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Monia Mazigh
We must question the timing of this terrorism case
The Huffington Post 31/03/2016 - Immediately, after the Brussels attacks, an engineering student from the University of Waterloo was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Even if the Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale went out publicly and declared that Canada isn't under any additional or specific terrorist threats, the RCMP decided to choose to arrest the suspect during a time of fear. This is not the first time. [...] What is troubling with this recent arrest is not only the timing, but the basis of it. Kevin Omar Mohamed was first arrested as part of a peace bond ordered under Section 810.011 of the Criminal Code. He was also charged with weapons offences. The RCMP evoked  the "fear of terrorism" provision included in the Criminal Code. This is a direct implication of the use of some prerogatives of Bill C-51 related to the promotion of terrorism and preventive arrest. It is a preventive measure that put restriction on a suspect in case when there is not enough evidence to charge him. Since last year, several Muslim men have been arrested using this procedure. [...] However, on the day where the suspect was supposed to appear in front of the judge about the peace bond, everyone was surprised, including the lawyer of the suspect, to learn that the RCMP dropped the peace bond and instead charged the suspect with terrorism charges. Why? We don't know [...] Another complex case that we will keep monitoring and make sure that the rule of law will be followed even if we still find the timing of the arrest and the abrupt introduction of the terrorism charges very unclear and very confusing.
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Refugee advocates call for oversight of CBSA
iPolitics 31/03/2016 - After two recent deaths of immigration detainees, and the detention in isolation of a 16-year-old Syrian minor, refugee advocates are urging the federal government to establish an independent complaints and oversight mechanism for CBSA. Loly Rico, president of the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR), told reporters during a teleconference that CCR is proposing a model for complaints. [...] Rico was joined by Mitch Goldberg, president of CARL, Josh Paterson, executive director of BCCLA, Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada, and Monia Mazigh, National Coordinator of ICLMG. [...] While the government has committed to creating a  parliamentary committee to monitor Canada's spy agencies, even if the committee reviews oversight mechanisms for CBSA, advocates say it won't be enough. "It's a good step," said Mazigh, but her organization is asking for a process that's more comprehensive, which means an independent agency that's able to communicate with all of the other review agencies so they can investigate complaints together. "I don't think parliamentary oversight can do that, so this is our position and we hope the minister or the government will consider this criteria when they are going to suggest any new oversight and review mechanism...if any," said Mazigh. Read more - Lire plus rabble.ca 30/03/2016 - Francisco Javier Romero Astorga died in immigration detention on March 13. He was 39 years old, from Chile, a father of four. The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA), responsible for his detention, has refused to explain how he died. Indeed, Astorga's family in Chile has received scant information, beyond the amount they must pay to return his body to them: $10,000. Now that we know that he is not the first person to die in immigration detention," his family wrote in a letter to the Canadian public, "we want an investigation into his death to also tell the truth about what is  happening in the Canadian immigration system. How can people be dying in government detention? It is inhuman what immigration detention is doing to people. In Canada, migrants may be detained indefinitely -- unlike in the United States, for example, which imposes a 90-day limit on immigration detention. Out of 585 people in immigration detention in November 2013, 60 had been held for over a year. Some have been jailed for more than 10 years, trapped in the carceral limbo of undeportability. Canada is "one of the few countries that doesn't have a release period," immigration consultant Macdonald Scott points out. "We're a rogue nation." In 2015, the United Nations Human Rights Committee castigated Canada for these rogue immigration detention practices. Read more - Lire plusFamily of Mexican man "tortured & killed" by U.S. border agents seeks justice at international tribunalMigrants : « Les garanties offertes par la Turquie ne sont pas suffisamment claires » pour le HCRA Paris, le campement de migrants du métro Stalingrad évacué
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UN mandates raise case of Canadian Citizen Salim Alaradi in the 31st Session of the Human Rights Council
Free Salim Alaradi 29/03/2016 - The United Nations mandates published the case of Canadian citizen Salim Alaradi in their communications report submitted to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) during the 31st Session as part of agenda no. 4 - human rights situations that require the Council's attention. The Special Rapporteurs of Torture, Independence of Judges and Lawyers, and Health raised the case of Alaradi and five other victims  under ARE 4/2015 - Communications issues to the United Arab Emirates. They reported to members states of the HRC that: "We express our grave concern regarding the allegations of arbitrary arrest and detention, incommunicado detention and solitary confinement for prolonged periods, torture and ill-treatment, as well as extraction of confessions under torture of Mr. Salim Alaradi...and about the lack of respect for the most basic due process guarantees throughout their respective arrests and continued detention." Read more - Lire plusWATCH part 3 animated video of Canadian Salim Alaradi's ordeal in the UAE |
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Le Devoir 26/03/2016 - Les explications ont fusé depuis les événements tragiques de Bruxelles. Elles sont le plus souvent proposées par des acteurs engagés voulant légitimer leurs orientations politiques. Les courants de droite promeuvent la peur de l'immigration musulmane et de l'islam en s'appuyant sur une lecture culturaliste des événements, renforçant du coup le racisme et l'islamophobie. Les gouvernements occidentaux  lisent les événements dans le cadre de la « guerre à la terreur » et justifient leurs dérives sécuritaires en insistant sur la dimension organisationnelle des réseaux islamistes. Ils nient les conséquences désastreuses de leurs politiques coloniales. Face à certaines réactions islamophobes, des courants de gauche s'attardent presque exclusivement aux facteurs de marginalisation économique, sociale et politique pour expliquer le basculement de jeunes dans le djihad violent. Ils évacuent le facteur idéologique, qu'ils réduisent à un facteur religieux, et ils le rejettent alors, estimant qu'il s'agit d'une essentialisation orientaliste. Aucune de ces explications, prises séparément, n'est satisfaisante pour comprendre les modalités de la violence des groupes djihadistes. Nous croyons plutôt que chacun de ces facteurs a un rôle explicatif spécifique. Read more - Lire plusOpinion: A decalogue to understand terrorism and its consequencesRichard Falk: Reflections on the Brussels attackGlenn Greenwald: Highlighting Western victims while ignoring victims of Western violenceAmy Goodman: From Cuba to Brussels, we need a uniform standard of justice
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Federal direction to Canada's spy agency on anti terror bill C 51 largely secret
The Canadian Press 27/03/2016 - "One of our greatest concerns with C-51 is that CSIS has been given extraordinary new powers, including the power to break the law and violate the Constitution," said Josh Paterson, executive director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association. "While some details need to remain secret, it's troubling that so much of the minister's high-level, general direction to CSIS on how the agency should interpret its new powers is blacked out. The government should be more transparent about the direction it is giving our spy agencies as to how they should be  accountable." [...] Elements of the direction that were released to The Canadian Press mention fundamental principles CSIS must follow, including respect for the rule of law and the use of operational methods "reasonable and proportional" to the threat. [...] However, the details on how all this must be done have been stripped out of the direction and several annexes. "The really interesting stuff, I'm sure, is in the redacted portions," said University of Ottawa law professor Craig Forcese, co-author of "False Security," a book critiquing C-51. [...] "I think we need to know some of these details," said Forcese, who questioned classification of parts of the direction as cabinet secrets. Read more - Lire plusFrance - Déchéance de nationalité : marche arrière après 63 heures de débats |
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Mass surveillance
Surveillance globale
Maryland appellate court rebukes police for concealing use of Stingrays
The Intercept 31/03/2016 - A Maryland appellate court on Wednesday explained its reasoning for its landmark decision earlier this month requiring police to establish probable cause and get a warrant before using a Stingray, or cell-site simulator. The Maryland Court of Special Appeals rejected the state of Maryland's argument that anyone turning on a phone was "voluntarily" sharing their whereabouts with the police. And the 73-page opinion also harshly rebuked Baltimore police for trying to conceal their use of Stingrays from the court. "This is the first appellate opinion in the country to fully  address the question of whether police must disclose their intent to use a cell-site simulator to a judge and obtain a probable cause warrant," said Nathan Wessler, a staff attorney with the ACLU's Project on Speech, Privacy, and Technology. The panel of judges stated that "cellphone users have an objectively reasonable expectation that their cellphones will not be used as real-time tracking devices, through the direct and active interference of law enforcement." In court testimony last April, a Baltimore detective revealed that the Baltimore Police Department had used Stingrays more than 4,300 times since 2007, repeatedly failing to notify courts of their use in criminal cases.
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Autres nouvelles - More news
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Event
Watch Xenophobia & the future of Canadian pluralism with Monia Mazigh live online!
Remarks by:
Jeet Heer, Senior Editor, The New Republic, and 2016 Scotiabank Giller Juror Response Panel: Haroun Bouazzi, Co-president, Association des Musulmans et des Arabes pour la Laïcité au Québec
Monia Mazigh, National Coordinator, International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group Moderator: Francine Pelletier, columnist, Le Devoir Session will be webcast. Sign up for notifications. |
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Action
Stop stingray surveillance!
OpenMedia - Stingrays (also known as "IMSI-catchers") are surveillance devices that can suck up every piece of sensitive, personal info in our cell phones. Every call, email, and text - our most intimate moments. You don't have to do anything wrong to be a victim. Stingrays CAN'T target one  person. They CAN vacuum up an entire neighbourhood, or up to 10,000 people's private data at once. We know they're being used in countries including the U.S. and Australia, and other governments are fighting to keep their use a secret. We must rein this in. Tell law-makers: It's time to put a stop to invasive Stingray cellphone surveillance.
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Action
Free Huseyin Celil
Amnesty International - Huseyin has been in prison for 10 years after an unfair trial.  Take action now to ensure that Huseyin is not subject to another 10 years of unfair treatment.
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ICLMG - Canada's numerous national security agencies - including CSEC, CSIS, the RCMP and CBSA - have inadequate or simply no oversight or review mechanisms. This has led to human rights violations such as the rendition to torture of Canadiancitizens Maher Arar,
Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El-Maati and Muayyed Nurredin, among others. In 2006, Justice O'Connor concluded the Arar Commission with several recommendations to prevent such atrocities from happening again: Canadian national security agencies must be subjected to robust, integrated and comprehensive oversight and review. Years have passed and the federal government has yet to implement the recommendations.
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ICLMG has put together a table detailing the issues with the legislation, actions and review mechanisms of the CSE, CSIS and the RCMP. There are 21 federal departments and agencies with national security responsibilities in Canada  - including the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Financial Transactions and Report Analysis Centre (FINTRAC), Foreign Affairs, National Defence, and Transport Canada. Only 3 have some sort of review mechanism - which are highly inadequate. We need better oversight and review now!
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Action
Tell your MP:
"I demand a real, open consultation that will let us Kill C-51"
OpenMedia - Right now, the government is deciding how to deal with C-51 and its irresponsible spying powers. If we don't act ASAP, there's a huge chance decision-makers will side with pro-surveillance forces and sacrifice our Charter rights once and for all. But, if we can get a real, open consultation  on C-51, people like you will ensure the government finally has to kill the bill's dangerous powers. Parliament resumes on Monday, which means they're deciding now. Message your MP today, and make sure we get the real, open consultation we deserve to kill C-51 for good.
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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
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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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 43 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 43 organisations de la société civile canadienne qui a été créée suite aux attentats terroristes de septembre 2001 aux États-Unis.
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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.
