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National security and human rights
Sécurité nationale et droits de la personne
Trudeau pressured to reverse Harper-era security policies
The Canadian Press 02/11/2015 - Organizations including Amnesty International Canada and the Ottawa-based International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group recently issued a report urging the Liberals to go further by implementing neglected 2006 recommendations on comprehensive security review from the inquiry into the overseas torture of Maher Arar. The groups also call for apologies and compensation to three other Arab-Canadians who were brutalized in Syrian prisons, as well as the repeal of measures that eroded the rights of people accused of being security threats. Bill C-51 requires a complete overhaul, but the need is wider, said Alex  Neve, secretary general of Amnesty Canada. "It is time for a refit of Canada's national security laws that puts human rights at the centre, no longer a secondary casual consideration after the fact.'' Neve said there are numerous United Nations-level human rights recommendations long overdue for attention, including ending deportations to torture, revising ministerial directions that allow for the use of torture-tainted information and reforming the secretive security-certificate system for whisking suspected terrorists and spies from Canada. C-51 amounted to a "hasty misdiagnosis of the problems that afflict anti-terror law and policy,'' said University of Ottawa law professor Craig Forcese, co-author of False Security, a detailed critique of Harper's approach.
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The Toronto Star 30/10/2015 - Two weeks after pardoned Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy arrived back in Canada from a Cairo jail, Canadian resident Khaled Al-Qazzaz is still waiting to leave Egypt. This week he and his Canadian wife Sarah Attia had an unexpected shock. Released from captivity by the Egyptian authorities nine months ago without charge, he was told that the prosecutor general had issued a travel ban that will keep him in the country indefinitely. "We had been told that there was no travel ban, because there was no case against Khaled," said Attia in a phone interview Friday. "But when we tried to leave the country on March 5, and again on April 16, we were prevented from going, without any explanation. Our lawyer told us there was no ban." On release from jail in January, Al-Qazzaz was given a green light by all the  Egyptian ministries associated with his case. An engineer, educator and University of Toronto graduate, Al-Qazzaz went to Cairo with Canadian-born Attia when she became principal of an international school. He was asked to become a foreign affairs advisor to ousted President Mohammed Morsi, whose party was linked with the Muslim Brotherhood. After the July 2013 coup, security forces loyal to Morsi's successor, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, swept up and jailed thousands of suspected Brotherhood members, journalists and protesters. Al-Qazzaz was imprisoned for 558 days in brutal conditions that left him with serious back and neck injuries requiring urgent surgery. After two failed attempts to fly to Toronto - where he was booked into hospital - Al-Qazzaz filed a complaint with an administrative court, but the hearing was delayed twice. On Tuesday, he learned that the ministry of the interior had filed a back-dated document saying that he was under a travel ban. Read more - Lire plus |
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CBC news 30/10/2015 - Since the beginning of the air campaign in Iraq and Syria, the coalition has conducted nearly 8,000 airstrikes. Nearly 200 of those are Canadian. To date, the coalition claims its airstrikes have killed only two civilians. Canada claims its airstrikes have not killed any. However, a fifth estate investigation raises questions about  how diligent the Canadian and U.S. militaries have been in looking into allegations of civilian casualties. It also found nearly 50 credible allegations - involving as many as 600 possible deaths - that merit further review. Click below to see both the Canadian airstrikes and casualty reports involving coalition airstrikes plotted on two maps: one showing Canadian airstrikes and the other showing casualties allegations. Read more - Lire plus |
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The Guarding 05/11/2015 - The total redrafting of UK surveillance laws was under growing challenge on Wednesday night after an initially broad political welcome gave way to alarm at the detail of the proposed sweeping powers for spies. MPs and privacy groups raised concerns about the proposed judicial oversight regime set out by the home secretary, Theresa May, who made the dramatic admission that ministers had issued secret directions since 2001 to internet and phone companies to hand over the communications data of British citizens in bulk. The draft investigatory powers bill explicitly puts  into law for the first time the surveillance activities of the intelligence agencies and police and proposed new powers requiring internet and phone companies to track every website visited for a maximum of 12 months. [...] The draft bill proposes that police, security services or other bodies will be given access to "internet connection records" - the weblog of every website visited - without the need for a warrant. May told MPs that this power, which is banned in the US and every European country as too intrusive, was "simply the modern equivalent of an itemised phone bill" and would not give security services access to the specific pages of a website viewed. However, Snowden, tweeting from exile in Russia, countered: "'It's only communications data' equals 'It's only a comprehensive record of your private activities'. It's the activity log of your life." Read more - Lire plusThe triumph of the UK surveillance stateUK - Internet firms to be banned from offering unbreakable encryption under new lawsUK - Former reviewer of anti-terror laws co-owns firm with ex-MI6 chiefNew probe reveals NSA targeted entire staffs of EU governmentsEurope, still angry at U.S. spying, prepares to increase its ownEuropean Parliament says Snowden should be welcomed in EuropeChelsea E. Manning: FISA courts stifle the due process they were supposed to protect. End themThe lesson of CISA's success, or how to fight a zombie |
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Autres nouvelles - More news
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Islamophobie
Islamophobia
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Migration and refugee rights
Immigration et droits des réfugié.es
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Oversight of security agencies
Surveillance des agences de sécurité
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Press freedom
Liberté de la presse
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Reflections on the war on terror
Réflexions sur la guerre au terrorisme
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Surveillance
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Torture
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Action
Let Khaled leave Egypt!
Free Khaled Al-Qazzaz - Write to your MP to ask them to urge the Egyptian authorities to remove the travel ban on Canadian resident Khaled  Al-Qazzaz so he can finally be free after being detained without charges for a year and a half and released since January 2015 but prevented from leaving the country.
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Report
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Report
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Action
Saudi Arabia: Stop the execution of juvenile activist Ali al-Nimr
Amnesty International - Two courts have upheld the death sentence against a Shi'a activist. He has exhausted his appeals and may be executed as soon as the King ratifies the sentence. Ali al-Nimr was sentenced to death on 27 May 2014 for offences he is alleged to have committed when he was 17 years old. The court seems to  have based its decision on "confessions" which Ali al-Nimr has said were extracted under torture and other ill-treatment and has refused to look into this allegation. When Ali al-Nimr was arrested in February 2012 he was not allowed to see his lawyer. He has said that GDI officers tortured him to make him sign a "confession". Read more and sign the petition now!
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Action
PM Trudeau: Call on the UAE to free Canadian citizen Salim Alaradi now!
ICLMG - Salim Alaradi, a Canadian citizen and father of 5 young children, has been detained without charge in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)  since August 2014. We are also worried that he was tortured. His health is deteriorating quickly as his family has informed us this week. Write to Prime Minister Trudeau to urge him to call on the UAE to free Salim Alaradi now!
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Action
Join the great Canadian petition drive to kill Bill C-51 and win prizes!
OpenMedia - If we want to get Bill C-51 repealed, we need to add as many voices as we can so our message can be heard far and wide. So to provide a little extra incentive to help us reach 300,000 signatures,  we've put together some pretty great prizes for those who help us reach the most people. Join the Great Canadian Petition Drive to Kill C-51 now with the chance to win an awesome pro-privacy prize pack! Are you ready to beat Margaret Atwood?
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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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C-51 has put it on an operational footing much closer to that of the old RCMP Security Service. [...] Already, the incoming Liberals have promised to amend C-51, dubbed the Anti-terrorism Act of 2015, to forbid disruption operations from breaching Canadians' Charter rights and protections. But a source knowledgeable about the Liberals' thinking says senior officials are keeping "an open mind" on many aspects of C-51, especially the controversial new disruption powers.
university's Human Rights Research and Education Centre and Centre for International Policy Studies, "Arar +10" reviewed the state of national security and human rights in Canada a decade after a public inquiry was established to investigate the rendition to Syria and torture of Canadian citizen Maher Arar. From a range of panels key recommendations emerged. The conference's recommendations are particularly timely as the new federal government prepares to introduce legal and other reforms reversing or revising national security and citizenship laws and practices.
promote and favour the interests of Canadian mining companies and to influence decisions over extractive projects and related policies. The trend of repression and deregulation in Canada to favour mining, oil, and gas projects is consistent with the model that the Canadian government promotes abroad. Concluding with a series of ideas and recommendations for discussion, the report seeks to spur debate and foster creative action to protect dissent in defence of land and the environment, and to question Canada's role in promoting the underlying economic development model that is putting communities at such a deadly disadvantage.
