Anti-terror hocus-pocus

posted on March 20, 2004 | in Category Security Certificates | PermaLink

by Stephen Humphrey Source: Toronto NOW URL: [link] Date: March 11, 2004 If these Muslims are terrorists, why are they not being tried under 9/11 bill?

For those trying to follow the effects of post-9/11 security crackdowns, the trail through Toronto courts over the last number of months is sure to confuse. This week in another of the seemingly endless series of hearings, Mahmoud Jaballah, one of five Muslim immigrants held in the Metro West Detention Centre without charges under suspicion of terrorist involvement, was denied bail. In a strange turn of events, however, these security cases are being heard not under the much-criticized anti-terrorism Bill C-36, with its sweeping powers of investigation and arrest, but under the immigration security certificate procedure. Critics charge that this process, part of the CSIS apparatus, is a blank cheque for arrest without warrant, open-ended detention and secretive proceedings. And, ironically, many of those who have criticized C-36 say that, scary as it may be, that legislation at least contains such rudiments of due process as specific charges, disclosure of evidence and cross-examination.



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