Original author: Matthew Behrens, tasc at web dot ca Source: TASC Email list Date: April 28, 2005 Chasing Down Justice and Seeking a Presumption of Innocence: A Report from the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials

(the update below covers a variety of events which have taken place over the past month). April has been an incredibly busy month for folks working to end secret trials in Canada and Canadian deportations to torture. Benefits mixing Kafka and CSIS, rallies, major educational events, a difficult hunger strike, new revelations about Canadian complicity in torture abroad, a campaign to initiate contact family visits with men detained almost five years without charge or bail, and the first call for the complete abolition of secret trials in Canada from a major international human rights group were just part of the mix during what is often called the cruelest month. In an incident which seemed to typify the nature of our ongoing efforts to chase down some justice, campaign members Rabea Murtaza and Matthew Behrens were standing around in Terminal One at Toronto's international airport on April 22 waiting for their guest, Monia Mazigh, to arrive from Ottawa for an evening talk. While discussing the ups and downs of organizing around such a difficult issue -- one difficulty being that those who sign these certificates and pursue these deportations to torture have always refused to meet with us -- Behrens thought he recognized from behind one Joe Volpe, the current Minister of Detention and Deportation and one half of the duet who signs the secret trial security certificate. Murtaza, perhaps taken aback at her colleague's peculiar manner of recognizing certain public figures, nonetheless took her friend's strange habit in stride and suggested that they chase after him to see if he was the real number. The two sprinted down the long terminal, calling out, "Mr. Volpe, Mr. Volpe." Perhaps recognizing a potential media opportunity, the minister turned around as we approached him with a flyer advertising the upcoming 24 Hours Against Torture vigil at his office, scheduled for June 8-9.

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Original author: Catherine Cullen
Source: The Globe and Mail
URL: [link]
Date: April 27, 2005


MONTREAL -- Refugee advocates are planning a week-long protest march from Montreal to Ottawa in June to demand changes to Canada's immigration system.

The "No One is Illegal" march will begin on June 18 in downtown Montreal, organizers said.

The procession will pass the Immigration and Refugee Board office and then head through the Parc Extension and Côte-Des-Neiges neighbourhoods, both of which have large immigrant populations.

Participants will stay the night in Montreal and then begin the nearly 200-kilometre trek to Ottawa. They plan to arrive on June 25 to celebrate with a festival near Parliament Hill.

Organizers say they expect thousands to participate.

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Original author: Andrew Duffy Source: The Ottawa Citizen Date: April 27, 2005 Harkat faces torture, death in Algeria experts: Alleged terrorist would meet same fate as 'thousands' of others if deported

Ottawa's Mohamed Harkat would likely face torture or death if deported to his native Algeria, according to a leading authority who has worked as a consultant for the CIA and the U.S. State Department. In an affidavit recently filed with the federal government, Fordham University professor John Entilis says the "absolute nature" of Federal Court Judge Eleanor Dawson's decision last month puts Mr. Harkat at risk in Algeria. Judge Dawson ruled that Mr. Harkat actively supported terrorist activity as a member of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. Mr. Entelis said much lesser findings have doomed terrorist suspects in Algeria. "(It) leaves no doubt in the minds of those to whom he will be returned that he constitutes a clear and present danger to the national security of the Algerian state," wrote Mr. Entelis, director of the Middle East Studies Program at Fordham University in New York. "Thousands of presumed terrorists have been killed or made to disappear at the hands of the national security forces who have invoked little to none of the kind of legally binding evidence being produced by Canadian authorities in justifying Mr. Harkat's expulsion from the country."

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A twenty page Brief to the House of Commons Subcommittee on Public Safety and National Security Of the Standing Committee on Justice, Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness ICLMG is the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group Download the PDF document here: [link]

I bring to your attention another great photo report by YayaCanada. HERE

A cold and rainy day in Ottawa didn't stop supporters from coming out and expressing their outrage at Canada's immigration policies which cage refugees like animals in horrible detention centres like Innes Road in Ottawa and Metro West in Toronto, and then after a few years of that they deport them to countries that torture and disappear people. Countries like Syria, Algeria and Egypt. Mohamed Harkat is to be deported to Algeria a country that imprisons Algerian newspaper reporters and publishers for exposing corruption which implicates oil company CEOs and President Abdel Aziz Boutefliqa. Can you imagine the way they will treat someone who Canada says is a "suspected terrorist"? Below is one of Yaya's photos from today's rally. To see more and to read Yaya's comments click on it.
photo by Corinne Allan


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Source: CBC News
URL: [link]
Date: April 20, 2005


OTTAWA - Thirty people demonstrated in support of Mohamed Harkat Wednesday in downtown Ottawa, urging the government not to deport the Algerian man who has been held for over two years on a security certificate.

Security certificates allow the government to detain suspected terrorists indefinitely without charge.

Harkat is an Algerian refugee arrested in December 2002 after CSIS accused him of being an al-Qaeda "sleeper." The security agency alleges that Harkat is an Islamic extremist who trained under Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants in Afghanistan.

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Original author: Oliver Moore
Souce: The Globe and Mail
URL: [link]
Date: April 14, 2005


Western governments relying on the "fig leaf" of assurances that a deported terror suspect will not be tortured are nevertheless complicit in any resulting human-rights abuses, a highly critical report argues.

The paper from Human Rights Watch slams countries for ducking the "absolution prohibition" on torture by sending suspects abroad and using the flimsy promises of the recipient country to skirt their legal obligations.

"The assurances are meaningless coming from places like Egypt, Syria, Uzbekistan and Yemen," report author Julia Hall told globeandmail.com on Thursday, citing countries that rights groups accuse of systemic abuses.

The report specifically cites Canada and its security-certificate procedure, in which suspects can be tried using secret evidence and deported to countries where torture is believed to be common, as long as that country vows not to abuse that particular person.


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Original author: Canadian Press (CP)
Source: CTV.CA
URL: [link]
Date: April 14, 2005

TORONTO - Governments that deport suspected terrorists to countries known to torture detainees are either breathtakingly naive or complicit in the abuse if they rely on promises of humane treatment, a new report concludes.

The report, by the non-partisan organization Human Rights Watch, says Western nations, including Canada, are increasingly turning to hollow diplomatic assurances of fair treatment from suspect governments.

"Countries that rely on such assurances are either engaging in wishful thinking or using the assurances as a fig leaf to cover their complicity in torture,'' concludes the report, to be officially released Friday.

"Diplomatic assurances do not and cannot prevent torture.''

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Evan Dyer talked with Mohamed in jail and it was broadcast early this morning on the Ottawa Morning show. The interview is available on our Web site in MP3 format HERE.

Also, on the CBC TV national news at 6:00PM there was a story about the new Human Rights Watch report. The 91-page report, Still at Risk: Diplomatic Assurances No Safeguard against Torture, documents the growing practice among Western governments "including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands" of seeking assurances of humane treatment in order to transfer terrorism suspects to states with well-established records of torture. The report details a dozen cases involving actual or attempted transfers to countries where torture is commonplace. It chastises Canada for its attempts to deport detainees to torture. Mahmoud Jaballah was shown briefly in the CBC news item.

Original author: Colin Perkel and Canadian Press Source: CANOE CNEWS URL: [link] Date: April 9, 2005

TORONTO (CP) - Canada's spy agency admits it shared information it obtained from a Canadian teen being held as an enemy combatant at Guantanamo Bay with American intelligence services, documents show. The transcripts of a cross-examination obtained by The Canadian Press also show the agency did not ask for guarantees the United States would not use the information in any prosecution that could result in the death penalty for Omar Khadr. "We did not seek those assurances," William Hooper, assistant director of operations for the Canadian Intelligence Security Service, told Khadr's lawyer during the closed-door hearing last month.

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