A documentary film by Patricio Henriquez. Canada, 2008, 107 min.

followed by discussions with Patricio Henriquez and Adil Charkaoui.

Friday, 7 November 2008, 8:45pm (Patricio Henriquez)
&
Sunday, 9 November 2008, 2:45pm (Adil Charkaoui)

Cinéma Parallèle (Ex-Centris)
3536 Saint Laurent Blvd.
box office: 514 847-2206
www.ex-centris.com.

Most officials linked to faulty intelligence still in positions
 
Andrew Duffy, The Ottawa Citizen, 24 October 2008

Human rights activists say this country will foster "a culture of impunity" if security officials are not held accountable for actions that contributed to the suffering of four Canadians tortured in Syria and Egypt.

Kerry Pither, a human rights activist and author of Dark Days: The Story of Four Canadians Tortured in the Name of Fighting Terror, said no Canadian official had been charged, disciplined or demoted for misconduct in the cases of Maher Arar, Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El-Maati and Muayyed Nureddin.

Two federal inquiries have found that faulty Canadian intelligence played a significant role in what befell the men in Syria.

"There is a culture of impunity in this country that is very troubling," Ms. Pither said. "The fact is that most of the officials who were in place and who carried out the deficient action that led to the torture of these Canadian citizens, most of these officials are still in place and many have been promoted, and they're still doing this work."

No One Is Illegal Radio reports about the frontline struggles for justice, dignity and self-determination by migrants, refugees and indigenous peoples.

The October 2008 edition of No One Is Illegal Radio is a collaboration with the People's Commission into Immigration "Security" Measures and the "Torture Canada" series. We hear directly from the people resisting and exposing torture, indignity and injustice, whether at Guantanamo in Cuba, at Guantanamo North at Kingston or at a local prison here in Montreal, as well the continued efforts to seek clear answers, transparently and openly, about Canada's direct role in rendition to torture.

On the October show, we hear about (and from):

For too long we've been kept in the dark about the role of CSIS and the RCMP in the detainment and torture of three Canadians
 
Kerry Pither, Citizen Special, Thursday, October 23, 2008
 
It's no wonder CSIS, the RCMP and the government wanted to keep the Iacobucci inquiry so secret. Despite all the faults with the process, the inquiry's report offers up a startling and shameful record of Canadian complicity in torture. It effectively clears the names of men that the government has tried to portray as terrorists. And it backs up everything these men have said about what happened to them. In short, the report is bad news for the government, CSIS and the RCMP, and good news for Ahmad Abou-ElMaati, Abdullah Almalki and Muayyed Nureddin.

For years, these men have been saying they were tortured while they were in Syrian, and in the case of Mr. El-Maati, Egyptian detention as well. They've described in gut-wrenching detail how, among other unspeakable atrocities, they were whipped with cables, and, in the case of Mr. El-Maati, subjected to electric shock.

Haroon Siddiqui, Toronto Star, 23 Oct 2008

The headlines didn't match the stories on the report of the Frank Iacobucci inquiry into the alleged torture of three Arab Canadians abroad.

The former judge of the Supreme Court of Canada concluded that Canadian officials and institutions were complicit in the detention of at least two of them and perhaps of the third as well.

They were certainly complicit in the torture of all three.

He said Canadian diplomats failed to provide proper consular services to two of them, failed to detect torture and failed to inform Ottawa of allegations of torture.

Yet the main message of the media coverage is that Canadian officials only "likely contributed to" or "indirectly" contributed to the unlawful arrest, arbitrary detention and torture of the three men.

Iacobucci said so only for reasons of legal specificity, as explained on page 336 of his 544-page report.

He had no co-operation from Syria, Egypt or the U.S. so he does not know what role they played.

He also refused to "apply a `but for' test," meaning the men would not have suffered but for the actions of Canadian officials.

For childcare or translation please call QPIRG (514-398-7432) 48 hours in advance.

The secret hearing in the case of Adil Charkaoui is due to begin on 27 October.

Robert Fisk, The Independent, 25 September 2008

Sami al-Haj, an Al Jazeera cameraman, was beaten, abused and humiliated in the name of the war on terror. He tells our correspondent about his struggle to rebuild a shattered life

Sami al-Haj walks with pain on his steel crutch; almost six years in the nightmare of Guantanamo have taken their toll on the Al Jazeera journalist and, now in the safety of a hotel in the small Norwegian town of Lillehammer, he is a figure of both dignity and shame. The Americans told him they were sorry when they eventually freed him this year – after the beatings he says he suffered, and the force-feeding, the humiliations and interrogations by British, American and Canadian intelligence officers – and now he hopes one day he'll be able to walk without his stick.

Canadian Press, 25 September 2008

TORONTO — Gag orders under Canada's revamped security law make it impossible for special lawyers with top-secret clearances to effectively represent foreigners detained as threats to the country's safety, a lawsuit slated to be heard Friday claims.

As a result, the reworked legislation is still unfair to terrorist suspects and needs to be changed or, at the very least clarified, the suit before Federal Court argues.

The constitutional challenge - supported by several special advocates - was filed by suspected Syrian terrorist Hassan Almrei. He has been detained in Toronto without charge or trial for seven years based on secret information.

24 September 2008, Canadian Press

Interestingly, and disturbingly, it seems that this article (below), that was published by CP is untrue. Harkat did NOT win the right to see more material in his file. It turns out that not he, but the special advocates active in his case, will see the material. This coverage is a further advance in the legitimization of the secret process: where the fact that the special advocates (lawyers who are part of the secret process, and cannot normally communicate with Harkat after seeing his file) can see more material, while Harkat himself cannot, is treated as a victory.

- CJAC

OTTAWA — Accused terrorist (sic) Mohamed Harkat has won the right to see secret material compiled against him by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

But it may be up to six months before his lawyers obtain all the material, prolonging a battle he's been waging for five years to stave off deportation to his native Algeria.

Justice Simon Noel of Federal Court issued an order Wednesday for CSIS to hand over a wide range of material, including written drafts, diagrams, recordings and photographs related to the case.

Montreal, 18 September 2008 - The Supreme Court announced today that it will not consider the question of whether it is legal for Canada to deport someone who is recognized to be at risk of torture.

Me. Johanne Doyon, Adil Charkaoui’s lawyer, asked the Supreme Court in April 2007 to consider the constitutionality of the law allowing the Minister of Immigration to balance the alleged risks in national security cases and to deport non-citizens to death and torture.

“I am saddened that the Supreme Court has not taken the opportunity to consider this important question and give the Conservative government a clear directive about the absolute ban on deportation to torture. There is a frightening trend. There are growing numbers of both non-citizens and citizens whom Canada has failed to protect from torture, from Sogi Singh to Maher Arar and more,” said Adil Charkaoui, a Montreal-based teacher and father of three. Charkaoui was first arrested under the much-contested security certificate – a deportation procedure established by Canadian immigration law - in May 2003.