(update from the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada) February 24, 2008 -- In typical government style, a series of rehashed ancient suspicions, new unfounded allegations, and outright lies against secret trial detainees Mahmoud Jaballah, Mohammad Mahjoub, Hassan Almrei, Mohamed Harkat, and Adil Charkaoui were “released” last Friday afternoon. Conveniently, there was little or no opportunity for informed journalists to put things into perspective and get beyond the fear-mongering the allegations are meant to inspire. In a highly politicized move, the Federal Court of Canada for the first time posted on its home page the so-called “public summaries” of the cases against four of the five Muslim men subject to security certificates. (Why four out of five? In perhaps another sign of the incompetence of the CSIS sponsors of secret trials, one of the summaries is attributed to the wrong guy. As if that weren’t bad enough, a summary package hand delivered to another of the detainees had a cover letter addressed to...someone other than himself!). There is no context to these Federal Court postings, no explanation that these are only unproven allegations based on speculation about some possible past, present, or future behaviour, no chance for those whose names are slandered through this process to respond. They are simply there as “official-looking” documents that doom the reputations of those who have yet to have a hearing. And when they do get to court, they will be told that the basis for these allegations is a secret neither they nor their lawyers can challenge.

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