CSIS: Torture And Security Certificates
On Friday December 7 2012 the Globe and Mail ran a story titled: “Use of torture-derived information by CSIS slammed as ‘not decent’”
“The government’s labelling of an Egyptian man as a terrorist threat to Canada’s national security is based on flimsy evidence tainted by torture, Federal Court heard Friday.
In closing submissions, lawyer Johanne Doyon accused Canada’s spy service of unethical tunnel vision in its 12-year quest to have Mohamed Mahjoub deported.
“We know now that there is a large part of the file that was based on (torture),” Ms. Doyon told Judge Edmond Blanchard.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service, she said, did not have “sufficient morality” to exclude evidence against Mr. Mahjoub they knew was obtained from torture.
Mahjoub, a father of three, has been in prison or under house arrest in Toronto since he was first slapped with a national security certificate in 2000.
His lawyers are trying to have the case against him thrown out as an abuse of process.
Doyon said evidence obtained from torture “cannot be established as viable” and accused the government of willingly violating the Charter and subverting the judicial system for its own ends.
Continue Reading at: theglobeandmail.com
For men being held on security certificates, information derived from torture is only the tip of the iceberg! I had an opportunity to interview Sophie Lamarche about her experience since her husband Mohamed Harkat, was deemed a threat to Canada and issued a security certificate.
Government camera’s in their home, no cell phones, no internet, facing deportation, etc. All on faulty information and secret trails. IS this really a free country?
In the case of Mohamed harkat, he, his family and friends are still fighting to this very day! In fact on Monday a rally and press conference is being held to raise awareness on the issue. Please support them in any way that you can!
MOHAMED HARKAT SECURITY CERTIFICATE 10th ANNIVERSARY
Press Conference and Rally, December 10th, 2012
Ottawa: December 10, 2012 is the 10th anniversary of the arrest and detention of Mohamed Harkat on a Security Certificate.
A media conference is planned as follows:
DATE: December 10, 2012
TIME: 10:30 AM
LOCATION: Charles Lynch Room, Centre Block
Speakers:
Elizabeth May, Green Party MP
Randall Garrison, NDP MP (Public Safety Critic)
Hilary Homes-Amnesty International
Roch Tassé-International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group
Ihsaan Gardee-CAIR-CAN
Pierrette Brunette-Mother-In-Law of Mohamed Harkat
Mohamed Harkat
Members of Parliament and Human Rights groups will be on hand to make statements in honour of International Human Rights Day and against the Security Certificates/Secret Trials in Canada.
The system will be the subject of a new appeal in 2013 before the Supreme Court of Canada. 2013 will also be the year Canada is once again under scrutiny for its
Human Rights record for the UN’s Universal Periodic Review.
A rally/special visual is planned just before the news conference
DATE: December 10, 2012
TIME: 10 AM Sharp (will end at 10:30am)
LOCATION: Steps of Parliament Hill
Mohamed Harkat has been detained without charge or access to the evidence for ten years under the Security Certificate regime, during part of which he was in solitary confinement,
was detained in jail for 43 months, and for 3.5 years of which he was detained under the toughest bail conditions in Canadian history.
The changes to the process following the 2007 unanimous Supreme Court ruling that the Security Certificates were unconstitutional have made little difference:
Mr. Harkat still is not charged, still has no access to the evidence, and still faces deportation to torture or death.
To mark the 10th anniversary of Mohamed Harkat’s arrest and International Human Rights Day, events are taking place on Dec. 9-10th in other cities across the country.
(Vancouver, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina, Ottawa, Montréal and Halifax)
The Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee calls for the repeal of the sections of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that allow for Security Certificate detentions;
release of the detainees, or fair and open trials for the detainees in which they should be given access to the evidence against them.
