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Torture
Ottawa expected UN pressure on anti-torture policy
UN 'may use torture evidence to impose sanctions on terror suspects'
The Guardian 11/11/2012 - The United Nations may be relying on evidence obtained by torture when deciding whether to impose restrictive financial  sanctions on al-Qaida suspects, a British UN official has warned. Ben Emmerson QC, the UN's special rapporteur on counter-terrorism, has questioned the integrity of the security council's enforcement regime and the way it acquires its intelligence. More than 300 people worldwide are on the committee's combined al-Qaida and Taliban sanctions list. Critics of the system warn that the same flaw is built into other punitive UN sanction regimes.
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Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism
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Criminalization of dissent
Mennonite magazine warned about 'political' articles
CBC News 09/11/2012 - A Mennonite church magazine has been told by the Canada Revenue Agency to be careful about the kind of political  articles and editorials it publishes. In a "reminder" letter sent to Canadian Mennonite Publishing Service earlier this year, the federal agency says engaging in "partisan political activities" could jeopardize the organization's charitable status. "It has come to our attention that recent issues of the Organization's monthly periodical, entitled 'Canadian Mennonite,' have contained editorials and/or articles that appear to promote opposition to a political party, or to candidates for public office," the letter, dated July 23, states in part.
Read moreHoly Land case: war on terror or war on feeding the poor?
Prism Magazine 06/11/2012 - The speaker is Michael Ratner. He is the  president emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a public service law firm that fought for the Holy Land group and in dozens of other unrelated cases. The anonymous "experts" Ratner refers to were two Israelis who appeared at the trial as prosecution witnesses under assumed names. The appellants argued that the trial judge's decision to permit the two Israeli witnesses to testify anonymously violated the Confrontation Clause of the Constitution. But in a unanimous decision, the Appeals Court ruled that, "while no trial is perfect, this one included, we conclude from our review of the record, briefs, and oral argument, that the defendants were fairly convicted." Read more
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Oversight of intelligence agencies
How to reinvent the RCMP
CBC News 15/11/2012 - Of course, having a civilian management board to deal with efficiency is one thing.  But the Mounties also need to show on a regular basis that their operations serve the public interest - not the government interest, and not the police interest. Nowhere is this more clouded than in the domains of national security and public order. The big lesson from the commissions that looked into the Air India bombing and the Maher Arar rendition is that Canada's hodge-podge of security agencies, which includes the RCMP, operate within their own silos, particularly as far as oversight goes. And until this is addressed, the concerns of a skeptical public, at the very least, may never be allayed.
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Terrorism
U.S. road to bin Laden began with interrogation of Montreal Imam
The National Post 09/11/2012 - In The Finish: The Killing of Osama bin Laden, American journalist Mark Bowden traces the raid on bin Laden's hideout back to the interrogation of an "al-Qaeda operative" named Mohamedou Ould Slahi. After joining al-Qaeda in 1990, Mr. Slahi moved to Montreal, where he mingled with a circle of North African immigrants active in the bin Laden network, including the so-called millennium bomber Ahmed Ressam. Arrested in Mauritania after the 9/11 attacks and subjected to "coercive interrogation," Mr. Slahi gave up the name Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti. He claimed al-Kuwaiti was dead, Mr. Bowden writes. He wasn't. He was bin Laden's courier and he would bring the CIA to the al-Qaeda leader.
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Reflection on the war on terror
Myopia: How counter-terrorism has blinded our intelligence community
The Atlantic 13/11/2012 - While the sheer size of the intelligence community (IC) is staggering -- the 2013 budget for intelligence activities tops $75 billion  -- its mission is also of serious concern. Large areas of the IC have move away from their traditional role of analyzing a broad range of current events for policymakers and toward supporting the global counter-terrorism mission. News stories about this shift suggest the counter-terrorism mission has become the overarching concern of the national security staff. This shift in focus can create blind spots that pose unique challenges for the president. If branch chiefs and the policymakers they support value "exploitable" information over deep understanding, they might be ignoring potentially vital information that doesn't seem immediately of interest.
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Guantanamo
Obama promised (again) that he'd close Gitmo. So can he?
Mother Jones 13/11/2012 - The memory of Barack Obama's 2008 promise to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay now  makes human rights activists roll their eyes. But last month, with comedian Jon Stewart as witness, the president repeated the same vow. Should Americans believe him? Probably not, says Charles Stimson, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs under George W. Bush. "I think that Obama's comment was part political and part aspirational," Stimson says. "He won't spend any political capital in his second term trying to close the prison, unless unique circumstances appear."
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Defense Department: Cause of death of Guantanamo detainee Adnan Latif "forthcoming"
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Anti-terror laws
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Freedom of speech
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National security
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Privacy
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Rule of law
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Terrorism
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War on terror
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About us
The ICLMG is a national coalition of forty Canadian civil society organizations that was established in the aftermath of the September, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. You will find in this News Digest news articles, events, calls to action and much more regarding national security, anti-terrorism, civil liberties and other issues related to the mandate and concerns of ICLMG and its member organizations. 
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News from ICLMG
Bill S-7: ICLMG will appear before the SECU next week
ICLMG 15/11/2012 - Lawyer Denis Barette will represent ICLMG and la Ligue des droits et libertés before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on Wednesday November 21, 2012 to present our position on Bill S-7, Combating Terrorism Act. ICLMG is opposed to the adoption of the bill which would re-introduce, among other things, two problematic clauses of the Anti-Terrorism Act, the "preventive detention" and the "investigative hearings" clauses, which have never been used and expired five years ago. |
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Take action
Tell you MP to stand against Bill C-30 and warrantless online spying
OpenMedia.ca 07/11/2012 - Last week, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police called on the government to revive the invasive Online Spying Bill C-30 - legislation that would grant them warrantless access into the private lives of each and every one of us. Call on your MP to stand against invasive warrantless Online Spying.
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Take action
Harkat: 10 years of injustice
December 10, 2012 will mark the 10th anniversary of Mohamed Harkat's arrest under a Security Certificate. Many refer to Security Certificates as Secret Trials in Canada. Individuals are detained for indefinite periods of time, normally for years, without being charged or granted access to information used against them. They can be deported to face imprisonment, torture or death after being labelled terrorists. It's time for justice. Please click below to learn the many ways you can support Mohammed Harkat and his fight against Secret Trials!
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Take action
Security Certificate: An end in sight for Mahjoub?
Mr. Mahjoub's long struggle for justice and freedom is once again entering a critical phase. Much will take place over the next few months and the Justice for Mahjoub Network is calling for support actions across the country. Please read and forward and let us know how you can support.
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released memos show Canada fully expected the intense grilling it got from a United Nations committee earlier this year about its international obligations to shun torture and other cruel treatment. Officials quietly advised Justice Minister Rob Nicholson the committee would "likely press Canada" on issues ranging from prison overcrowding to redress for people subjected to torture abroad. The federal government was also prepared to defend its refusal to arrest former U.S. leaders George W. Bush and Dick Cheney for alleged war crimes.
