and the Citizen are the first instance of police acting on the Security of Information Act. Poehl said the RCMP used Section 4 of the new act to go on a "fishing expedition" to find documents that might explain information leaked to the reporter.

• According to the report, the RCMP's main target was Abdullah Almalki, whom the RCMP saw talking to Arar in the pouring rain, supposedly to avoid eavesdroppers.
  
  
• Almalki now is in prison "abroad" with other members of "an alleged al-Qaeda logistical support group" from Ottawa.
  
  
• As for security officials leaking documents that discredit Arar, the report cites a "security source" who said this explains "why the Canadian government is so fiercely opposed to a public inquiry into the case of Mr. Arar."
  
  
• The Citizen report cites "Canadian security documents" that said Arar told Syrian military intelligence authorities when he was incarcerated in Damascus he had trained at the Khalden terrorist training camp in Afghanistan and named specific instructors who taught him tactics and how to use firearms.