[van-discuss] Re: [van-announce] CKUT Radio: Adil Charkaoui - Resisting the Security Certificate & CSIS

[Charles Boylan]

Christoff:

Is there any possibility you can arrange an interview for us with these
people and this case. We are Wake Up With Co-Op! at 102.7 FM in Vancouver.
You can listen to some of our work by going to
http://members.shaw.ca/wakeupwithcoop  We run every M-W-F 7 to 9 a.m. We
want to follow up on this story with an interview. Let us know if this might
be possible.

Charles Boylan
Wake Up With Co-Op!
102.7 FM
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stefan Christoff" <christoff at dojo.tao.ca>
To: <van-announce at lists.resist.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2003 7:53 AM
Subject: [van-announce] CKUT Radio: Adil Charkaoui - Resisting the Security
Certificate & CSIS


>
> CKUT Radio: Adil Charkaoui - Resisting the Security Certificate & CSIS
>
> This piece focuses on the cases of Adil Charkaoui & Mohammed Harkat, who
> are both currently being held in detention under the "Security
> Certificate". Adil Charkaoui a landed immigrant originally from Morocco
> and father of a young son, was nabbed on Wednesday May 21 in a police and
> security operation off the streets of Montreal. Mohammed Harkat is an
> Ottawa resident and Algerian refugee, also arrested and detained under the
> "Security Certificate". Harkat has been detained in solitary confinement
> without trial since late 2002. Mohammed Harkat like Adil Charkaoui is also
> facing deportation from Canada without the presentation of any public
> evidence as to his guilt.
>
> The "Security Certificate" allows the Canadian government to arrest,
> detain and deport landed immigrants, who are charged with being a
> "national security" threat. There is no chance of bail, detention can be
> indefinite and neither the person detained under the "Security
> Certificate" nor their defense lawyer is able to access the "evidence".
> The "Security Certificate" is being increasingly used to arrest, detain
> and deport members of Arab and/or Muslim communities throughout Canada.
>
> Both Adil Charkaoui and Mohammed Harkat are accused of having links to
> "terrorist" groups such as Al-Qa'ida, however there has been no evidence
> presented by the Canadian State to prove the allegation, a practice
> allowed under Canada's post September 11th "security" laws. Turning
> commonly accepted judicial practice on it's head, Charkaoui and Harkat are
> considered guilty until proven innocent. To respond to the recent arrest
> of Charkaoui, the Justice for Adil Charkaoui Campaign formed in Montreal
> in a matter of days after his abrupt arrest. In Ottawa a similar campaign
> -- comprised of an alliance of progressive Muslim groups, refugee &
> immigrant rights organizations -- has formed to demand a fair trial for
> Mohammed Harkat and an end to the "Security Certificate".
>
> To listen to an interview with Sophie Harkat (wife of Mohammed Harkat) &
> Yahya Abdul Rahman a community organizer with the Justice for Adil
> Charkaoui Campaign visit:
> http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=7162
>
> To get more information on the Justice for Adil Charkaoui Campaign visit:
> http://www.montrealmuslimnews.net/adilfile.htm
>
> To get more information about the case of Mohammed Harkat visit:
> http://www.montrealmuslimnews.net/harkat
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
> Hind Charkaoui: "We are horrified and disgusted"
>
> Yahya Abdul Rahman
>
> Montreal June 2, 2003 - (MMN) For the first time since her brother, Adil
> Charkaoui, was arrested, Hind Charkaoui has spoken out in public about her
> feelings regarding what has happened to her brother.
>
> On Saturday evening, May 31st, the Justice Coalition for Adil Charkaoui, a
> collection of local activists working for the right of due process for Mr.
> Charkaoui, hosted a public panel discussion at Concordia University
> entitled "Resisting the Security Certificate, CSIS & Secret Trials the
> case of Adil Charkaoui."
>
> On Wednesday evening May 21st, Mr. Charkaoui, aged 30, a landed immigrant
> originally from Morocco and father of one with another child on the way,
> was arrested in Montreal and is currently being held in detention under a
> "national security certificate" charged with "secret evidence" which
> alleges he is a terrorist. Neither he or his defense know what the full
> charges are against him.
>
> Hind told the audience that her family, along with her brother Adil, moved
> to Canada in 1995, and they were expecting to "live in a country of
> justice, equality, and one based the respect of  the rule of law."
>
> Since his arrival, stated Hind, her brother has taught French in several
> schools, and continued his studies.
>
> "Adil's arrest came in the context of harassment of the Muslim community
> by the RCMP and CSIS, and in particular those coming from the Middle East
> and Arab world," Hind stated.
>
> "Those arrested under security certificates can be held without charge,
> have no access to the evidence against them, and be threatened to be
> deported to their country of origin where they have a high chance of being
> tortured or put to death," she further said.
>
> "Security Certificates are a regression to the arbitrariness of the middle
> ages," she stated.
>
> "I don't know why this is happening to my brother, but one thing I do know
> is that he was repeatedly harassed by CSIS to become an informer for them,
> but he did not agree to cooperate," she continued.
>
> Unlike his sisters and parents, said Hind, the whole family were granted
> full Canadian citizenship, but Adil was refused.
>
> "We are horrified and disgusted," stated Hind.
>
> Hind thanked those present for their moral and financial support and
> reminded the audience that this could happen to anyone, so their
> solidarity is very important.
>
> Although the event focused on the recent arrest and current detention of
> Mr. Charkaoui, spokespersons from the No One is Illegal Campaign of
> Montreal, the Muslim Council Of Montreal and the Action Committee for
> Non-Status Algerians also addressed the audience, which numbered about
> 150.
>
> Mohamed Cherfi, who spoke on behalf of the Action Committee for Non-Status
> Algerians,  just returned from Ottawa after being brutalized by riot
> police and temporarily jailed after staging a sit-in of Immigration
> Minister Denis Coderre's main offices at the headquarters of Immigration
> Canada in Ottawa. For several hours Cherfi, along with a small group of
> other Algerians and their supporters tried to negotiate for a face-to-face
> meeting with Denis Coderre, to ask for tangible answers concerning the
> plight of non-status Algerians who are facing deportation from Canada in
> the coming weeks and months.
>
> The sit-in was peaceful.
>
> The police reacted to the protestors by targeting certain individuals by
> beating them and smashing them against hard surfaces. In addition, Taser
> guns were used on them which causes muscle spasms and makes the entire
> body shake due to electric shock, and also causes mental confusion that
> can last up to thirty minutes. This electric shocks were applied to them
> after they were already handcuffed.
>
> Cherfi, along with two other Algerians present, showed the scars on their
> faces and arms left behind by the police beatings and Taser guns.
>
> "We should no longer believe that this is a country where the rule of law
> applies," Cherfi stated.
>
> "Before we came to this part of the world we were dreaming and saw the
> west through a TV set, but when we actually came to experience it first
> hand, the rest of the story was quite different," he said.
>
> People were encouraged to donate to Adil's campaign and get involved in
> resisting the what the organizers referred to as "the harsh and inhumane
> crackdown on immigrant & refugee communities by the Canadian State" which
> they say is done in the name of "National Security" and "reflects an
> ongoing and systemic racism of the Canadian State."
>
> Many people left their contact information behind and desired to be
> contacted for future actions, which the coalition has vowed to continue in
> the days ahead.
>
> The coalition can be reached via e-mail at justiceforadil at riseup.net
>
>
> ----------------------
>
>
>
>
>
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