Publication ban slapped on terror hearing
The lawyer representing one of 17 people accused of being terrorists has launched a blistering attack on the "oppressive, isolation conditions" in which the men are being held.
Before a hearing began at the Brampton courthouse Monday morning for the 17 arrested earlier this month - at which a justice of the peace imposed a publication ban on the proceedings - Rocco Galati said the oppressive conditions included:
being in a room with a light on 24 hours a day;
being denied leaving this room for the first five days for even 30 seconds;
being given only five minutes to eat their meals - otherwise their meals are taken away from them;
not being allowed to speak to anyone, including the guards;
being forced to keep their eyes on the floor at all times.
Galati, who represents Ahmed Mustafa Ghany, 21, of Mississauga, added that when the arrested men, including five who are charged as youths, are escorted or walked from Point A to Point B, "they must walk at a 90-degree angle with their legs upright and their torso across at a 90-degree angle with handcuffs stretched out. And they are being escorted by three armed tactical members of the security forces."
Galati also accused the authorities of unfairly leaking selected information to the media "to ensure the denial of a fair bail hearing and the denial of a fair trial," he said.
He was infuriated that the crown would ask for a blanket publication ban. He said he wants the allegations against his client to be known.
I don't approve of a publication ban in this case, Canadians are very interested in this and we should be allowed to know what is going on and it gives the impression the Crown has something to hide.
Read the rest here
A momentous, impending clash in the Supreme Court of Canada between national security and the rights of terrorism detainees has taken on even more significance since the arrest of 17 terrorism suspects.
A three-day appeal -- the first major constitutional test of laws aimed at rooting out terrorists -- starts tomorrow and is expected to yield a blueprint for how the court sees fundamental human rights stacking up against the fear of terrorist attacks.
Julian Falconer, a prominent civil rights lawyer, expressed apprehension that a wave of fear about terrorism and Muslims that has swept the country could affect the Supreme Court judges, regardless of how strenuously they may try to ignore it.
"I don't see how we can expect our judges to be immune to this," Mr. Falconer said in an interview. "It isn't logical. I'm certainly concerned about it creeping into the quotient. Judges are not robots."
Read the rest here
This will be interesting to watch but we will probably have to wait a few months for the Courts decision.
On a similar note:
Ex-hostage speaks up
Ex-hostage James Loney likened his Iraq ordeal to five foreign nationals detained in Canada based on secret terrorism concerns yesterday.
"I think it goes against everything we say we are in our society," Loney said, standing outside PM Stephen Harper's office yesterday.
Loney, human rights activists and relatives of the men called on Harper to cancel the practice of signing security certificates, which are the basis of legal challenges by three of the detainees that reach the Supreme Court today.
Loney was held hostage in Iraq for almost four months along with another Canadian and two others before he and two of the others were rescued earlier this year.
The certificates, signed by two government ministers, enable the authorities to detain foreigners without charge or full explanation under threat of deportation to their home country.
Two of the five detainees have won release on bail. Two others are being held in what has become known as Guantanamo North at Kingston's Millhaven Penitentiary.
"These men are facing deportation to torture," said Matthew Behrens, co-ordinator of a Freedom Caravan to Ottawa from Toronto organized to demand the end of security certificates.
Acknowledging the five men have legal rights he never had, Loney said their deportation risk likely puts them in a similar frame of mind to what he once felt.
I agree with him, not to mentioned nothing has been proved against these people either.
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