[antiwar-van] Dec 10: Rally and Vigil to Abolish Security Certificates

[harsha at resist.ca]

From:    "No One is Illegal-Vancouver" <noii-van at resist.ca>

***Please circulate widely***Sorry for cross-postings***



JOIN US FOR A FULL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST SECURITY CERTIFICATES
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY - DECEMBER 10

=============================
SATURDAY DECEMBER 10 2005 TO SUNDAY DECEMBER 11, 2005
VANCOUVER ART GALLERY, Robson entrance

RALLY FROM 12 NOON – 2 PM
Followed by a 24-HOUR VIGIL ending at Noon on Sunday Dec. 11

including speakers, performers, musicians, art work!
please bring banners, placards, art, noisemakers.

Contact: No One is Illegal at noii-van at resist.ca or 778-552-2099

=============================

As you read this, five Muslim men remain held without charge or bail on
secret evidence neither they nor their lawyers are allowed to see, in
Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. They have been detained,  as of October
2005, a collective total of 223 months in Canadian prisons, much of it in
solitary confinement, without charge, without bail, on secret "evidence"
which neither they nor their lawyers are allowed to see, and all are at
risk of deportation to torture or death.

These men are not some shadowy figures in a passport photo. They are
teachers, students, poets, artists, parents, husbands, friends and
workers. Their names are:
Mohammad Mahjoub (arrested June 2000);
Mahmoud Jaballah (arrested August 2001);
Hassan Almrei (arrested October 2001);
Mohamed Harkat (arrested December 2002);
and Adil Charkaoui (arrested May 2003).

This week, even as the Globe and Mail announces the unveiling of Canada’s
highly critized "redress package" for Italian-Canadians, the Canadian
government continues to repeat the mistakes of the past. How long will it
take for today’s government to recognize that the South Asian, Arab, and
Muslim communities are the current targets of racist policies and
arbitrary detentions without trial?


On International Human Rights Day, December 10, which is also the second
anniversary of the detention of one of the Secret Trial Five, individuals
and groups concerned about secret trials and deportation to torture will
be protesting in Vancouver to force the Canadian government to listen to
the voices of the wives, children, and supporters of today’s detainees.

The men and their families have been subject to years of imprisonment,
solitary confinement, loss of friends, poverty, confusion about WHY they
are detained, and daily uncertainty about whether they will be removed in
the night to face torture overseas in the morning. None have ever been
charged of any wrongdoing. None have been given access to any reasons for
the detentions. The detainees have been denied touch visits with their
children and families, and are now to be moved to a prison three hours
away from Toronto, which will isolate them further from their communities
of support. And this is continuing, despite the United Nations’
condemnation of Canada’s use of detention based on mere suspicion, and
deportation to torture and death.

Hassan Almrei went on a 73-day hunger strike to get one
hour of exercise daily, a right granted to all prisoners but not to the
detainees – a request which was quashed in court last week.

Mohammad Mahjoub endured a 79-day hunger strike simply to get proper
medical treatment for an illness he contracted while in detention.

Mohamed Harkat awaits a ruling which will decide whether Canada intends to
torture and kill him by carrying through with his deportation.

Mahmoud Jaballah awaits news on a similar decision, despite a Government
of Canada pre-removal risk assessment officer’s conclusion that "there are
substantial grounds for believing that the applicant [Jaballah] would be
killed or tortured should he be required to return to Egypt."

Adil Charkaoui, released to house arrest and under strict surveillance,
continues to live with the daily threat that Canada will carry out his
deportation to torture using secret evidence.

The attacks on the dignity and rights of these men is part of a much
broader attack on refugees and immigrants, and very specifically Muslim,
Arab, and South Asian communities. On December 10, as Canada looks back at
a legacy of racist violence, we must call for an end to the use of secret
trials, detention without charges, and deportations to torture. In honour
of Human Rights Day, No One Is Illegal-Vancouver is calling for a DAY OF
ACTION on SATURDAY 10 DECEMBER to demand FOUR things:

1. That the five men be released immediately; or, if any case against them
actually exists, that they be allowed to defend themselves in open, fair
and independent trials with full disclosure of the case against them. 2.
That they not be deported.
3. That the federal government abolish the secret trial security
certificate process.
4. That CSIS, RCMP, and CIC end its ongoing harassment and intimidation of
individuals and communities of Arab, Middle Eastern, and South Asian
heritage and/or Muslim faith.

Standing up for the rights of the Secret Trial Five is a concrete way to
confront the politics of racist fear, which is being used to justify
expanding governmental powers and war policies.

Join us on Saturday December 10 at 12 Noon at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

For more information:

No One is Illegal-Vancouver
noii-van at resist.ca
(778) 552-2099

Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada (Toronto)
www.homesnotbombs.ca

Coalition for Justice for Adil (Montreal)
www.adilinfo.org

Committee for Justice for Mohamed Harkat (Ottawa)
www.zerra.net/freemohamed



-- 
No One is Illegal-Vancouver
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Office 714, 207 West Hastings, Vancouver BC V6B 1H7

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.

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