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Réflexions sur la guerre au terrorisme
Reflections on the war on terror
Canada's war on terror has a Catch-22 absurdity: Walkom
The Toronto Star 19/12/2014 - Ottawa's decision to force a former charity into a classic Catch-22 double bind is the latest absurdity in Canada's war on terror. It is not the only one. Certainly, the tale of the International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy (Canada) is rich in the kind of irony explored by Joseph Heller in his novel, Catch-22. In April, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney officially listed the fund, called IRFAN, as a terrorist entity. The reason given was that relief slated for Gaza had gone to organizations connected with the Islamic group Hamas. Hamas governs the Palestinian enclave and is also on Canada's terror list. One of the  organizations IRFAN funded was Gaza's health ministry. The relief fund can appeal this terrorist designation and is trying to do so. But to mount a successful legal action it must raise money.
Yet as a proscribed terrorist organization it cannot raise money without putting donors at risk of being labelled terrorists. That's because, as the public safety department website explains, it is illegal to fund "any activity of a listed entity for the purpose of enhancing the ability of the entity to facilitate and carry out a terrorist activity" - a clause the government apparently interprets quite broadly
Put simply, if an organization is labelled terrorist by the government, any attempt to dispute that label is itself terrorism. Catch-22. As The Canadian Press reported Thursday, the relief organization is going to federal court in an effort to win the right to raise money to mount a defence. To avoid running afoul of anti-terror laws, the lawyer in this particular case is working for free.
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Ricochet 07/01/2015 - [C]e qui m'inquiète le plus avec la barbarie qui a frappé Charlie Hebdo, c'est que le risque est grand, voire assuré, qu'elle soit suivie par la barbarie qui, elle, prend le visage du défenseur de la République pour cracher sa haine. Ce n'est pas une barbarie nouvelle, c'est peut-être même la plus ancienne, mais elle reste le plus souvent silencieuse. Pauvre France qui, en ce mois de janvier 2015, se retrouve prise dans le feu croisé du terrorisme islamiste et du nationalisme xénophobe. Pauvre nous, aussi. Les débordements, les amalgames douteux ont traversé l'Atlantique à la vitesse d'un gazouillis cybernétique. Et, comme on  attend le refoulement d'égout lors d'une inondation, les appels à l'adoption d'une « Charte » ne se sont pas fait attendre. Parce qu'aux yeux de certaines personnes, aiguiser la discrimination institutionnelle semble être un moyen de se protéger contre le terrorisme. Ces gens ne semblent pas remarquer le caractère profondément paradoxal de leur position : d'un côté, utiliser la France comme modèle de laïcité qui, si appliqué, nous protège du « péril musulman » et, de l'autre côté, dénoncer les attentats qui ont eu lieu au cœur... de la capitale française. La voilà, notre version bien à nous de la réponse frontiste, qui ne cesse de parler du « danger qu'il va falloir nommer, qu'il va falloir combattre ». Laisser mariner l'horreur de là-bas pour la servir à la sauce de chez nous. La barbarie terroriste et la barbarie du nationalisme exalté ont besoin l'une de l'autre, elles vivent d'une noire symbiose : la voie de sortie n'est pas dans la complaisance à l'égard de l'une ou dans la reformulation « soft » de l'autre, mais bien dans le combat contre les deux à la fois. Aussi difficile que cela puisse l'être.
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Liberté de la presse
Freedom of the press
Amal Clooney: Canadian Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy should be released not retried in Egypt
Huffington Post 04/01/2015 - On 1 January 2015, the Egyptian Court of Cassation issued a ruling upholding the appeal filed by Mohamed Fahmy to overturn his conviction and 7-year sentence. In so doing, Egypt's highest court has recognized that there were legal errors in the original trial. But instead of releasing Fahmy, the Court ordered a retrial and declined to grant him bail. The Court's reasoning and the position of the prosecution on the re-trial are due to be published in the coming weeks. Mr. Fahmy is a journalist who was convicted of reporting false news and supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. These allegations are not true and  were not backed by any evidence at trial. Mr. Fahmy has never supported the Brotherhood. There was no evidence presented at trial that showed that he ever fabricated a report or knowingly made a false statement. He is serving a draconian sentence for simply reporting the news. A re-trial process is lengthy and its outcome is uncertain. It is also not clear how a new process would fix any of the deficiencies in the original trial. The charges themselves are a violation of the right to free expression under Egyptian and international law. There are no guarantees that a new panel of judges would respect due process or demand cogent evidence before concluding that a crime was committed. Fahmy cannot therefore count on the retrial process to offer a just or swift solution. As Mr. Fahmy's counsel, we are therefore pursuing discussions with the Egyptian and Canadian authorities in a spirit of cooperation in order to identify a swift and fair resolution to the case. We have submitted a written request for a pardon and for his release to the Egyptian President, Minister of Justice, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Prosecutor-General, and we await their response. Read more - Lire plusNouveau procès pour le journaliste canadien détenu en ÉgypteGlobe editorial: Free Mohamed Fahmy and uphold journalistic freedomUn reporter canadien emprisonné au Caire demande l'aide de HarperAmal Clooney, Mohamed Fahmy's lawyer, denied meeting with John BairdÉgypte: des journalistes d'Al-Jazeera détenus misent sur leur extraditionChristmas letter from jailed Al Jazeera journalist Peter GresteDefending press freedom, NYT reporter James Risen refuses to reveal key details in whistleblower case
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Libertés civiles et démocratie
Civil liberties and democracy
Ailing Canadian resident held as a prisoner in Egypt despite release order, family says
National Post 06/01/2015 - An ailing Canadian resident remains under detention in a hospital in Egypt despite an order given more than a week ago by the country's attorney general for his release, his family said Tuesday. It was not immediately clear why Khaled Al-Qazzaz, a father of four, had yet to be freed. In an interview, his wife said the family's jubilation at the release order has given way to worry at his ongoing detention. "Our initial reaction last week was happiness and excitement," Sarah  Attia told The Canadian Press. "We're getting a little nervous because it's taking so long but we're trying to remain positive and hopeful that this will end in a few days." Al-Qazzaz, 35, a University of Toronto engineering graduate, is a former aide to ousted president Mohammed Morsi. He was arrested along with Morsi and eight other aides in July 2013 when the Egyptian military removed the president from office. Egyptian authorities never charged him nor explained why they arrested him. The case has attracted attention from human rights activists and groups, such as Amnesty International. Attia, 34, said the attorney general's release order issued Monday last week has been communicated to Al-Qazzaz and his lawyers and should have taken only two or three days to be executed. Read more - Lire plus553 Days - Khaled Al-Qazzaz Release Order Issued
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Securité nationale
National security
2015 is Canada's year of the spy
Vice 06/01/2015 - The Prime Minister rung in the new year by appointing Canada's ex-spy chief Richard Fadden as his critically powerful national security advisor, while moving Julian Fantino, a grizzled ex-cop, to oversee military intelligence. With new powers to collect Canadians' data, new legislation that allows our spooks to operate abroad, and a raft of new government agents on  the security and intelligence file-it's a clear signal that 2015 will be Canada's year of the spy. On Monday, Stephen Harper announced that embattled Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino, lambasted for entirely screwing up his job, was moving back to his old gig, the associate minister for National Defence. While it was characterized as a demotion, his new job might prove to be significantly more important. Then, on Tuesday, a press release from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) announced that the Prime Minister had a new National Security Advisor-ex-CSIS boss Richard Fadden.
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Surveillance globale
Mass surveillance
NSA fesses up to improper surveillance of U.S. citizens
Huffington Post 26/12/2014 - While you were drinking eggnog on Christmas Eve, the National Security Agency released hundreds of pages of heavily redacted documents detailing instances of improper surveillance on U.S. citizens in the last 12 years. The batch of documents, stretching from the fourth quarter of 2001 to the second quarter of 2013, was released in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. While some of the information was already publicly known, the reports shed more light on instances in which NSA employees either  intentionally or unintentionally violated the law and collected the private data of American citizens. "These materials show, over a sustained period of time, the depth and rigor of NSA's commitment to compliance," read a statement on the NSA's website. "By emphasizing accountability across all levels of the enterprise, and transparently reporting errors and violations to outside oversight authorities, NSA protects privacy and civil liberties while safeguarding the nation and our allies." The reports include instances in which analysts conducted unauthorized surveillance on U.S. organizations with the mistaken belief they were authorized to do so; instances in which analysts willfully ignored restrictions on surveillance; and even instances in which analysts intentionally abused the system to gather data on spouses or love interests. Such cases apparently occurred enough to have earned the name LOVEINT.
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Autres nouvelles - More news
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Afghanistan
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Airline security
Sécurité aérienne
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Anti-terror legislation
Législation anti-terroriste
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Canadian policies & human rights
Politiques canadiennes et droits humains
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Drones
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Freedom of speech
Liberté d'expression
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Guantanamo
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Guerre au terrorisme
War on terror
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Immigration and refugee rights
Immigration et droits des réfugié.es
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Islamophobie
Islamophobia
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Oversight of intelligence agencies
Surveillance des agences de renseignement
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Privacy and technology
Vie privée et technology
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State secret
Secret d'État
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Terrorism cases
Procès pour terrorisme
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Terrorist listing
Liste d'entités terroristes
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Torture
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Film
Citizenfour at the Bytowne Cinema on January 15-17
In January 2013, filmmaker Laura Poitras was several years into the making of a film about abuses of national security in post 9/11 America when she started receiving encrypted emails from someone identifying himself as "citizen four," who was ready to blow the whistle on the massive covert
surveillance programs run by the NSA and other intelligence agencies. In June 2013, she and reporter Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with the man who turned out to be Edward Snowden. She brought her camera with her. The film that resulted from this series of tense encounters is absolutely unique in the history of cinema: a 100% real life thriller unfolding minute by minute before our eyes. Schedule & details
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Les opinions exprimées ne reflètent pas nécessairement les positions de la CSILC - The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the positions of ICLMG
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What is the News Digest? Qu'est-ce que la Revue de l'actualité?
The News Digest is ICLMG's weekly publication of news articles, events, calls to action and much more regarding national security, anti-terrorism, and civil liberties. The ICLMG is a national coalition of thirty-eight Canadian civil society organizations that was established in the aftermath of the September, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. +++
La revue de l'actualité est notre publication hebdomadaire de nouvelles, d'évènements, d'appels à l'action, et beaucoup plus, entourant la sécurité nationale, la lutte au terrorisme, et les libertés civiles. La CSILC est une coalition nationale de 38 organisations de la société civile canadienne qui a été créée suite aux attentats terroristes de septembre 2001 aux États-Unis.
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