Security Certificates

Original author: Press Release
Source: Human Rights Watch
URL: [link]
Date: March 16, 2006

(London, March 8, 2006) – The United Kingdom cannot deport security suspects at risk of torture to Algeria without violating international law, Human Rights Watch said today. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said after official talks in Algiers on February 16 that “good progress” had been made on a deportation agreement and that both countries wanted to sign “as soon as possible,” according to Reuters news agency.

The proposed agreement reportedly resembles the memoranda of understanding (MOUs) that the U.K. has already reached with Jordan, Lebanon, and Libya. Under these memoranda, the receiving governments provide “diplomatic assurances” that they will not mistreat persons that the other country transfers to their territory.

“These MOUs will not prevent torture,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division. “On the contrary, they are tacit admissions that torture is practiced and that these individuals are at risk.”

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Original author: letters by Alex Neve and Michel Frenette
Source: Amnesty.ca
URL: [link]
Date: February 23 2006

An Open Letter to Prime-Minister Stephen Harper
From Amnesty International Canada:
[link]

Lettre d'Amnistie Internationale a Stephen Harper
[link]

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Original author: Timothy Appleby Source: The Globe and Mail URL: [link] Date: February 2, 2006 Detention unit for half dozen men being built on grounds of Millhaven

Call it Guantanamo North, or perhaps Guantanamo Lite. What's for sure is that the new high-security detention centre being built near Kingston to house foreign terrorism suspects is exceedingly small, with space for just six inmates. As things stand, that should pose no problem for Canada's security needs. Just four people -- all Arab nationals -- are believed detained under the government's controversial security certificates. All are resisting deportation on grounds that they fear persecution if sent home. A fifth man is free on bail in Montreal, subject to severe restrictions. None of the five has been charged with a crime.

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Original author: Citizen News Services
Source: The Ottawa Citizen
URL: [link] (subscribers only)
Date: January 28, 2006


A United Nations group says it is "gravely concerned" about Canada's use of special security certificates and calls on the federal government to reconsider the tool for cracking down on suspected terrorists. The UN working group on arbitrary detention says elements of the certificate regime jeopardize a person's rights to a fair hearing, to challenge the evidence used against them, and to ensure judicial review of their incarceration.

"This procedure allows the government to detain aliens for years on the suspicion that they pose a security threat, without raising criminal charges," says the body's report, made public yesterday.

© 2006 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.. All rights reserved.

Original author: Stop Secret Trials and Deportations, Edmonton 484-2961 Source: Harkat Email List Date: January 17, 2006 Media Advisory For Immediate Release, January 16, 2006 NO TO SECURITY CERTIFICATES NO TO SECRET TRIALS NO TO DEPORTATION TO TORTURE Information Picket at Anne McLellan's Campaign Office Tuesday, January 17, 2006 at 4:00 p.m. 11765 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton

Edmonton- January 16, 2006 - Local organizers supporting the national "Stop Secret Trials in Canada" campaign will be holding an information picket in front of Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan's Campaign Office from 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, January 17, 2006. Participants will be drawing attention to the federal government's law on Security Certificates. The Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee says that Security Certificate legislation allows the Canadian government to act with impunity against fundamental norms of justice.

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Original author: Canadian Press Source: The Toronto Star URL: [link] Date: December 30, 2005 Alleged Al Qaeda sleeper agent faces deportation to Algeria

OTTAWA - A man who has been detained for three years on suspicion of being an Al Qaeda sleeper agent was denied bail today. Mohamed Harkat was arrested at his Ottawa apartment in December 2002 on a security certificate issued by the federal government. Harkat's lawyer, Matthew Webber, said his client was "quite upset" with the decision by Federal Court Justice Francois Lemieux. A CSIS official testified in November that Harkat, who has never been charged, would be a threat to national security if he were released. In March, a Federal Court justice upheld the security certificate on which he has been held, paving the way for Harkat's deportation to his native Algeria.

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Original author: Jonathan Montpetit (CP) Source: The Toronto Star URL: [link] Date: December 9, 2005 Court upholds national security certificate

MONTREAL - The Federal Court of Canada has rejected a suspected terrorist's bid to throw out the government's case against him. Adil Charkaoui, 32, was trying to invalidate the national security certificate the government issued against him under federal immigration law in 2003. He also tried to have parts of the immigration law declared unconstitutional. Critics of the law say it creates a so-called "torture loophole" that opens the possibility security certificate detainees can be sent to countries that use torture as an interrogation method. Federal authorities want the landed immigrant deported to his native Morocco. His supporters say Charkaoui, who has maintained his innocence throughout, faces torture upon his return. Judge Simon Noel ruled Friday that the security certificate was legal and respected the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

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Orignal author: Jessica Squires
Source: Briarpatch Magazine
URL: [link]
Date: December 8, 2005


“Those who exchange liberty for security will soon find they have neither. -- Benjamin Franklin (attributed)

"As someone who has suffered and endured physical and psychological torture at the hands of a regime that does not respect basic human rights, I find it very shocking that Canada will deport Mr. Jaballah to Egypt, a country it admits practices torture on detainees.

There is nothing on earth that justifies shipping off someone to torture. The best way to have security is to support and promote justice. If someone is guilty of breaking the law, then he should be allowed to see the evidence against him and to defend himself in an impartial and fair manner.

“It is about time for Canada to repair the damage that was done to its reputation since it was criticized by various human rights organizations for being directly or indirectly complicit in sending people to torture. Canada has a choice to make and I hope it chooses the right one by committing not to send people back to countries where they will face a substantial risk of being abused and tortured." --Maher Arar (Canadian citizen deported to Syria and tortured)


Without warning or explanation, a Muslim man is arrested and detained. Neither he nor his lawyers are given access to any evidence against him, and no charge is laid. The man is detained indefinitely on the basis that he might, at some point in the past, present, or future, pose a risk to national security. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has collected the required signatures of the Federal Ministers of Public Safety Citizenship and Immigration to authorize the detention.



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Original author: Meg Hewings
Source: Hour Magazine
URL: [link]
Date: November 17, 2005


The real life experience of Montrealer Adil Charkaoui could have come straight out of a Kafka novel.

In fact, his story will be part of an adaptation of Kafka's The Trial, in which unsuspecting protagonist Joseph K. awakes to a fascist nightmare when he is abruptly arrested and held without charge or evidence.

The Teesri Duniya Theatre and the Coalition for Justice for Adil Charkaoui recently collaborated in order to present a Montreal version of Trial, a play written this past summer by social justice advocate Matthew Behrens and staged by theatre director Laurel Smith in Toronto. The play shows the striking parallels between the novel's exploration of the nature of bureaucratic power and the current effects of Canada's anti-terror legislation on five immigrants, Charkaoui and four others. All remain detained by security certificates - except Charkaoui who was recently released - a measure allowing authorities to hold non-citizens for indefinite periods without fair trial, under threat of deportation.

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Original author: Chris Cobb Source: The Ottawa Citizen URL: [link] Date: November 14, 2005 Government proposal would answer critics of closed, secret trials

The federal government is considering introducing special legal watchdogs into closed court hearings involving suspected terrorists who are being held indefinitely and without trial. The Citizen has learned that the compromise move is being pushed by federal Public Security Minister Anne McLellan in an effort to soften criticism that the secret court process is unfair to defendants and contrary to the principles and traditions of Canada as an open, liberal democracy.

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