[antiwar-van] (Van) Fri Jan 12th: Close Guantanamo North and South

[Harsha]

Close Guantanamo North and South
End Indefinite Detention and Deportation to Torture, from Canada to
U.S.-Occupied Cuba
Cross-Canada actions, January 11-15, 2007

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IN VANCOUVER: FRIDAY JAN 12TH
MULTIMEDIA AND STREET THEATRE 4-6 PM
COMMUNITY GATHERING 6-7 PM
BOTH AT VANCOUVER ART GALLERY (ROBSON)
Contact: noii-van at resist.ca or call 778 885 0040
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January 11, 2007 marks 5 years since the official opening of Guantanamo
Bay, a detention and torture centre run by the United States in Cuba that
has been a legal black hole for countless people swept up in the terror of
war. While many have been released (after spending upwards of four or more
years without being charged or given a trial), hundreds of others languish
under illegal detention, facing inhumane conditions without access to the
outside world.

Canada has its own Guantanamo Bay, located in Millhaven Penitentiary,
Kingston. Here, three "security certificate" detainees who have been held
upwards of seven years without charge on secret evidence, are fighting
deportation to torture. All are currently on hunger strike protesting
their conditions of detention, including denial of medical treatment. Two
other men, also held between two and four years, are currently "out" on
some of the most severe restrictions on human liberty ever imposed in a
Canadian bail release. These draconian restrictions also curtail the
freedoms of their entire families.

All five men were arrested under "Security Certificates," a measure of the
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) 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. Neither the detainee nor his lawyer are informed of
the precise allegations or provided with the full information against him.
They are imprisoned indefinitely without charges on secret evidence and
face deportation to their countries of origin, even if there is a
substantial risk of torture or death.

We join in the call to shut down Guantanamo Bay, adding our own demand
along with the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, Justice for
Mohamed Harkat Committee, and Justice for Adil for the closure of
Guantanamo Bay North, right here in Canada. Join us to demand that the
Canadian government:

1. Immediately close Kingston Immigration Holding Centre (Guantanamo Bay
North)
2. Immediately release Canada's secret trial "security certificate"
detainees or provide them with a fair, transparent, open trial.
3. End all proceedings to deport the Secret Trial Five (Mahmoud Jaballah,
Mohammad Mahjoub, Hassan Almrei, Mohamed Harkat, Adil Charkaoui)
4. Abolish security certificates and end deportation to torture.
5. Immediately condemn the illegal Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.