Death certificate canada

A one-way Canada-Egypt flight was cancelled the afternoon of Sept. 8 when its sole civilian occupant; refugee Mohammad Mahjoub, was granted a temporary stay of deportation, in what the Canadian government concedes would have been a future of detention, torture or worse.

It was the latest in a series of episodes which belie Prime Minister Paul Martin's assertion earlier this year that "security" can never be an excuse for torture. In a disturbing pattern, federal immigration authorities continue to make decisions claiming "exceptional" circumstances to justify deportation to places of torture.

Although Canada is a signatory to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment--a key plank of which is a commitment never to deport someone to torture--Ottawa is nevertheless prepared to violate the Convention in the cases of the "Secret Trial Five", a group of Muslim men who have been held a total of 159 months without charge or bail, on secret evidence neither they nor their lawyers are allowed to see.

In addition to Mahjoub, detained without charge in June, 2000, Egyptian refugee Mahmoud Jaballah (held since August, 2001), Syrian refugee Hassan Almrei (October, 2001), Algerian refugee Mohamed Harkat (December, 2002), and Moroccan immigrant Adil Charkaoui (May, 2003) remain behind bars, suffering indefinite incarceration and facing potentially deadly deportation.

In August, Charkaoui was refused protection in Canada despite assessments by federal immigration officials, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch that he would face torture if deported. In a letter to Martin, the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, a coalition of over 30 church, labour and human rights groups including Development and Peace and World Vision Canada, wrote that "Morocco, together with Egypt and Jordan, are often cited as the three countries on which the United States relies to render suspects up to torture. A Canadian decision to refuse protection to Mr. Charkaoui raises serious questions about Canada's possible complicity with this practice of rendition."

In August an historic court hearing was held in Toronto, where a challenge to the legality of the deportation order against school principal and father of six Mahmoud Jaballah was heard. Jaballah, arrested and held nine months, but ultimately cleared in 1999 on a secret trial security certificate, was re-arrested in 2001, with CSIS admitting in the limited open portion of the secret hearing that they had no new evidence against him, only a "new interpretation" of the evidence already dismissed in 1999.

A pre-removal risk assessment conducted by Canadian immigration authorities found Jaballah to be at risk of torture if returned to Egypt, but the government continues to insist he must be deported.

No deportation to torture

In February 2002, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the "Suresh" case that "Canadian law and international norms reject deportation to torture. The Canadian rejection of torture is reflected in the international conventions which Canada has ratified ... International law generally rejects deportation to torture, even where national security interests are at stake." Jaballah's attorney, Barbara Jackman, told the federal court on Aug.16. "We are not in a state of emergency, we are not in a time of war." Where, she asked are the "exceptional circumstances" that would justify Canada sending Jaballah back to the torture chambers in Egypt?

Government lawyers had no answer to the question.

At the heart of the court challenge brought by Jackman and attorney John Norris is a double standard: Canadian citizens who are suspected of being associated with terrorist groups are prosecuted and, if convicted, punished with prison, but they face no torture.

Jackman and Norris say Jaballah's is clearly a case of differential treatment based on citizenship status, which is prohibited by the Charter and Supreme Court case law. Jaballah's deportation would violate his equality rights as "He would not face torture if he were a citizen." This conclusion builds on the already marginalized position Jaballah holds in Canadian society, where, as the Supreme Court of Canada has' pointed out, "It is settled law that non-citizens suffer from political marginalization, stereotyping and historical disadvantage."

"Human rights are human rights, whether you're a citizen or a foreign national. It should not matter what your status is when determining such weighty issues", Jackman argued.

While the Federal Court decides on the legality of deportation to torture, the five and their families continue dealing with the stress of ongoing incarceration with no end in sight. This October marks three years in solitary confinement for Syrian refugee Hassan Almrei, who had to go on hunger strike last fall for 39 days to get a guarantee of heat in his freezing cell. A challenge to his deportation order is to be heard in November.

Mahjoub completed a 40-day hunger strike this summer protesting his own miserable conditions at Toronto's Metro West Detention Center, where, according to his testimony at a September hearing, he has had only one "touch" visit with his two little kids since 2000. He has been subject to an endless litany of verbal abuse and death threats, an attempted sexual assault by a guard, and he has contracted hepatitis C.

Shameful treatment in a Canadian jail

Typical of Mahjoub's treatment is the way prison authorities responded to his illness on Dec. 14, 2003, when he collapsed on the floor in pain, experiencing double vision, dizziness, sweating and headache. The guards refused to allow a nurse to enter the cell and check his blood pressure, and demanded Mahjoub get up and walk out. He was in such pain that he could not move, so they ended up hauling him out of the cell and dragged him 100 metres, not to the health unit but to solitary confinement. A nurse asked guards to call 911 to take Mahjoub to the hospital, but they ignored this request.

"My head was banging against the guards' feet," Mahjoub recalled in court. "One of the guards said this is not the way to treat an inmate." While the guards joked that Mahjoub was upset at the capture of Saddam Hussein earlier that day, he wound up on the floor of a solitary cell, screaming in pain and receiving no treatment. He was given no mattress or blanket, and instead thrown a security gown that remained on the floor overnight.

After describing this ordeal, Mahjoub was asked by a government lawyer, "Would you not agree you have had good medical help?"

"No," Mahjoub replied, pulling out a photo of a prisoner being dragged at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and stating, "This is how I was dragged. How can you call this good medical treatment?"

Opposition to such abuses continues to grow. On Sept. 12, a multifaith march of 100 people in Toronto brought together Jews, Muslims, Christians, and members of other faiths for a visually striking procession through the downtown, with stops at the U.S. Consulate, courthouse, CSIS and Liberal Party Headquarters.

Led by five men representing the "Secret Trial Five" in bright orange prison shirts, their names and dates of detention emblazoned on their front, and jail bars held up to partially conceal their faces, the march was bookended by six people representing Abu Ghraib prisoners, hooded and bound by rope.

For more information contact tasc@web.ca or (416) 651-5800.