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Omar Khadr
Omar Khadr's odds of winning U.S. appeal look good, legal expert saysCBC News 08/05/2015 - The key merit of Khadr's appeal, Glazier says, "is that he's being tried in a military court system which, as a matter of law, should only have jurisdiction over actual war crimes' allegations, and none of the charges that have been levied against him constitute war crimes, as recognized by international law." Khadr's prosecution in 2010 "has no credible legal foundation," he adds. Khadr pleaded guilty to five charges at the military commission, however, all related to events in  Afghanistan in 2001-02. Glazier doesn't think that guilty plea will complicate Khadr's appeal. It's part of the legal tradition in the U.S., and in Canada, he says, that "you can't plead guilty to something that a court can't try you for." Glazier says that Khadr's guilty plea shouldn't have any legal effect. In an in-depth analysis of the five charges against Khadr, Glazier concluded "that none of Khadr's five charges described actual war crimes, even assuming the underlying factual predicates are true." That means the military commission didn't have jurisdiction. Read more - Lire plusMonia Mazigh: The legal vengeance case of Omar Khadr Matthew Behrens: Omar Khadr: Demonized no more Harper brushes off Khadr remarks, MacKay acknowledges them
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Législation antiterroriste
Anti-terror legislation
Bill C-51: Liberal Senators to vote against anti-terror legislationThe Huffington Post 12/05/2015 - Liberal senators are poised to demonstrate their independence from the Liberal party leadership in the House of Commons, by voting en masse against the controversial anti-terrorism bill, C-51. The Senate Liberals' leader, James Cowan, told The Huffington Post Canada he hasn't spoken to Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau, who supported the bill in the Commons, but he expects most of the Liberal team in the upper chamber to oppose the bill. "We don't whip votes, so everybody is free to make up their own minds," he said. Cowan hoped the show of independence would allay criticisms that the Senate Liberals are still taking directions from the Trudeau team. [...] After reading letters from more than 100 people - former prime ministers, former justice ministers, academics and former judges - condemning the bill, Cowan said he asked Senate Conservative leader Claude Carignan what experts  or eminent Canadians supported C-51. "His answer was 'Stephen Harper.'" They couldn't point to anybody else, Cowan said. "The only name that they came up with was his." The Senate Liberals plan to introduce amendments but if they fail to pass, many will vote against the bill. "I won't vote for it without amendments protecting privacy," B.C. Liberal senator Larry Campbell told HuffPost. New Brunswick senator Pierrette Ringuette enumerated all the bill's problems on her fingers and told HuffPost she will vote against it as well. So did Quebec Liberal senator Dennis Dawson. "I could have arrived at the same conclusion than the Liberals [in the House of Commons] saying that with all its flaws it's better than nothing," he said, "but I've arrived at the conclusion, that it's too flawed for us to be honest chamber of second thought and support it." The Senate's former powerful chair of the National Security and Defence Committee, however, Ontario Liberal senator Colin Kenny said he would vote for the bill. Kenny said he was still concerned about C-51's lack of sufficient review, having argued in the past that the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC) is not doing its job. Read more - Lire plus Senator Mobina Jaffer will vote against Bill C-51 Supporters publicly abandoning Liberal Party over Trudeau's support for Bill C-51 Ahmad Saeid: Terrorism bill C-51 only creates more insecurityOp-Ed: Tech Leaders Worried about C-51? How Unpatriotic! OpenMedia calls for Conservative MP Laurie Hawn to apologize to business leaders immediately
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Liberté d'expression
Freedom of expression
Ottawa cites hate crime laws when asked about its 'zero tolerance' for Israel boycottersCBC News 11/05/2015 - The Harper government is signalling its intention to use hate crime laws against Canadian advocacy groups that encourage boycotts of Israel. Such a move could target a range of civil society organizations, from the United Church of Canada and the Canadian Quakers to campus protest groups and labour unions. If carried out, it would be a remarkably aggressive tactic, and another measure of the Conservative government's lockstep support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. [...] In January, Canada's then foreign  affairs minister, John Baird, signed a "memorandum of understanding" with Israeli authorities in Jerusalem, pledging to combat BDS. It described the movement as "the new face of anti-Semitism." A few days later, at the UN, Canadian Public Security Minister Steven Blaney went much further. He conflated boycotts of Israel with anti-Semitic hate speech and violence, including the deadly attacks that had just taken place in Paris on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a kosher supermarket. Blaney then said the government is taking a "zero tolerance" approach to BDS. Read more - Lire plus Vers la criminalisation du boycottage d'Israël au Canada? Ottawa démentTories deny plan to use hate crime laws against Israel boycottersEmail exchange between CBC and Public Safety Department spokesperson on BDS prosecutionsAmnesty International Canada: Freedom of expression and the Canada/Israel relationshipGlenn Greenwald: Canadian government says free speech is for offending Muslims - not opposing IsraelICLMG and 75 other organisations endorsed IJV statement: Oppose the Canadian governments threat to criminalize criticism of Israel
Greatest threat to free speech comes not from terrorism, but from those claiming to fight it
The Intercept 13/05/2015 - We learned recently from Paris that the western world is deeply and passionately committed to free expression and ready to march and fight against attempts to suppress it. That's a really good thing, since there are all sorts of severe suppression efforts underway in the west - perpetrated not by The Terrorists but by the western politicians claiming to fight them. One of the most alarming examples comes, not at all surprisingly, from the UK Government, which is currently agitating for new counter-terrorism powers "including plans for extremism disruption orders designed to restrict those trying to radicalize young people." Here are the powers which the British Freedom Fighters and Democracy Protectors are seeking: "They would include a ban on broadcasting and a requirement to submit to the police in advance any proposed publication on the web and social media or in print.  The bill will also contain plans for banning orders for extremist organisations which seek to undermine democracy or use hate speech in public places, but it will fall short of banning on the grounds of provoking hatred. It will also contain new powers to close premises including mosques where extremists seek to influence others. The powers of the Charity Commission to root out charities that misappropriate funds towards extremism and terrorism will also be strengthened." In essence, advocating any ideas or working for any political outcomes regarded by British politicians as "extremist" will not only be a crime, but can be physically banned in advance. Basking in his election victory, Prime Minister David Cameron unleashed this Orwellian decree to explain why new Thought Police powers are needed: "For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone.'" It's not enough for British subjects merely to "obey the law"; they must refrain from believing in or expressing ideas which Her Majesty's Government dislikes.
Read more - Lire plus From prison, Chelsea Manning proposes Free Speech Protection Bill
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Criminalisation de la dissidence
Criminalization of dissent
Le Devoir 11/05/2015 - A-t-on encore le droit de manifester au Québec ? Le Devoir se penche en trois temps sur la répression des manifestations avec comme point de départ cette marche du 1er mai à Montréal qui a mené à 84 arrestations et 27 accusations criminelles. La manifestation venait tout juste de se mettre en branle. Sans crier gare, la police a lancé des bombes de gaz lacrymogène dans l'air. La foule tranquille, composée de femmes, d'enfants, d'étudiants, de personnes âgées et de militants anticapitalistes, s'est aussitôt dispersée, dans un lourd nuage gris. Les yeux irrités, le souffle court, un groupe de marcheurs a quitté le square Phillips pour remonter la rue Sainte-Catherine vers l'ouest, dans le sens contraire de la circulation. Des policiers antiémeute, armés de boucliers, attendaient  les manifestants deux pâtés de maisons plus loin. La police a lancé d'autres gaz lacrymogènes vers la foule. Puis du gaz poivre. Et les coups de matraque ont commencé à fuser. Ce soir-là, le vendredi 1er mai, Journée internationale des travailleurs, Sandra Cordero se trouvait parmi les marcheurs. Cette mère de six enfants, préposée à domicile pour des personnes âgées, avait envie de manifester contre l'austérité. Elle dit avoir été stupéfaite par ce qu'elle a vu. « J'ai vu de la violence policière, raconte la femme de 46 ans. La police est supposée protéger les citoyens. Elle a plutôt attaqué les citoyens. » Près de deux semaines après la marche du 1er mai, plusieurs participants à la manifestation se demandent encore ce qui s'est passé ce soir-là. Ils disent n'avoir vu rien de moins qu'un dérapage policier. Interrogés séparément, ils racontent tous la même histoire. L'histoire d'une manifestation pacifique réprimée de façon musclée par la police. L'histoire de 84 personnes arrêtées par le Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) - 57 arrestations en vertu du règlement municipal P-6 et 27 autres pour des infractions criminelles. Comme s'il était interdit de manifester au Québec.
Countries around world are revoking freedom of assemblyAl Jazeera 04/05/2015 - On March 26, without much fanfare or attention from U.S. media, the Spanish government ended freedom of assembly. In the face of popular opposition (80 percent of Spaniards oppose it), the upper house passed the Citizens' Security Law. Under the provision, which goes into effect on July 1, police will have the discretionary ability to hand out fines up to $650,000 to unauthorized demonstrators who protest near a transport hub or nuclear power plant. They will be allowed to issue fines of up to $30,000 for taking pictures of police during protest, failing to show  police ID or just gathering in an unauthorized way near government buildings. The law doesn't technically outlaw protest, but it's hard to see what difference that makes in practice. Imagine if the NYPD, without judicial oversight, could give $650,000 fines to every Black Lives Matter protester participating in die-ins at Grand Central. Never mind that they could never pay: Would anyone return day after day, racking up millions of dollars in fines? Spain is only the latest "democracy" to consign freedom of assembly to the dustbin. While earlier eras of protest and riot sometimes wrested concessions from the state, today the government's default response is to implement increasingly draconian laws against the public exercise of democracy. It raises the question: How many rights must be abrogated before a liberal democracy becomes a police state? Read more - Lire plus Tarnac : le parquet requiert le renvoi de Julien Coupat en correctionnelle pour terrorismeEXCLUSIF. Julien Coupat : "Le cynisme de nos gouvernants est inoxydable"Comprendre l'affaire Tarnac
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Surveillance globale
Mass surveillance
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Autres nouvelles - More news
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Immigration and refugee rights
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Politique et terrorisme
Politics and terrorism
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Press freedom
Liberté de la presse
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Privacy
Vie privée
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Action
NEW
Tell the Senators for your province/territory to Stop Bill C-51
Leadnow - Bill C-51, a bill so bad that the Globe and Mail warned it would create a "secret police" in Canada, has gone to the Senate.1  Now the Senate has an opportunity to show the people of Canada that they can fulfill their responsibility to provide "sober second thought" when a government tries to pass a reckless bill with long-reaching consequences for our rights and freedoms. Send a message and share widely!
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May 30th: Unite 4 Our Rights! Stop C-51 Canada wide event
Bill C-51 is a threat to our rights and freedoms. Join the National Convergence in Ottawa as we continue to voice our opposition, or if you are unable to go to Ottawa, join or start a rally in your own community. 
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Action
Conservative letter against Bill C-51
"We, the undersigned, come from principled conservatives and libertarians. While we are not exclusively supporters of the Conservative Party of Canada, we represent a significant portion of the base of voters the Conservative Party depends upon to get elected.  Bill C-51 represents everything that principled conservatives have been fighting against for the past decade. It is appalling that a Conservative government would even consider voting for such legislation, much less crafting it and pushing it into law." Any conservative or libertarian Canadian can sign this letter. Share widely!
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Action
UPDATE
Tell the Senate to Stop Bill C-51
OpenMedia - The government is about to ram through a reckless, dangerous and ineffective "Secret Police" law called Bill C-51. This damaging legislation is now before the Senate!  Sign this petition to tell Senators to stop Bill C-51 before it's too late.
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Action
Canada: Prevent torture in detention centres around the world
Amnesty International - Thirty years ago, the international community agreed to ban torture and adopted the Convention against Torture. Yet in recent years, the practice remains widespread as governments justify any means to combat security threats and organized crime or simply suppress dissent. Key safeguards that would reduce and prevent the use of torture remain unimplemented.  Send a message to Canada's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Rob Nicholson, calling on him to ensure Canada fully commits to ending the use of torture around the world.
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Action
Walk with refugees
CCR - Organize or join a Walk with refugees 15-21 June 2015 as a way to mark World Refugee Day. A Walk with refugees is a guided tour with stops highlighting significant places and stories from refugees and others in your community, but it can take many forms.  A guided walking tour like a Walk with refugees helps connect the voices and stories refugees and others seeking protection to common landmarks and shared community experiences. See your community through new eyes and use your feet to join the national Walk with refugees.
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Action
Tell the U.S. government to free Slahi
ACLU - Tell the Secretary of Defense: Mohamedou Slahi is being held indefinitely despite his innocence. His ongoing imprisonment is unlawful, as was the torture he survived. I'm asking you not to contest Slahi's habeas case. Please release Mohamedou Slahi without delay.
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Ressource
Bill C-51: List of briefs presented to the Parliamentary Committee on National Security
The ICLMG has compiled a non-exhaustive list of briefs and speaking notes presented to the House of  Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on Bill C-51. Consult them here
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Action
UnfollowMe: Tell governments to ban mass surveillance
Amnesty International Canada - Governments are snooping on everything we do online. State intelligence and security agencies are using mass surveillance to collect our private emails, calls, internet searches, contact lists, phone locations, webcam images and more.  Sign our petition today, and call on Canada, the USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand - to end indiscriminate mass surveillance today. 
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Action
Signez la pétition pour libérer le blogueur saoudien Raif Badawi
 Amnistie internationale - Raif Badawi, prisonnier d'opinion en Arabie saoudite, risque la mort pour avoir offert un débat sur la liberté religieuse. Exigeons des autorités saoudiennes que les coups de fouet cessent immédiatement, que Raif soit libéré sans condition, et qu'il soit réuni avec sa famille réfugiée au Canada. Exigeons de cet État qu'il respecte ses obligations en matière de droits humains et qu'il abolisse la flagellation. English petition
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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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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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