OTTAWA, March 8, 2005 - "Did you get our dad out yet?" one of the young children of the secret trial detainees asked us today as we returned to an Ottawa daycare space following two days of intensive lobbying on Parliament Hill.
While we did not have the answer he needed to hear, the longer-term response was that we are making steps in the right direction. At the end of the lobby period, during which friends and family of Canada's Secret Trial Five met with almost 20 MPs and Senators, it was clear that secret trials are an issue being discussed both in various party caucuses and in Cabinet.
Indeed, much to the chagrin of CSIS and their biggest booster, Anne McLellan, the issue has been forced into the wider sphere of the reviews of the anti-terror legislation. Last week, there was an all-party consent to include the security certificates in the House subcommittee's review of C-36, and excellent, persistent questioning of witnesses before the Senate committee by folks like Senators Lynch-Staunton and Mobina Jaffer, among many others).
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[REPORT-BACK] Beginning of the End for Secret Trial Security Certificates in Canada
posted on March 10, 2005 | in Category Security Certificates | PermaLinkCSIS chief links immigrant to Al Qaeda
posted on March 09, 2005 | in Category CSIS | PermaLinkOTTAWA - A Canadian landed immigrant is a key commander affiliated with Al Qaeda in Iraq, a top CSIS official says.
CSIS director Jim Judd told a Senate committee yesterday "the ranks of trained terrorist fighters in Iraq are bolstered by individuals from around the world, including from Europe and Canada."
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Alexa calls on the government to halt use of security certificates
posted on March 09, 2005 | in Category Security Certificates | PermaLinkAlexa McDonough held a press conference with families of four men currently held on security certificates, calling on the government to charge these men if evidence exists that they've committed a crime or release them immediately!
Ms. McDonough tabled a detailed motion that also called on the government to abide by the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Canada is signatory, and delivered a statement in the House.
Read on..
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Charge or release terrorist suspects, says NDP MP
posted on March 09, 2005 | in Category Security Certificates | PermaLinkSource: The Ottawa Sun
URL: N/A
Date: March 8, 2005
OTTAWA -- Families of four terrorist suspects jailed under security certificates made another plea yesterday for the federal government to end its "secret trial" process. The mothers, wives and children made the trek to Parliament Hill to press their case and sat in the House of Commons when NDP MP Alexa McDonough tabled a motion to scrap the "reckless" measure.
"In the short term the five men who have been held, in one case up to five years, under security certificates, should either be charged or they should be released," she said.
Family members said even people charged with crimes like murder and rape have the right to a fair trial.
They urged Prime Minister Paul Martin to bring the men to trial or release them.
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Life without my husband, best friend and HERO
posted on March 03, 2005 | in Category Mohamed Harkat | PermaLinkThere is not much to report on our case other then the constant stress and anxiety my husband and family have been under for the past few weeks. My husband's "so called" hearing ended on Dec. 9th, 2004 and the decision in his case is still pending. Judge Eleanor Dawson from the Federal Court will be making a decision based on "reasonable grounds to believe" that my husband is associated to terrorism or MIGHT be associated in the future. The ruling is not based on concrete evidence or facts. We have never seen the evidence CSIS has gathered on my husband for national security reasons. We, and our legal team have been in the dark since his arrest.
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Cotler examining use of security certificates
posted on March 03, 2005 | in Category Bill C-36 | PermaLinkOTTAWA - Canada should consider following Britain's lead by reworking the provisions of controversial national security certificates so that people who are deemed security risks but cannot be deported are not jailed indefinitely, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said yesterday.
As two committees reviewing post-Sept. 9, 2001, anti-terrorism legislation raise questions about the controversial use of security certificates, Mr. Cotler said the compromises proposed in Britain might be useful here.
Britain's so-called control measures include house arrest and a variety of conditions that include curfews, restrictions on using telephones and other communication devices, and the use of electronic-tagging devices, such as ankle bracelets.
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New report on Security Certificates
posted on February 27, 2005 | in Category Security Certificates | PermaLinkSuspected terrorist Charkaoui says he's being set up by Moroccans, CSIS
posted on February 23, 2005 | in Category CSIS | PermaLinkSource: Macleans.ca
URL: [link]
Date: February 22, 2005
MONTREAL (CP) - A suspected terrorist suggested Tuesday he's being set up by Canadian intelligence agents working behind the scenes with Moroccan authorities.
Adil Charkaoui criticized the Canadian Security Intelligence Service after federal government lawyers denied a Radio-Canada report that Moroccan authorities had issued an arrest warrant for the 31-year-old last September.
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Anti-terror powers never used but still needed, says justice minister
posted on February 22, 2005 | in Category Bill C-36 | PermaLinkOTTAWA (CP) - Special police and judicial powers granted three years ago to combat terrorism are still needed, even though most of them have never been used, says Justice Minister Irwin Cotler. "The whole purpose of anti-terrorism laws is to ensure that terrorist acts don't take place to begin with," Cotler said Monday after appearing at a Senate committee. He was testifying there on federal legislation that was rushed into law in December 2001, less than three months after the attacks by Islamic extremists on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. The law gave Canadian police the power to make arrests without warrant and to hold suspects without charge if they believe a terrorist act is imminent. Suspects can also be compelled to testify before a judge about what they know of terrorist plans, rather than remaining silent as is their normal right. The arrest and detention powers have never been used and there has been only one attempt to compel testimony since the law was passed. But Cotler said that's no reason to do away with the powers that raised an outcry among civil libertarians when they were enacted. "My position at this point is that those provisions, even if we have not had to have resort to them, are still required," said Cotler. As a backbench Liberal MP in 2001, Cotler expressed concern about the powers and lobbied successfully for a sunset clause that would see them lapse after five years. That term won't run out until 2006. Many other provisions of the law are up for examination now, as part of a separate three-year review written into the legislation. © The Canadian Press 2005
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Supporters demand the immediate release of the 4 other detainees
posted on February 19, 2005 | in Category Mohamed Harkat | PermaLinkOTTAWA - Members and supporters of The Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee are very pleased that Adil Charkaoui is out on bail even though the conditions are very harsh but has finally been reunited with his family and kids.
"This is a step in the right direction. All four other Muslim men should be freed, and their security certificate quashed," says Sophie Harkat, wife of Mohamed Harkat detained under a security certificate since December 10th, 2002 in Ottawa.
The four other Muslim men being held under security certificates are: Mohammad Mahjoub (married, with three children, held since June, 2000); Mahmoud Jaballah (married, with six children, held since August 2001. He "won" against a prior certificate, a new one was signed despite a lack of any new evidence); Hassan Almrei (single, held since Oct. 2001) and Mohamed Harkat (married, held since December 2002).
The fact that a Federal court judge has recognized that Adil Charkaoui is not a threat to national security confirms what The Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee has repeatly said: the five Muslim men are imprisoned even though they have done nothing wrong/commited no crime.
"Instead of threatening Mr. Charkaoui and using intimidation during a declaration on Thursday, Anne McLellan, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, should admit that the security certificate process is fundamentally unjust and order that the four other Muslim men be freed immediately," says Christian Legeais, campaign manager for the Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee.
The demands of the Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee are that Mohamed Harkat: - Be released immediately; - Not be deported, and the abolition of the Security Certificate and the end of the Secret trials in Canada.
For more information contact: Christian Legeais, Comite Justice pour
Mohamed Harkat: (613) 276-9102
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