[ottawa-activist-events] URGENT EMERGENCY RALLY NOON TUESDAY
Jessica Squires
To All Justice for Mohamed Harkat Supporters
Mohamed Harkat has been transferred to "Guantanamo North" at Millhaven
near Kingston, Ontario.
Please be advised that an emergency demonstration will take place in
Ottawa TOMORROW, Tuesday, April 25, to protest the transfer of the
security certificate detainees, the day after Mohamed Harkat is
transferred to the new facility beside Millhaven in Kingston.
The demonstration will take place at the Canada Immigration office,
365 Laurier St W (Laurier & Kent), at 12:00 noon.
Thank you for your support. For further information please visit
www.zerra.net/freemohamed.
We enclose an article on the Kingston facilty for those that missed it.
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Call it Guantanamo North, or perhaps Guantanamo Lite. What's for sure is
that the new high-security detention centre being built near Kingston to
house foreign terrorism suspects is exceedingly small, with space for
just six inmates.
As things stand, that should pose no problem for Canada's security
needs. Just four people -- all Arab nationals -- are believed detained
under the government's controversial security certificates. All are
resisting deportation on grounds that they fear persecution if sent home.
A fifth man is free on bail in Montreal, subject to severe restrictions.
None of the five has been charged with a crime.
The self-contained unit, under construction behind the walls of
maximum-security Millhaven Penitentiary, is due to open at the end of
March and all four suspects will be going there, Correctional Service
Canada spokeswoman Michele Pilon-Santilli said yesterday.
"It's within the grounds of Millhaven but is a totally separate
facility, being built specifically to house security-certificate
detainees," she said. "[Prisoners] will be kept separate from other
inmates at all times; there will be absolutely no contact."
Authorities would not say what the new facility is costing to build,
or disclose the size of its cells. Each inmate will be held separately,
CBSA spokeswoman Cara Prest said, with visitors subject to the same
scrutiny as those who enter the rest of Millhaven.
Word of the new prison-within-a-prison follows a recent report by a
United Nations human-rights group. After touring Canada last year, the
group said it was "gravely concerned" about the use of security
certificates. Chiefly at issue, it concluded, are the detainees' right
to a fair hearing and their ability to challenge the evidence used to
hold them, portions of which are often kept secret. Nor is there any
mechanism for a judicial review of the circumstances of incarceration.
The unit is a response to a request by the Ontario government, which
currently oversees the inmates' detention, Ms. Pilon-Santilli said.
"This was based on needs. If and when there are more [detainees],
we'll look at them on a case-by-case basis."
Ottawa lawyer Matthew Webber, counsel for long-time detainee Mohammed
Harkat, voiced dismay at his client's prospects.
"One might view this obviously remedial step as an alternative to
bail," he said. "It's an obvious recognition of the fact that the
current circumstances are unacceptable, but this is really just a Band-Aid."
The certificates pertain only to non-citizens believed to pose a
security threat. Canadians accused of terror-related offences must be
charged under the Criminal Code.
All four men are suspected of being allied to Islamic extremists:
Algerian-born Mr. Harkat, a refugee claimant who worked at an Ottawa
gas station before his arrest in December, 2002, is being held at the
Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre.
Syrian-born Hassan Almrei, imprisoned since October, 2001, is at
Toronto's Metro West Detention Centre.
Egyptian-born Mohammed Mahjoub, arrested in June, 2000, and Mahmoud
Jaballah, also of Egypt, have been detained since August, 2001. They,
too, are behind bars at Metro West.
Adil Charkaoui of Morocco, who was held from May, 2003, to February,
2005, is free on bail in Montreal.
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