“Pause for a moment. Perhaps even close your eyes. Imagine that instead of this beautiful theatre, you are, in fact, in a cold, concrete, 9 x 12-foot prison cell, in solitary confinement. And in this cell there is only a concrete bench, an open toilet, and a small hatch through which food comes and through which your tray leaves. Now, imagine that this has been your home for the last four years.”
-Matthew Behrens, activist and member of Homes not Bombs
This situation, hypothetical for most Canadians but a stark reality for a few, set the stage for “Measuring Security Measures,” a night of discussion and debate on Canada’s imprisonment and secret trials of immigrants and refugees, held Tuesday at Innis College’s Town Hall Theatre.
Mohamed Harkat, Mahmoud Jaballah, Mohammed Mahjoub, and Hassan Almrei are Muslim men who have been held by the Canadian government in detention centres in Toronto and Ottawa. Although the government itself has admitted that they do not have enough information to lay charges, they are still in jail where they have been for the last couple of years.
“These men are unique in Canada, given the fact that they are bearing the brunt of the repression being directed against a much broader community. They represent only the tip of the iceberg,” said Behrens.
The rest of the metaphorical iceberg was explored by a series of short films depicting the stories of the prisoners. The films were followed by a discussion panel that included Heather Mallick, columnist for the Globe and Mail, Sharryn Aiken, professor of law at Queen’s University, and Ahmad Jaballah, the son of detaineed Mahmoud Jaballah.
The first movie shown, producer/director Anice Wong’s Whose Rights Anyway? Justice for Mohamed, recounted the story of Mohamed Harkat. Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) laid charges against Harkat in 2002 based on suspicion that he had contact with terrorists in Afghanistan.
According to CSIS, Ahmed Muhammad Kheir Farag al-Zalawi, a high-profile Al-Qaeda terrorist who was captured the same year, identified a man with a similar description to Harkat, who lived in Pakistan for five years before emigrating to Canada. This vague description was enough fo CSIS to issue a security certificate in Harkat’s name.
Harkat was jailed in 2002 without being told why or even what evidence was used to convict him, as CSIS claims providing such details would breach national security.
The other movies featured the stories of the other four jailed men, as well as Project Threadbare, a group of people working to free Fahim Kayani, a Pakistani man who has also been imprisoned by Canadian authorities without evidence or charges.
Security certificates have been in existence since the 1950s, although most Canadians are not aware of them or what they’re for. Over time, the type of person targeted by these certificates has changed.
“Post-September 11, the victims of these procedures have taken on a very specific demographic. There is no question that these victims have been primarily Muslim and Arab,” said Aiken.
The Canadian government and CSIS claim the reason they cannot disclose their evidence is that they share their information with other foreign intelligence agencies. Aiken countered this reasoning by invoking a basic tenet of law, that there is no case if there is no corroborated evidence. Even if the government cannot disclose all their information there has to be at least some evidence shared with the public.
Mallick decried the media’s poor coverage of the plight of detainees and the problem of the certificates. The lack of visuals is partly to blame, she said, as these people are in jail, hidden from news cameras. She also disparaged newspapers for their plain lack of interest.
“We are very shallow people,” lamented Mallick. She also raised what she saw as the problem of misleading headlines.
“How can anyone come out with their reputation intact when the headline reads: ‘Accused terrorist’?”
Furthermore, she charged, these men do not even get the equality that serial killers do, since at least serial killers get to see the evidence against them.
The night ended with Ahmed Jaballah’s account of his family’s ordeal throughout his father’s imprisonment. Jaballah, at the age of eleven, had to act as the CSIS agent’s interpreter when the agent came to interview his father.
Jaballah played a tape he recorded during one of the interviews, and the recording showed the information the CSIS agent gave the family was completely fabricated.
His father was freed, only to be arrested based on the same allegations that had been dropped during his first trial. Jaballah is still in jail, his hearing scheduled for the morning of October 19.
Behrens emphasized the numerous ways people can get involved in the problem, from attending court hearings to volunteering, to simply talking about the issue.
“We have to be the role model for the Canadian government,” said Jaballah.
