[antiwar-van] Breaking News: Supreme Court of Canada to hear Constitutional Challenge to Security Certificate Process

[No One is Illegal-Vancouver]

MEDIA ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SUPREME COURT OF CANADA TO HEAR CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE TO SECURITY
CERTIFICATE PROCESS

August 25th, 2005, VANCOUVER –  Canada's top court announced today that
they will consider the constitutionality of the Immigration and Refugee
Protection Act 's security certificate process, under which non-citizens
can be detained indefinitely without charge under secret evidence. The
announcement comes after a five-month wait.

Currently in Canada, five men are being held on "Security Certificates," a
measure of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that has been
described by Amnesty International as "fundamentally flawed and unfair".
Security certificates and secret evidence reverse the fundamental rule of
innocent until proven guilty. The men can be held for years without charge
and neither the detainee nor his lawyer are informed of the precise
allegations. The men can be deported, even if their lives are threatened.
Most recently, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and
United Nations Committee against Torture have both questioned Canada's use
of the procedure.

"I am claiming no more than my right as a human being to a fair trial, to
life, liberty and security of the person, to equality as well as to
freedom from arbitrary detention, and from cruel and unusual punishment,"
said Adil Charkaoui, who is bringing the challenge forward as one of the
men arrested under a security certificate on 21 May 2003.

The challenge has the support of an intervenors' group, including the
Canadian Arab Federation, Canadian Council for Refugees, International
Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, Minority Advocacy Rights Council, and
the National Anti-Racism Council of Canada.

Meanwhile, secret trial detainee Hassan Almrei is now on Day 64 of a
hunger strike, demanding the right to one hour a day of exercise outside
of his cell.  Hassan Almrei has been detained under a security certificate
in solitary confinement for four years.

Harjap Grewal of the immigrant and refugee rights group No One is
Illegal-Vancouver states “We continue to support the families of these
five men in demanding that the men be released; or, if any case against
them actually exists, that they be allowed to defend themselves in open,
fair and independent trial with full disclosure; that they not be
deported; and that the security certificate process be abolished.”

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MEDIA CONTACT: Harsha Walia (No One is Illegal) 778-885-0040



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The No One is Illegal campaign is in full confrontation with Canadian
colonial border policies, denouncing and taking action to combat racial
profiling of immigrants and refugees, detention and deportation policies,
and wage-slave conditions of migrant workers and non-status people.

We struggle for the right for our communities to maintain their
livelihoods and resist war, occupation and displacement, while building
alliances and supporting indigenous sisters and brothers also fighting
theft of land and displacement.