[news] Chretien Refuses Meeting With Families of Secret Trial Detainees

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-----Forwarded Message-----
From: Jamie Kneen <jkneen at magma.ca>
To: NOWAR list <nowar at flora.org>, ACA <aca-list at lists.mutualaid.org>, PGA-gen <pga at lists.riseup.net>
Subject: [pga] Chretien Refuses Meeting With Families of Secret Trial Detainees
Date: 27 Aug 2003 16:01:10 -0400

Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 15:39:02 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Chretien Refuses Meeting With Families of Secret Trial Detainees
From: tasc at web.ca

Prime Minister Jean Chretien Refuses to Meet With Families of 
Canada's Secret Trial Detainees; Tears Flow as Members of Five 
Families, Including 10 Children, Plead for the Release of Their Loved 
Ones


(In which a group of five families goes to Ottawa hoping to meet the 
prime minister with a single question on behalf of the children: when 
is my dad coming home? They are the human fallout from Canadian 
repression, and the front line of the battle to preserve civil 
liberties in Canada. If these families cannot win justice, no one in 
this country can win justice. The shadow of the anti-democracy probe 
of the RCMP/CSIS which secretly jailed 19 Pakistani men in Toronto a 
week earlier hangs over the gathering as an omen that unless we 
continue to speak up, the slender threads of democracy will continue 
to tear and come apart.)

Ottawa, Ontario, August 25, 2003 -- It takes a lot of courage to 
fight a fire, courage which has been on display the past few weeks as 
fires have ravaged parts of British Columbia. Even Prime Minister 
Jean Chretien came out of his seclusion to view the human toll of the 
tragedy and to shake hands with the survivors.

There is another fire raging in Canada that is causing deep, possibly 
irreparable harm to Canada, and threatening the safety of all who 
live here. It is a fire whose flames lick at the Canadian 
constitution, and which has already burned deep holes in the Canadian 
Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In many instances, it has seared 
CanadaÂ’s international obligations under such covenants as the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The fire is represented by words like "CSIS security certificate," 
and by headlines from the past week about 19 Pakistani men who 
disappeared from the streets of Toronto for over a week before anyone 
knew they'd been arrested. On Monday, the focus was on the Secret 
Trial 5: Mohammad Mahjoub (jailed since June, 2000), Mahmoud Jaballah 
(jailed since August, 2001), Hassan Almrei (jailed since October 
2001), Mohamed Harkat (jailed since December 2002) and Adil Charkaoui 
(jailed since May 2003).

These five men have been held, largely in solitary confinement, a 
collective 94 months without charge or bail, on secret "evidence" 
neither they nor their lawyers are allowed to see. That "evidence" is 
provided by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, a 
scandal-ridden spy agency with a remarkable record of dishonesty, 
corruption, and disregard for civil rights.

On Monday, August 25, a courageous group of fire fighters came to 
Ottawa to extinguish this fire. They were the friends and families of 
the secret trial detainees who, in a historic moment, were all 
gathered together in one place, in common cause, in an act giving new 
life to the worn-out cry of solidarity.

They came to Ottawa to present a petition to the PM with thousands of 
signatures demanding freedom for loved ones and the end of the secret 
trial security certificate. They came to Ottawa in the same spirit 
they came to Canada -- with hope that they would find freedom from 
persecution and torture. They came here because they believed in the 
democratic process and the promise of a new, more peaceful life. And 
they came because they want so desperately to see democracy work.

It's unclear ultimately what every family member expected, balancing 
their deepest hopes for justice against the litany of abuses they 
have suffered and continue to endure. But by the time they made it to 
the red carpet at the entrance to the PMO, they had the door slammed 
in their face by Chretien's deputy communications director Steven 
Hogue as a wall of RCMP officers looked on.

It was the end of a one-month journey that began in late July, when a 
letter from the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada was sent to 
the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), requesting a meeting for August 
25. A letter was also sent from Ahmad Jaballah, a 17-year-old whose 
father, Mahmoud, just marked two years in Metro West Detention 
Centre, as well as from the Jaballah's MP, Liberal Jim Karygiannis.

Throughout the month of August, numerous calls were made every few 
days to check on the status of our proposed meeting with Chretien or 
with one of his aides. Each time we called we were told that the file 
was still "open," and that we would be hearing from them.

But as our vehicles from Toronto pulled in to Ottawa late Sunday 
evening, we had not yet had confirmation of this meeting. As of 
Monday morning, as the vans began showing up from Montreal, we were 
still told that the PMO had an open file on us, but that it was not 
clear if we would get our meeting. We kept getting transferred to an 
answering machine where we could leave a message about our "concerns."

Two weeks after the letters had been sent, members of the Mahjoub and 
Jaballah families gathered at CSIS in Toronto to seek a meeting. 
August 14 marked the second anniversary of the arrest of Jaballah, 
who had won against a previous certificate but who was arrested on a 
second certificate and was now behind bars despite the fact that CSIS 
said it had no new "evidence" against him, only a new interpretation 
of the old "evidence" that had been dismissed by a federal court 
judge.

Once at CSIS, they were met again with a wall of police who refused 
them entry. This was not new. At the end of a three-day walk to stop 
secret trials held in June in Toronto, a similar response met the 
families.

But on August 14, the media suddenly seemed interested, and lots of 
cameras were finally there to record the voices of families of secret 
trial detainees.

"If you don't want us to go in, at least get somebody to come out," 
said Mona El-Fouli, whose husband Mohammad Mahjoub has been detained 
38 months. "So they [CSIS] are free to go into homes and take people 
out of their homes, but they're not free to come and talk to us and 
tell us why they did that. If they have evidence, why don't they show 
it?"

For a few hours, it seems the story will get a national airing. But 
the big blackout began around 4:15 that afternoon, and the story of 
secret trials in Canada again went to the backburner.

The trip to Ottawa represents another opportunity to speak to the 
people of Canada, to awaken their sleeping conscience.

Monday morning dawns early for Mona El-Fouli. Before the sun is up, 
CTV has sent a cab to bring her to Ottawa's experimental farm where, 
following a story on mad cow disease, Mona will go before a national 
audience to explain why she is making her first trip to Ottawa along 
with her three children. The cab driver is a perky fellow who 
normally does a lot of pickups for the Canada AM show, and seems to 
deliver his standard line as Mona gets ready to disembark: "Don't let 
all this media go to your head, Mona!"

Mona smiles politely and then looks around at the bizarre site of a 
small camera crew trying to coax some cows into early morning "cow 
action," but the creatures would rather stare back with that sense of 
detached wonder at the antics of humans. El-Fouli tries to explain to 
the male technician that as a woman wearing hijab, she would prefer 
to put the earpiece in her ear by herself.

Some members of the crew have gone inside a barn and upset another 
group of cows, who scream out and kick wooden planks constantly, a 
distracting noise that will underlie Mona's interview. And then Mona 
goes on and, in four and a half minutes, has to explain the effect 
the secret trial process has had on her and her children. She 
explains how difficult it has been, and the threat to her husband if 
he is deported back to Egypt. Indeed, when Mahjoub first came to 
Canada and was accepted as a refugee, the Canadian government 
informed the Egyptian government, and Mahjoub's two brothers back 
home, a teacher and a doctor, were disappeared, and have not been 
heard from since.

The interview is very brief, but Mona's message is clear: if the 
government has evidence against her husband, let them show it and 
have a fair trial. Otherwise, stop holding him and return him to his 
children.

It's back into the cab and a trip to a nearby house, where, after the 
driver's repeated warning not to let all this media go to her head, 
Mona prepares to do a more extensive radio interview with CBC 
morning. Throughout the day, CBC radio will be airing lots of 
coverage of two seemingly related but equally weighted stories: the 
plight of the families of secret trial detainees, and whether the 
RCMP should continue to use yellow as part of its uniform colours.

"I'm hoping to speak to the prime minister or member of the prime 
minister's office and to be able to get them to understand this is 
not fair at all and to ensure a fair process," she explains. "It's 
very, very difficult for my husband. It's not easy to be in detention 
for three years and not to know what it's all about. For the family 
it's a nightmare. It's stressful for me. First of all, he [Mahjoub] 
was the sole support for the family. The children keep asking where 
he is, what he's doing, why doesn't he come back?

"When they go and visit him, they feel uncomfortable speaking to him 
behind glass, they keep kissing and hugging the glass. It's very 
emotional. One day my 6-year-old son saw guards behind my husband and 
started to break down and scream and scream, 'I know, I know that 
he's in jail, why is he in jail?' It was too emotional a moment. I 
wonder, if I were to tell him why he is in jail, what would I say to 
him? Because we don't know what the evidence is that's put him in 
jail. So I would like to see the evidence that put my husband for 
three years in jail."

El-Fouli explains that "at the moment, because they [the children] 
are still small and they don't understand what jail is all about, 
they wouldn't understand that there is no evidence against him, so I 
tell them that he is travelling and that he will be coming one day. 
But at the same time that I tell them that he is coming one day I 
wonder, IS he going to come back? What's going to happen to him? And 
for what reason? IÂ’d like to see the evidence, I'd like to see fair 
trials."

After gathering all the children together, El-Fouli, Sophie Harkat 
and her family, and the Jaballah family head downtown with placards 
and banners to set up at the Human Rights monument.

On the grass near the monument, surrounded by a huge horde of media, 
gather the wives, sisters, children and adopted families of the 
detained men. The families are amazed at the masses of media. There 
is a sense of hope that today, perhaps, their story will get out 
across the country. Live spots are set up for CBC, CTV, and Global.

ItÂ’s a morning filled both with the weight of the emotion that comes 
with living through a daily nightmare, and the liberation that comes 
with looking around and seeing that you are no longer alone in your 
struggle. Little children run around playing hide-and-seek behind 
banners and placards just like any other group of kids would do, only 
this group of kids shares a common tragedy: their dads are in jail on 
weightless allegations “supported” by secret “evidence”.

An officer with the RCMP comes over and discusses the march route 
with walk organizers. He is friendly enough, and says he has been in 
touch with the prime minister's office in the hopes of helping us get 
a meeting. He also informs us that the Montreal bus has been 
cancelled, and asks if we'll leave sooner rather than later. We ask 
his source for this information, but none is provided. (We know that 
the Montreal folks are coming in vans, not a bus, and received a call 
that they were a bit behind, and so find the RCMP's "news" curious!)

Before we even start speaking at the rally, the media have gathered 
in a big pack around Mona, around Diana Ralph, one of the adopted 
Canadian family members of Hassan Almrei, Sophie Harkat, and Ahmad 
Jaballah, a 17-year-old who eloquently puts forward his position as 
he explains how difficult the last few years have been.

"It's been pretty hard," Jaballah says. "First of all, my studies are 
going down. I can't focus in school for the past two years. I've been 
missing a lot of school because of going to court and so on. And also 
this week I'm supposed to be preparing for next week and going into 
grade 12 but now I'm here in Ottawa doing this, so I can't prepare 
for school. School is the basis for my future, and as you can see my 
future is being messed up from the start. So it's been pretty hard. 
And I'm the oldest, I'm only 17. I'm taking more responsibilities 
than I'm supposed to. I'm supposed to take care of my five brothers 
and sisters, and that's not a responsibility for a 17-year-old. I 
have more stuff on my back than I should have. It's hard."

Jaballah is asked why he thinks his father was arrested. It is the 
fifth time. Previously, he has said the media should really ask CSIS 
for an answer. "They claim him to be a terrorist, but I don't believe 
that. If you ask me what I think, I'd say it's something against 
Muslims these days, they go all around the world, all around cities 
and towns arresting Muslims for no reason. It's not just against my 
dad or the five but it's something against all Muslims."

As with loved ones of the other detainees, JaballahÂ’s message is 
simple, and does not seem too much to ask, especially considering 
what they've been through. "If you have anything against my dad, show 
it and give him a fair trial, I'm on your side," Ahmad says. 
"Otherwise, stop torturing Muslims and my dad."

After brief speeches from family members, the walk gets underway, 
stopping first at Citizenship and Immigration Canada, where minister 
Coderre signs the security certificate. It is also where legislation 
is being drafted to allow Coderre to rescind citizenship of permanent 
residents based on secret evidence, with no right of appeal. Finally, 
we note it was the site of a peaceful sit-in by "non-status" 
Algerians seeking an end to deportations last May, an occupation 
broken up in brutal fashion by electric-prod toting RCMP tactical 
squad members.

We pass by the Supreme Court, which continues to refuse to take on a 
case where they would have to rule on the constitutionality of secret 
trials. And then we head for the PMO. The RCMP officer informs us 
that someone will meet us to take the petitions. We tell him that 
this is not good enough. We are insisting on a meeting. He says he 
will call back, and he does. He has been listening to these stories 
all morning, and he seems affected. He comes back and says we can 
have a representative of each family go in.

As we approach the entrance to the PMO, the tension is palpable. The 
little kids are excited about seeing Jean Chretien, the older folks 
are wary, hoping not to be disappointed yet again, yet also prepared 
for what may be the inevitable letdown.

As we wait on the red carpet of the PMO entrance, Steve Hogue, a 
deputy communications director, comes out the door and takes the 
petitions from Ahmad Jaballah. Explaining the petition, Jaballah 
says, "It says either show the evidence or release them and end the 
secret trial. Can you show the Prime Minister? That would be 
appreciated."

Hogue grabs the petitions and scurries back inside, as RCMP officers 
close in behind him. There will be no meeting. We turn to the RCMP 
officer who has been on the phone all morning. He seems more shocked 
than we do, and tears well up in his eyes as one by one, family 
members take the megaphone to discuss their reaction.

Hind Charkaoui, whose brother Adil is detained in Montreal, says the 
government is closed, so we'll have to keep organizing and 
demonstrating. She then picks up 3-year old Howla Charkaoui, who 
manages to quietly chant "so-so-so, solidarite" and "no borders, no 
nations, stop the deportations."

Mrs. Charkaoui stands among the group, eight months pregnant, likely 
to give birth with her husband in solitary confinement.

Seven-year-old Ali Jaballah speaks as well, saying it's not fair, and 
that he wants his dad to be free. 10-year-old Afnan Jaballah says she 
thought this country was supposed to be free, but she sees that it 
isn't. The kids are getting a heavy-handed lesson in what democracy 
in Canada is really all about, especially for Muslims.

Ahmad Jaballah picks up the megaphone. Again, it is his leadership 
and eloquence which point us forward. "We have demonstrated before, 
and we know we will have to demonstrate again, and come back to 
Ottawa again and again until everyone is free and we can return 
Canada to a land of peace and justice," he says.

We close the gathering by hoping that Chretien will one day soon have 
a chance to look into the eyes of the children and tell them face to 
face why their fathers are still not coming home. The group retires 
to a local community centre for lunch, for reflection, and for 
dedication to working together in the future.

It comes with a cautionary note, however. We remind one another that 
now that we are together, we are stronger. But CSIS and the RCMP will 
view that as a threat, and are likely to engage in more surveillance, 
more harassment, more rumour-mongering, more wiretapping, and more 
arrests.

With that caveat in mind, we announce that the Campaign to Stop 
Secret Trials in Canada will return to Ottawa for Halloween and a 
mass trick-or-treat for sealed evidence at CSIS national headquarters 
on Friday, October 31. Couches will be set up at the entrances of 
CSIS to offer free psychological counseling to CSIS agents to help 
them overcome their irrational fear of Arabs and Muslims. Great 
detectives from history will be there to help CSIS learn the art of 
the trade, and many will wear masks with the faces of Canada's 
disappeared, the Secret Trial 5, a number which, unfortunately, may 
be higher by the time we gather again in two months time.

As we climb back into our vehicles to head home, we get a call on the 
cell phone. It's from the prime minister's office. They want us to 
know that the file is still "open." We explain our disappointment at 
today's turn of events, but say we are free again to meet in late 
October, and that hopefully a bit more respect will be shown to the 
families. The voice on the other end thanks us for our concerns.

For more information, contact us at tasc at web.ca. Additional 
information on secret trials is available on the following websites: 
http://www.homesnotbombs.ca
http://www.adilinfo.org
http://www.geocities.com/mohamedharkat/info.htm

(Report from Matthew Behrens of the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in 
Canada. SPECIAL THANKS to everyone who helped organize this event, 
from transportation to food preparation to lodging to postering and 
all the other tasks that are necessary to pull this off. Lots of 
great coverage appeared on the CBC National, Global and CTV, and in 
most papers across Canada, with a special on The Current (CBC Radio) 
on Tuesday morning featuring Ahmad Jaballah, Mohammad Syed, one of 
the lawyers for the Pakistani men being detained, and a poor response 
from solicitor general Wayne Easter. See you in October!)