Security Certificates

Original author: Canadian Press
Source: 900News.com
URL: [link]
Date: March 26, 2005

TORONTO (CP) - Canada's system of jailing suspected foreign terrorists indefinitely or deporting them to countries where they face a real risk of torture is under growing scrutiny and will likely have to change significantly, several experts say.

Judges, politicians and civil libertarians have been grappling with a system that does away with some of the most basic protections Canadians cherish in the interests of national security.

Those protections include the right not to be detained arbitrarily, the right to know the evidence the state has when it detains someone and the right to test that evidence in open court.

The issue of how best to protect the country while safeguarding basic individual rights is taxing democracies around the world.

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Original author: Eilis Quinn
Source: Macleans.ca
URL: [link]
Date: March 26, 2005


MONTREAL (CP) - Suspected Moroccan terrorist Adil Charkaoui joined several dozen people Saturday to protest national security certificates used to detain alleged terrorists without trial or charges.

"I had a normal life like everybody and then one day, (the Canadian Security Intelligence Service) decided I was a threat to national security," said Charkaoui, 31, who was detained under a certificate for almost two years before being released under stringent bail conditions in February.

"They arrested me, they didn't show any proof and they told me I was very dangerous," he said, pulling up his pantleg to show the electronic ankle bracelet he must wear.

"I am just asking for justice ... I want the government to give me a fair trial to clear my name and show I'm not a terrorist."

Charkaoui, who is fighting the security certificate, is among five men who have been detained under the certificates since 2000.

The small crowd walked along downtown Ste-Catherine Street carrying signs and banners, calling for the end of "racist scapegoating."

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Original author: Matthew Behrens of The Campaign To Stop Secret Trials in Canada
Source: TASC Email List Date: March 23, 2005 (feel free to forward and reproduce) The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Just Another Busy Day in the Land of Secret Trials Mahmoud Jaballah Wins Judicial Review on Deportation to Torture; Security Certificate Upheld in case of Secret Trial Detainee Mohamed Harkat; Bail Hearing Continues for Secret Trial Detainee Mohammad Mahjoub; Security Certificate Hearing for Secret Trial Detainee (now under house arrest) Adil Charkaoui Suspended Pending new Protection Decision; Hassan Almrei marks 41 Months, Six Days in Solitary Confinement in Toronto Detention Facility

March 23, 2005--It was just another busy day in the land of secret trials yesterday. In a Toronto courtroom, eloquent arguments were heard in calling for the release on bail of secret trial detainee Mohammad Mahjoub, held without charge on secret "evidence" almost five years in a Toronto detention facility. Government lawyers pressed their case to deport him, knowing full well the torture or death which awaits him if returned to Egypt. The hearing is set to conclude April 22, with a decision hopefully within a month or two afterwards. Meanwhile, the secret trial security certificate against Algerian refugee Mohamed Harkat, held since his arrest on International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2002, was upheld on the basis of secret evidence. This will mean further jail time, and more court time, arguing that he, like Mahjoub and the other detainees, should not be deported given the cruel and unusual treatment which would be their fate.

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Original author: Mary Foster
Source: Coalition Justice pour Adil Charkaoui

Two secret trial decisions came out yesterday, on the eve of Martin meeting with Bush in the US: one on Mohamed Harkat's case, and the second in Mahmoud Jaballah's case (links to both decisions are included below).

Judge Dawson upheld the certificate for Harkat after several months of deliberating on secret information, without ever having heard Harkat's side in a fair trial, in a process which undermines the principles of the legal profession. While her decision is unquestionably a victory for injustice and racism, it does NOT mean that Harkat is in imminent danger of deportation. Harkat can now apply for protection from Canada, given the fact that, as a convention refugee, he faces serious risks if he is deported. He can also apply for release on bail.

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Original author: Matthew Behrens of The Campaign To Stop Secret Trials In Canada Source: TASC Email list Date: March 9, 2005 Families of Detainees Undertake Intensive lobby at Parliament Hill as Parliamentary Motion Calls for End of Abusive Process; Three Liberals, One Tory Add Names to Growing List of MPs Calling for an End to Secret Trial Security Certificates and an End of Canadian Deportation to Torture; Another Demonstration in Victoria adds to the growing chorus of dissent

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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Source: NDP Press release Date: March 8, 2005 Alexa calls on the government to halt use of security certificates

Alexa 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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Original author: Sun Ottawa Bureau
Source: 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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Check out this new report about Canada's security certificate process author by The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association: HERE

Original author: unsigned editorial Source: The Toronto Star URL: [link] Date: February 18, 2005 Editorial: Canada's vexing security cases

Canada has not felt the need to detain many alleged terrorists before or after the 9/11 attacks. But the few we do hold sorely test our legal system. One Egyptian man, Mohamed Mahjoub, has been locked in a Toronto detention centre for nearly five years, since June, 2000, without being charged with a crime, set free or deported. He is one of a small group of Arab men who made their way here, were deemed inadmissible because of suspected terrorist links, and who have been fighting deportation for years, claiming they will be killed or tortured if sent home.

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Original author: Nelson Wyatt
Source: Canadian Press (CP) and The Montreal Gazette
URL: [link]
Date: February 17, 2005


MONTREAL (CP) -- Federal Court ruled Thursday that a man suspected of being a sleeper agent for the al-Qaida terrorist network be released on $50,000 bail.

Justice Simon Noel's ruling came after Adil Charkaoui's fourth bid for release. Federal officials said Thursday there will be no appeal.

"The court has rendered its decision and we have to respect it,'' said Daniel Lavoie, a spokesman for Public Security and Emergency Preparedness.

Charkaoui has been held on a national security certificate for nearly two years after being arrested. The certificate, a controversial provision of the Immigration Act, means most of the evidence against him is seen only by the government and the judge.

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