بقلم :Dr Tariq abdelhaleem

السبت 04 ديسمبر 2010

عدد المشاهدة : 942

حجم النص: + | -

Injustice in Canada

The Toronto 18 “Terror” case

 

Six years ago, my son; Shareef has been arrested for participating in an alleged terrorist attack, which was completely staged and provided for by the Canadian Intelligence Agencies, using a couple of spies; an Egyptian ethiest called Shaher El-Souhaimy شاهر السهيمي من عائلة السهيمى التي اصلها من الإسكندرية، وفرعها في تورونتو, and a Pakistani drug addict called Mubin Sheik. These agencies have entrapped my son to get to an idealist called Zakeriya Amara; who had a group of young people with ideas of retaliating against the Western aggression against Muslims allover the world.

However, without the “help” of these agencies, and those Kuffar spies, nothing would have materialized.  

The Egyptian Kafer Spy had been paid 4.1 million dollars to trick and entrap my son knowing his Naïveness, into talking-just talking-about the alleged plot. He submitted to the tricks that that Atheist Shaher Alsouhaimy claimed, after he convinced Shareef that that this will be a simple non-violent event.

I will post the whole detailed story, InshaAllah. However, these have been my thoughts throughout the course of this tragedy, in the last 4 years.

(1) Injustice in Canada

Throughout the last year, everyone was confused about this case of alleged terrorism. People didn’t know what to believe and who to believe.

On one hand, the black history of the CICS and RCMP that was uncovered and completely exposed in the Arar case, make a perfect evidence of how these agencies perform and to whom they actually report – the Americans! Also, the extreme right wing government led by Harpor made it even clearer that this is a political game.

On the other hand, the role of the media, and the terror scare that was promoted on all fronts, has made people hesitant to listen to the sound of logic and reason. They were scared of what the media presented to them as fanatics who wants to behead the PM, and kill them all if they can! They had to be careful.

However, after a year and half through the proceedings, things got much clearer. The picture that was presented by the media of these wrongfully accused changed. It turned to be that they are regular humans with clean history of violence whatsoever. On the contrary, the informants are the guys with tainted criminal records! What was presented to us is merely a reversed, upside down presentation of the facts. The informants are the ones that should be locked inside, and the accused should be watching them from across the court room!

How did I arrive to this conclusion? Let us see what the government grabbed lately from the deception hat to keep these innocent people locked in.

First, the prosecution signed a written agreement with defense Lawyers to allow certain evidence to be presented in return of allowing the Preliminary hearing to proceed.

After 4 month of preliminary hearings, where evidence were provided by the prosecution, challenged by the defense, and witnesses introduced by the procession and shredded to pieces by the defense, and after hundreds of thousands of dollars of expenses, Ottawa, in the middle of the testimony of Muben Sheikh, star witness of the prosecution, gave the instruction to stop the preliminary!

Why? Why to stop it? The Canadian public has the right to know. The families of the political prisoners have the right to know. The world has the right to know.

There is no logical reason of such a blunt interruption of justice, by definition of “interruption of justice” except that justice is not allowed to be revealed. It takes no brain to realize that.

And that is not all. The same interruption of justice happened again in a recent bail hearing of one of the political prisoners. Although we can not talk about the details of what happened, it came from above…from where the decisions were made to captivate these 17 people…

(2) The Predicted Events

If one imagine a trail of events leading to proven injustice, prejudice and biased stand of this New Conservative government, and its allies in the Western world after the black revolution by the “Bush” movement in the US, and the steps that would probably have taken place by the authorities in the so called “terrorism in Canada”, one will conclude, with much ease, that all what this government try to say to the world about human rights, justice and indifference to “the other” is not but a mere empty claims.

First, the constant surveillance on mosques to survey any political talk, against any claimed democracy environment. People normally talk and express their frustrations in a democratic society. Expression of frustration doesn’t go beyond the words used to describe it; unless external influence comes in the way, and add some excitement and make some suggestions.

Second, from a long list, CICS’ choice landed on few individuals, that might be eligible for future use. This evaluation was based on their inclination to believe in the democratic environment in Canada, their age and, add to that, being extremely naïve. Taping a word here, and a conversation there, they collected fragments that would, with a little conscience and a lot of manipulation, constitutes a weak case.

Third, when the time comes, that is when the date for reviewing of the security certificate was approached, the budget discussions of CICS funds approached, and when the conservative government gave the light to “do some thing” to prove to the US that they have good allies here in the North, CICS started to move…

Let us assume that two moles, at least, were assigned to the fabricated case. Each had a price, and each had a goal to achieve. They were to establish a training background with some of the chosen individuals, to establish and introduce the more dangerous offend; the fertilizer! None of these individuals had any clue about the use of these chemicals for such mission. People might talk about a lot of things, but talking is not doing. As illustrated in one of the pictures, introduced by the RCMP, of “items” found in the possession of the accused! It is a complete and utter disgrace to announce to the world that this is really an accessories intended to be used to “behead the PM”, “attack the parliament”, explode two blocks, at least, of downtown buildings” and lot more. It takes a group of conscienceless CICS officials and RCPM officers to do so, on a staged news conference on the day of June 03, 2006.

3) Nature of Prejudice

Before we continue in this series of events, I would like to remind those of you who read or watched the great story by John Grisham “Time to kill”. Remember the speech of the young lawyer, at the end of the story, defending a black guy, whom daughter was raped and beaten by bunch of white kids, and had to be sentenced by a white juries and defended by a white lawyer in the American south during mid 50s. The words that came out of that lawyer represents a truth that lays inside so many of us, toward some one else that is different; different in color, different in religion, different in culture, different in sex, but in general, just different. The problem with prejudice is that we see others differently. Then we try to convince ourselves that we should not see them that way. It doesn’t work that way. It never did. A true unbiased person sees people the same way, right from the beginning. He doesn’t try to change his feelings. He just confirms it.

There is another problem associated with prejudice that is labeling. We can label certain “different” people with a label that would make us more comfortable with the feeling of prejudice toward them. It’s a common psychological conciliation with one’s self. That is why we have to be very careful with the labels we impose on people that are different. It’s a recipe for prejudice and injustice.

Like what that lawyer said, just imagine the terrible events that happened to that black girl were actually done to a white one. Does this change the way our approach to the crime? The answer, as we see it in our “terror case” is YES.

The New cons, specifically the Evangelicals, first, believed that Muslims are “the anti-Christ” and the “devil”. Then they labeled them as “terrorists” to help convince the public of how those people are bad, and how they are different.  Then they waged the faked war on “terrorism” on all fronts; that is culturally, economically, politically and militarily. We will come back to details of this multifaceted war on the “other” later.

However, the point conveyed here is that we might practically be prejudice against the other while we are psychologically convinced we are just and fair. It is the power of prejudice and the effect t of labeling. If these items found in the possession of any other person that is not Muslim, or labeled as a terrorist, it would be a juke to hold him for one minute. You wouldn’t even find a judge that gives a search warrant for such items. If the events that are being laid against those 18 “different” people, were made against regular white Christian offenders, they wouldn’t stay in jail over night without granting bail. However, the Label “terrorism” was used, after being legalized and converted into Law, to lock these individuals in solitary confinement for 15 month, and deny every one of them bail that is being granted to actual killers, rapists and child molesters. It is the Power Prejudice.

4. Unfolding the play

To continue with the tragic events, we come to the completely pre-scripted, directed and acted by the RCMP Hollywood-like branch! Four Hundred officers, heavily armed, and aided by many police cars, vans, and snipers, raided the houses of the alleged “terrorists” at ten o’clock pm. Breaking into entrance doors violently, screaming at the scared women and children to get down on the floor, ripping every part of the house in search of “guns” or maybe WMD’s! I will leave one of the eye witnesses to tell the experience. “In the beginning my oldest boy at home, he’s 7, used to continuously ask me “Mommy, are they gonna come back with their guns and scream at us again?  Are they going to put handcuffs on us?”.  My 5 yr. old suffered headaches for several days.  None of us could eat for about a week.  When we would look at our plates, we could only swallow about one or two bites.  My mother in law and I only got about two to three hours sleep a night, from prayers and from inability to settle down enough to rest our brains.  It took a couple of weeks for the shaking and muscle twitching to stop.  Still today, as I begin to wake up, my whole body begins to shake inside, until I fully become conscious of my surroundings. It wasn’t the raid so much that set me to trembling and dry heaving, but the thought that any one of the security agencies from the 8 countries involved in this investigation could easily kill me or kidnap my child to break my husband into signing a confession or a statement against the others”. Other families reported they were ordered to l down on the floor and were pushed out of the house so harshly they would fall down. Others said that they broke into the front door and were just inches from hitting them in the face!

One must wonder why these people were doing this. Why they used all this force and this show up tactics to round up few defendless individuals. They claim that they were watching these individuals for over two years! They say they were under close surveillance with the modern equipment that can detect one’s heart beats behind the walls! Still, they did know that they have no guns in their homes? Still they did not know that they have no weapons whatsoever any where? Still they did not realize that they were so peaceful individuals that it would be enough to call them over the phone to come to the station, and they would come? We have to conclude that either they are the worst spy agency in the world, and they just spent the tax payer’s money for the benefit of no one, or they were just in a training mode, and they knew very well tat there in nothing to find.

Anyways, the next morning was the time for the show. Over twenty high ranked officers of the RCMP appear in their delightful and colorful uniforms announcing that they were successful in stopping a deadly attack on the nation! No words to describe how cheap they were.

Congratulating the mock officers came from every where. Michael Lavois reported that “in the commons both sides of the house were quick to congratulate the work of security and intelligence services..”. No one even bothered to wait until the justice system decides whether this work was a real life saver for Canada, or it was a work of conscienceless group of politically motivated agencies. Of course, congratulations came fast from the US government; the spiritual leaders of the PM. Stockwell Day said: “I talked to the US Attorney general A Gonzalez who is congratulating us and our police and security forces on the great job we are doing on containing threats”. Gonzalez, was fired from his job after few month with a scandal of manipulating the staff for the benefit of the Republicans. Stockwell, as was reported when he was first introduced to the House of Commons, that he is an advocate of Freedom and democratic reform, is apparently not quite so. His stand in the case of Anti SSP protesters, shows – as titled in the Pacific Tribune “… shows contempt for the judicial process”. It was reported that “Day’s avoidance of clarity on the issue (provocation of violence at the Montebello Protesters) only works to cast a darker cloud of suspicion over the Conservative Party in General”. Same tactics used by the Conservatives as in the made-to-measure terrorism case.

5. The “Ban” and King Solomon Wisdom

The show was rather effective. Fear started to get to the public. The Media played its role in putting together and comparing stories of all other alleged, so called “terror cases” from around the Western Hemisphere, where they were allegedly staged. Whether they were relevant or not, the stories flooded the media, giving the impression of the horror that was about to happen in Canada! Let us keep in mind that “Nothing really happened!!!” nothing whatsoever…no attack on any thing or any one…no gun shots, not even one! No injured person, no destruction of any kind of buildings….none whatsoever!

After 3 days of the media circus in favor of the RCMP and its “heroic” officers who bravely won in their courageous confrontation with 17 unarmed individuals, who happened to be sitting in their homes with their wives and kids! After the circus peaked, the order came out to “ban any publication” on the case. This means in layman’s terms, that no one is allowed to say, write or discuss any thing related to the case- whether it evidence, defense arguments in the court, or witnesses. So, the government simply had the chance to put up the “dog and pony” show, implant the view they wanted to present in the public conscience, and then stop any one else from talking! How are the defendants supposed to explain to the public their side of the story? How can they gain the public opinion after the vicious attack on their characters before any trial takes place? How do we expect to get a fair trial if juries are drawn from a pool of people who have already convicted them according to the Media? Where is their right to free expression? Where can we find a judge who was not influenced by the continuous, day after day show that the prosecution was allowed to perform with the help of the media? Why can’t they talk to the press about the faked evidence, the corrupt informants, or the real events that took place? These questions will be a burden on the conscious of the justice system in this country as long as it stays unquestioned.

Masking the truth in such an obvious way and taking away the right of the accused to tell their side of the story is simply a shame to any conscience of the people, who agreed, tolerate or collaborate in such injustice.

When we were kids, we were told the story of the Prophet Solomon who listened to one side of the story and gave his judgment before the opponent take the advantage of telling his side. It was not accepted even from a Prophet. He was told by God that this was a huge mistake and was blamed for the consequences.

Humans still do it all the time. They just listen to the most powerful, the most famous and to those who have unlimited access to the Media, however, never listen to the call of logic and just until it is too late.

6. The Right to Bail and Prevention of Freedom

Since the media trial of the “presumed innocents”, it became obvious to the families, lawyers and those who have knowledge about government tactics, where this case is heading. For example: ban on publication; ban on the communication between the accused; constant violation of lawyer-client privilege to privacy; media keeping the image of danger and spreading fear; locking up the accused in solitary confinement to heighten the terrorism profile. These are typical steps to confine the truth, hide the evidence, and keep the “presumed innocent” locked up as long as they can.

 

As stated by J. Vinson (in Review article cited below) bail is “a traditional right of freedom before conviction’, which “permits the unhampered preparation of defense, and serves to prevent the inflection of punishment before conviction”[1].

When the bail hearings started with some hope that the law will be applied equally to every body, with no double standard, the “inflection of punishment before conviction” was the primary goal of the prosecution. The hearings were held in the Brampton court house. The show of force at the court room was quite surprising as guards with heavy weapons were standing inside and outside. The goal was to intimidate the Judges, who, by the way, were “Justices of Peace” (a lower level judge), and promote fear in the general public of letting anyone out on bail. Judges are humans, and they get influenced by the media and the shows put up by the government. With the publication ban in place, the chance of getting any of these young men out on bail completely disappeared, no matter what bail conditions might be offered, with the exception of one of the accused who got bail with the consent of the prosecutor under undisclosed circumstances.  Having the publication ban prevented the other accused from using the same argument, or, at least, know the grounds on which this agreement was reached.

Hope faded away from the accused and their families of getting, not only a bail, but a fair trial. A fair trial requires an untainted Judge and juries; something that the media had made sure will not exist for this trial. In the first year, bail hearings were conducted one after the other, with a “No” verdict every time, no matter how strong the evidence of the defense and how weak the evidence of the prosecution. The reason of denying the bail can not be stated here as it would be against the ‘Law” of the publication ban! The result was that these accused were denied their right to freedom until courts say its word, and were also denied talking about the reason for their denial. They are simply powerless victims of a system that creates laws under the umbrella of Justice to “legally” apply injustice. A terrible twist of democracy toward dictatorship and the application of the laws of the jungle were in the works, by the right wing fanatics of the New Con government of the conservative party.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. The Maplehurst ruling: punishment before conviction!

Special:

We were led to believe that when some one is convicted, he/she gets sentenced to serve some time in jail. Jail means to loose one’s freedom and strip him of choice. This is the punishment for people who are convicted. This is the sentence- to be jailed. To add to this punishment is not in any one’s book of justice. For instance, to beat up an inmate or take away his right to read is an added punishment that is unjustified, whatsoever. It doesn’t come with the court ruling.

However, for some reason, jails in Canada make up their own rulings. It does not matter what the courts say, what justice dictates, or even what is humanly acceptable.

In few days, Shareef’s sister will have her first baby in the coming two weeks. We are all excited and feel we will get a break from the crisis that has been clouding our lives for 18 months, and which seems like it will stay for the coming few years. Shareef sent a letter to the Superintendent of the Maplehurst correctional centre asking to allow him to have what they call “touch visit” with his sister and his newborn nephew. He wanted to embrace the baby and have few moments of happiness instead of the double glassed-barrier room.

Today, he got the answer from the ‘Super”, denying him the visit as the prison “jeopardize the security of the institution”! I wonder what kind of danger that can be inflicted on the institution by a sister and a new born? What the Super means? How can shareef harm any one if he meets his new born nephew for few minutes? What are these rules? Is the Super in doubt of the capability of his guards and procedures to get scared of such a visit from a new born? Or is it just craving for inflicting harm on these guys and punish them before conviction, just in case courts might find them innocents. Are these officials psychologically secured? I leave it to the reader to find it in his heart how a sane person would deny an innocent until proven otherwise such a family union for few minutes.

On the second day of Shareef’s letter to the “Super”, our regular Saturday visit which I used to have for the last 18 month was mysteriously cancelled from the books! His sister, who is nine months prignant, and I had to leave the institution after the clerk on the front desk gave us hard time outside, and the designated lieutenant; Mr. Thompson, gave Shareef hard time and abusive language inside for asking why the visit was cancelled!

We have to remember that Shareef, and the other accused for that matter, is not convicted. He is simply detained until the trial. He is supposed to be innocent until that time when the court announces the verdict. Also, we have to mention that those inmates who have actually been convicted of a crime and are serving their sentence in the prison have regular touch visits all the time! But still the honorable Superintendent/judge of the Maplehurst institution insists on punishing Shareef over and above what is already unjustified detention without bail.

8. The Abu Ghraib Jail of Toronto; The Milton Maplehurst!

Again, we are back to the utterly Anti-Muslim policy of the Abu Ghraib Jail of Toronto; also known as The Maplehurst Correctional centre. Today, December 18, 2007 is the big feast day of Hajj for Muslim people. Families are looking forward to talk to their loved ones who are in custody and ease their pain a little. We also have to remind the reader that these guys are not “guilty” yet. They are innocents until the court say its word. However, as usual, the Milton Abu Ghraib ‘torture” center – also known as Maplehurst jail; has decided to further punish these guys because they are Muslims. They decided to look them down in this day without any reason for doing so. They gave them 20 minutes – for all of the 9 people – to call their families and shower! Just for that day! The usual excuse was “there are no enough guards!”, only for this unit!

I can’t imagine how sick the person who gave such order! How far away he put himself from normal human being’s behavior. Is it part of the official training of the jail guards and management to create reasons to punish Muslims beyond their legal authority limitation?

It was a heart breaker for all the families of these guys to listen to their sons, brothers and husbands saying that they will be a lock down only in their unit for that day. This kind of punishment was intentional. It didn’t happen to any unit else in the whole prison, and in this specific day.

It made me sick to know that guards call one of the black men in unit 1K “bloody terrorist Niger” and said to the other “you are just a dog, you eat when I tell you and you shi.. when I tell you”. Such prejudice and mentally unstable guards should be banned from being in contact with humans whether inside or out of jails.

I call for a formal investigation into the behavior of the guards in this institution which is obviously supported by its management. It is just pure hypocrisy to talk about Canada’s stand on human rights and to keep such practices happen under every one’s nose.

I hope this would catch the attention of the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Public Safety and Correctional Facilities and prompt them to take the proper action to stop such deviation from basic human rights.

9. Forward to the Past! … The Preliminary Cancellation

For various reasons, and for many months, the only hope of the accused was to start the preliminary hearings. It represented a step forward, a move toward the end of the saga, a spark in the middle of the dark. It was a chance to reveal their innocence and to show how much and how deep was the government conspiracy to shape this faked operation. It was an opportunity to unveil the dirty work of CISC and its corrupt molls; the Egyptian opportunist spy and the Confused Indian Muslim. CISC has paid the first spy a reported $4.1m to interfere in the lives of three of the accused, create and start terrorism-related issues for discussion, tape the on-the-spot responses and make it looks as if they are in agreement with his gestures and are already conspiring! The other moll; known as Muben Sheikh, was reportedly paid $370,000 to make Fatwas promoting “Jihad” among young, honest and enthusiastic Muslims, and specifically between some of those who were targeted by CISC to be part of this alleged operation. The specifics of what happened, and how these two molls netted the conspiracy around the accused is under a publication ban, that is meant to prevent the public from knowing the truth. However, we will have the opportunity to disclose the full story, including what the government has already intentionally hid from the justice system, in due course.

A date was set for starting the preliminary hearing after a long discussion between the defense lawyers and the Prosecution on the conditions of the proceedings. The prosecution agreed to present the two “star” witnesses in change of the defense lawyers’ agreement to consent on exclusion of some evidence and for some to agree to commitment to trial and limited giving up of the right for speedy trial.

On 3^rd of June, 2006, after exactly one year of the arrests, the hearings started. The prosecution presented his witnesses, which were crossed examined by the lawyers. Again, details of these hearings are under the ban. However, it was apparent from the cross examinations that the prosecution have no case. Lawyers made a mockery of almost all those who were on the stand!

It was the first opportunity to test the “real” evidence that the Crown have when Muben took the stand. His testimony took almost a week. Again!, we can not disclose what he presented. However, a result of the few days of the cross examining him, it was clear how weak and pathetic the case is. Even the Judge appear to get the point. It was a very risky situation for the prosecution. To leave the battering and humiliation of Muben on the stand will only result on dismissal of the charges against many of the accused. If the second spy shows up, he will be equally shattered by the defense. Those who were committed to the trial will surely be bailed out. The case will be completely ruined for the Crown and the government. The question that was facing the Crown was: what is the solution that has less harm to the government and inflects more harm on the accused, and the Justice system as a whole for that matter? To the surprise of every one, including the Judge, and the Justice System community, it was the decision by the Crown to Cancel the Preliminary hearing, and revoke the signed agreement!

It is now almost a consensus of all those who follows the development of this case, including many of the media reporters, that this tops the injustice that is already being done against this group and their families, and the Muslim community at large in this country.

Cancellation of the Preliminary hearing had set the clock back 16 months! It was a betrayal to the legal signed agreement, and a clear proof of the government carelessness about the legal system. No honor and no respect of Truth and justice is their action of choice. However, the accused went straight back to square one. No date for the trial will be set for another year or more. The prosecution just bought another three or four years to lock these “innocents until proven otherwise” for the longest period of time. “Tactically, the only inference available is that the Crown is afraid of the evidence being tested,” said defense lawyer Michael Moon. “They’re afraid for the actual evidence to come out that would establish the innocence of most, if not all, the accused.”

The direct result of Muben testimony was dropping the main charge against Abdul Qayyum Jamal; the accused of being the teacher and ‘ring leader” of the alleged group! Only God and the prosecution, now knows what would be the outcome of a legitimate and complete hearing!

(10) Free Country … Free Press!

One of the key elements that the Government employed effectively to frame these young men was the Media. In fact, as we mentioned before, the media has tried and convicted them in the first three days of this saga. It was only logical that the defendants try to use the same weapon that was used against them.

In the beginning, every thing was blurry. The families of the defendants did not know what to do. The Lawyers have advised them to stay away of the media. That is because of the biased nature of the media in North America; the influence of the Jews within the media circles and the influence of the “New con” government that has proven to be just a puppet of the Bush Administration. They advised that any pre-recorded interview will be manipulated and words will be twisted to show the opposite of what it originally meant; a typical game of the media. But, with time, the families found out that although these games the media uses were true, they realized that it is a great power and should not be overlooked. The public has the right to know, and the government is doing every thing they can to keep them in the dark, and under the influence of portrait drawn by the media in the first three days after the arrest.

However, the media is not all bad. They differ in the level of prejudice and bias, from the worst; The Post, to the moderate such as the Toronto Star.

It was essential to expose this web site and put it out for the public to explore. We developed the “Appeal to The Canadian Conscience and Justice” press release, and wanted to post it in the newspapers. We contacted the one of the “moderate” newspaper; to place an Ad. The answer was that they do not publish a press release! We suggested that we just post a sentence from the appeal and refer to the web site. They said “we can not post a web site”! We suggested posting the sentence and a toll free number for people to call. After consulting with their lawyers they said “The toll free has to be registered with bell Canada and in your own name, and added my name under the sentence to show it is my own writing. I registered a toll free number with Bell, and sent back to the newspaper. They replied that saying “Who is Tariq Haleem, and who is Dr Tariq Abdelhaleem? You can’t say the political prisoners, as this is your own opinion”!

Well, at this point I realized that the newspaper is playing games. The words I put in my ad does not contain any swear or obscene words, neither it contains insult or attack on any one. The ad reads:

This is what they refused to post! It is just disgusting to know that this is the so called “freedom of press” or “freedom of expression” comes really down to. It is just words that hold no truth to it. The press here in North America is a copy of the press in the Middle East that we used to make fun of. It is even worth, as in the Press in the Middle East confesses being government controlled. But here they just hypocritically show them selves as being free! This is another scam of a society that claims to be the best in freedom and for humanity.

(11) No light at the end of the tunnel….and the Saga Continuous…

Since the preliminary was cancelled, every thing came to a stop. The funding crisis is still dragging. Lawyers are fighting their own fight for approving the hours they need to proceed. Nothing is moving. And the stranded guys still kept in their cage with no date on sight for a move.

But, who cares? Who really cares about these young men kept in prison with no real evidence to prosecute them? The public, including the Muslim community, is busy with the fluctuating gas prices, the sudden collapse of the American economy and Bay street stock market downfall. No one is paying attention to the gross injustice that is being committed in Canada!

You don’t have to be a father, mother, brother or a sister of one of these accused to understand the agony, despair and depression that they feel. Being in prison, for no clear wrong doing, except for what the government’s spy agencies say, is utterly painful. Knowing the background of the political situation and the current government agenda makes the case crystal clear.

But it seems that injustice is the trade mark of today’s world. Just look around! The inhumane siege of 1.5 Million people in Gaza strip, the killing of over 600,000 Iraqi civilians, 4000 Americans, tens of thousands of crippled Iraqis and Americans, attacks in Afghanistan, Somalia, political prisoners in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, and all over the Islamic world, and not to mention the Major injustice in Guantánamo prison, where the hostages are kept for 7 years without charges!

The families of the accused are facing the worst days of their lives; waiting for nothing to happen, watching their loved ones in the orange jumpers, behind glass windows, as if they are experimental animals. They are truly fine young men that were sacrificed by the officials to make a political statement. They are no killers, no rapists, or child molesters. They are merely a bunch of people who believed that they still can talk their minds freely and express their views without fear. They did not realize that the world has changes to the worst after 9/11, and that evil is round the corner, masked under human cloths, manipulating words, cutting and pasting conversations to net a plot that did not exist except in CICS plot planning department!

We are waiting for some thing to happen, date to be set, motion to be accepted, fund to be approved. We are waiting for hope, or just a shred of it to save those who are behind bars of steel from those who have their conscience locked away in the darkness of evil.

 

12. The Black Hole of the justice System… Time doesn’t Count!

Every month, the “presumed innocents” guys, in Maplehurst jail, are taken to the courtroom, either physically or via videoconference, to be told that they were remanded for another month, as the Legal Aid did not give an answer yet to the defense request for funding!

Just like that! Another month, and another month, and another month! Time passes as if it has consequence. But who cares for what is happening. The only-on-paper principle of ‘a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty” has already receded and gave way to the evil side of human nature.

To apply such principle, judges, prosecutors and media should all have it in the back of their minds that these guys are innocents, period. They have to have this notion crystal clear and deal with them accordingly in every step of the way. The only difference is that they are “in custody”. According to the only-on-paper principle, the judge and the prosecutors should conduct there actions in a manner that ensures that the accused have their guaranteed right to be treated fairly. They have to remember that saying the word “remanded” in court is not just a word to these “presumed innocents”. It translates to hours, days, weeks and months of their lives being wasted.

Now, when I talk to my son, Shareef, I have run out of excuses to comfort him, and give him some hope of a foreseen end to this dilemma. I recently came to a conclusion that would hopefully put his mind, and mine for that matter, in less hardship. I found out that the best way to deal with the ever long-lasting stagnancy of the case is to assume that these guys were already tried, found guilty and sentenced to 6 years in jail. They are now simply serving the sentence. That is what I told him, as painful as it is, to try to swallow and live with.

The reasons for that are the tricks that the government always comes up with to slow down the trial to carry on locking these guys behind bars as long as it can to keep the fear alive in the Canadians conscience. The funding issue is still up in the air. The legal aid still did not give an answer to the lawyer’s request for funding the case.

So, the conclusion is that they arrest these people, lock them up, waste two years mongering with the preliminary hearing, and then delay/deny funding the case!

How do they expect these guys to privately hire defense attorneys and pay them? If the government has such spending-awareness, how come they are spending all that money on a mission in Afghanistan that 78% of Canadians opposes, and is costing the tax payers hundreds of millions of dollars, not to mention the lives of soldiers that do not know why and for what purpose they are fighting a war that was initiated by Bush’s thirst for blood? The cost of this whole case does not -exceed the expenses of one month of this unpopular, unwarranted and unjustified mission.

Is there any hope of reviving fairness and restore conscience in our lives? Was the “Bush” factor so strong to completely veil even the most sacred rights of human beings; to be treated as “innocents till proven guilty”? And do we, Canadians, have already submitted to the evil power of the hatred, prejudice and blood-thirst practices of the New- Conservatives around the world?

All early indications do not give a hopeful answer…

13.  Shareef locked up in solitary …

“Lock’em up…shut’em up…” – The Guards have Spoken

On Feb 11, 08, around 5:15pm, the phone rang; a familiar number. It was Shareef’s collect call from his detention place. I accepted the call and started talking. Shareef’s voice was not normal. He seemed upset and agitated. I asked what happened. He said that one of the semi-human guards has created a scene to lock him up in solitary confinement for few days. He then hung up.

More than a year ago, a semi-human guard called “Ted” said to Shareef: You and your parents should be locked away like animals. At the time, I gave the staff in MapleHurst a hard lesson and made them feel ashamed of having such a semi-human person on staff. This week, exactly on Monday, Mr Murphy, a decent and understanding lieutenant was removed from the unit and was replaced by rotating lieutenants. However, the semi-human guard was up for rotation and it was his first day in unit 1K. In the morning, he denied Shareef his turn in staying out for the whole day to help others; an assignment that is considered a privilege. Then, when the nurse came to give Shareef his heart pill, he asked him to prove that he swallowed the pill! Shareef raise an eye browse on this stupid request. The semi-human guard claimed that Shareef defied an order and he was sent to the solitary! The real reason was that shareef wrote a letter that morning to the prison supervisor, complaining about the behavior of that Ted. It was obvious that he wanted to punish him for that complaint.

Shareef is still confined in solitary.

With the ongoing exploitation of the “presumed innocents”, and all the delay tactics which the system is adding to the pre-trial punishment that is now at full force, another dimension of sadism and inhumanity; presented by the some prison guards of Maple Hurst, was added to the equation.

Although some of the guards are professional and reasonable, it is evident that something is fundamentally wrong with the way some of them were trained and educated for the job they undertake. Contrary to what one might think, such job requires a high sensitivity, people skills and understanding of human nature to be able to deal with the normally confused and unfortunate people, and help them correct their way in life. That is why these institutions are called “correctional centers”. But, with our experience over the last two years, they should be called “make worse centres”! Some of the so-called prison guards in that place are nothing but psychopathic monsters that were trained to torture whoever they are supposedly guarding.

Failure in joining the Police force, and alternatively joining the prison guard career, dented their psychological profile and created a psychosomatic problem and sense of humiliation. It also seems that the training they get enhances such injured psychology.

It seems that, with such poor education and wrong training, the environment in these institutions helps creating false feeling of importance, and self-inflated personality. Dressed in a uniform, and giving orders to inmates, makes such characters do not distinguish between the accused and still “presumed innocent” and criminals who are already sentenced. On the other hand, they don’t understand that their job is not “to punish”, but “to guard”. If a person is charged, the imprisonment that is instated by court is the punishment, period. No additional sentence should be inflicted on the prisoner. Humiliation, degradation or torture is not part of the court indictment. If a person is detained and accused, he is “innocent” until courts prove otherwise. Under which human law an innocent person is subjected to such atrocities and degradation. What if the courts discharged the accusations? How such actions would be justified?

The question is no more whether these actions are unjust. The question now is how long such injustices will last?

14.  Shareef; out of solitary …I am in .. 

Time is what we, humans, are made of. It is the essence of life. It is the fourth dimension. When it stops, we stop. When it slows down, we slow down and Senses become vague and feelings get mixed up. That is why Solitary confinement is the worst that man can face, as he loses his feelings, his senses and his life.

But, the situation we, families of the “presumed innocents’ experiencing is becoming as close as it can gets to being in solitary, if not physically, emotionally. The symptoms are the same. The effect is the same. And it is not getting any better.

Words seem to lose its power. It was said that words are stronger than swards. Surely, that was true in times where people were sensitive to words, rather than interest rates!

I keep writing, Keys of my keyboard already faded but no ears listening, no tears shedding and one cares! I doubt these words will have better luck than the previous; but, however, I have to keep writing. It is the only way to escape the vertigo of the emotional solitary. It makes me feel time is still running and senses are still functioning.

Funds are still not decided. Resumption of the preliminary is still up in the air. The jail conditions still the same. Date for the trial is not known yet. Extremely important parts of the disclosure are still denied. Nothing is moving. Ti*me stands still.

15.  Silence of the Wolves! Yasen Mohamed’s charges stayed, with a deaf ear from the Media!

Last week, the prosecution stayed All charges against Yasin Mohamed after the case against him, and most of the others charged with the so-called “terrorism training” of paintball, were proven to be nothing but faked and pretentious; in other words, made up charges. Charges against Other accused were reduced, and maybe some are about to be offered a “peace bond”.

 

Now the questions that arise from this development are interesting, such as:

• Why those individuals were kept behind bars and in a solitary confinement for almost two years?
• How come the prosecutor did not do their job properly before putting these kids behind bars?
• Who is responsible for this grand injustice committed against these individuals?
• Given the fact that these developments happened after the first spy “crown witness” Mubin appeared in the preliminary hearing and was grilled by the defense lawyers, isn’t this an indication of why the prosecutor cancelled the preliminary before the second Egyptian semi-human spy comes to the stand and get the whole case down.
•  How can we trust the prosecution to keep the rest of the accused behind bars after the obvious fabrication of the case; which we kept pointing out all along for the last two years?
• Why the media did not mention these developments? It is not under a publication ban for sure! So, what can be the reason behind this silence? The media circus on June 2, 2006 has definitely put these individuals under the spot and made them appear as terrorists to the whole world. Now, when the prosecution back backward having his tail behind his legs, the Media just shut up? What a fair media we have! What a respectful media!

 

I know that we will never get answers to these questions from the prosecutor or the government, but we just need to ask it. However let us try these answers:

• Those individuals were kept behind bars for all that time to help painting the picture of terrorism plot alive in the mind of the public.
• From the government view, the prosecution did his job accusing the innocents after CISC and RCMP faked the evidence and made up the case for him.
• No one will is responsible! CISC and the RCMP are above the law. They customize cases to fit the laws and commit their hidden crimes behind it.
• It is so obvious that if the prosecutor allowed the preliminary to continue and the Egyptian semi human spy garbage to testify, all these guys would be out on bail, at least. This would have been a scandal to the non-intelligence community, and to Nazi-new con government led by Harpor.
• We don’t trust the prosecution any ways right from the beginning. We know their tricks, and we know they happily bought into CISC and RCMP agendas.
• This is the nature of the media. We have to understand that the Media is nothing but corporate investment establishments that ultimately seeks profit, not justice. The worthy news for the media is what gets the circulation or ratings go up to the roof. This happened on June 02^nd 2006, when the police circus was up on the stage to prosecute these poor Muslim victims. But, who cares about these charges getting dropped? It won’t help circulation or ratings! Plus, the media owners have a lot of interest with the government in power, and no justice would worth jeopardizing such relations. 

 

 

16.  Coming Closer to the Truth … Wake Up Canada!

 On March 06, 08, a brave and straightforward article, written by Ian MacLeod, was posted in CanWest News Services. Speaking to the Cabinet, the center character of this article is a member of the National Security Council who wasn’t named in the article. He pointed out the fact that we have been saying all along for the last two years…that this case is just a balloon…with no air inside!

 

The member of the Security Council explained that there is no reality behind this case... maybe just bunch of kids talking big! He said that they were no threat to our national security at any point of time.

 

This is what we, those who use their brains together with their ears and eyes, were saying since the sad, unjustified and unfortunate events of Saturday June 02^nd, 2006.

 

What the respectful member did not grasp yet is the extent to which the CSIS agents, with all their inhumane behavior and dead conscience, have planned the whole theme and intervened in making the alleged big talk a look-real terrorism case.

 

The member of the Security Council only through “leaked information” arrived at this conclusion. What do we expect to know if the unfair publication ban is lifted, and the lawyers as well as the accused, get back the right to speak?

 

He yet has to realize that the spies recruited by CISC and RCMP were the real perpetrators. Staying within the limitations of the publication ban, we know that they:

 

• Planned the event of the mockery training,
• Drove the van to the site they’ve chosen,
• Owned, brought and carried, for all the time, the only gun that appeared in this case,
• Suggested the purchase of the fertilizer,
• Contacted the faked seller,
• Purchased the faked powder…no one of the “presumed innocents” ever saw it,
• Rented the storage, just a block away from the police station,
• Provided the driver to deliver it to their storage space.

 

So, for such waste the budget for the non-intelligence community goes! Making up cases to scare the hell out of the public, and gain approval and support for the Nazi’s conservative government. Millions of dollars were spent on unnecessary surveillance for years, to come up with thousands of hours of tapes of kids taking to their wives or friends in restaurants, and millions will still be spent on the legal expenses of this case. Not to mention the wasted life of the “presumed Innocents” in jail and after they are released. Who will hire these individuals after this fiasco? Who will marry such individuals with this background, even if it is proven wrong?

 

 

17.  it’s now on TV … Watch it and Act! 

In the continuous battle against the darkness of the present government and its collaborators within the so-called “Law!” enforcement agencies and Intelligence! Agencies (CICS and RCPM), a glimpse of fairness has emerged with the release of the “Unfair Dealing” documentary. The sole credit for this documentary goes to David Weingarten, a talented reporter/filmmaker, and most importantly a fair human being who rose above the baseless allegations plotted by the power-seeking right wing extremist government, and the noise made by the profit-seeking media. He successfully connected the history of these agencies with the present events to draw a better and more logical picture of what is really happening.

 

Any fair judgment of such events would have to intensely consider the past dealings of CICS and RCMP. Such agencies have their own culture which completely different from the culture of the rest of the country. Values, principles, standards, ethics, conscience, even signs and expressions have totally different meanings to them. It is a vital error of the public to think that those who work for such agencies think or act the way we, normal people, do. They simply don’t. Spying, by essence, is dirty work, no matter who are you spying on or for who you are spying. It takes a dirty mind to justify spying, ratting, snitching, backbiting and such low dealings, and live with it.

 

However, some would say: well, it takes a criminal to catch one! We agree to that, but between the two criminals, we, the public, are lost. How do we ensure that the “legal” criminals, appointed by the government, have not gone their own way and created their own scams, away from the illegal criminals, for their own benefit? After all, we have agreed that they are criminals; “Legally” approved” criminals. In fact, that was the whole point of the documentary; to show the pattern that the RCMP and CICS follow. It’s unmistakable to the open-eyed and mind person that they pull dirty tricks. They do their own scams. They serve their own interests.

 

The documentary has stirred a lot of public reaction, and yet to build more. The ban on the news has left the public blind to the facts about these “presumed innocents”. It left every one around the world with the impression of a group of criminal bunch that have fallen in the hands of justice! The fact of the matter and the real flip of the coin is that justice is the one who has fallen victim of RCMP and CICS through this unfair dealing.

 

It is easy to convict someone. And once you do, it takes a lot to remove such conviction. This is the equation that CICS and RCMP relying on. Once you are tainted, even wrongfully, you are tainted forever in the eyes of the public. But, it works both ways. RCMP and CICS are tainted big time; and they are on the black list forever for that matter.

 

It is a painful subject to discuss, but nonetheless, with the help of real honest and courageous people like David Weingarten, we are revealing what should have been on the table right from the beginning; the Truth.

18.  Two years later, nothing is happening….

It was exactly two years since the black day of June 02, 06; the day where time stopped for my first born; Shareef. The day my life and his has been changed forever. It is hard to  

It has been a while since I wrote for the “Injustice in Canada”. That is not because I lost interest. I can’t lose interest in my son’s life that has been taken away from him. It is simply because there is nothing happening whatsoever. The situation is completely stagnant. The court is not in session any more, as the persecution is in vacation!

The accused are just sitting in the detention prison waiting for any thing to happen, to give them a glimpse of hope that they might, one day, actually have a trial and maybe, if justice prevails and politics subsided in this case, can walk out free again. Just dreaming…!

The politically-accused have started to lose patience. They are denied a lot of rights that come with being in a regular prison rather than in detention. For instance, they are not allowed to exercise. Their phone access is restricted, and the food is the worst that can be fed to a human. They are not allowed regular touch visits as permitted for killers and rapists in regular prisons. It has been over 26 month, and there is no hope for a successful bail.

It is estimated that, if the case Judge expedited the case, the motions will be starting in Dec 2008 and will not be done before December 2009. The trial then will start January 2010 and will last, at least for the remaining ten, for two years; that is to the end of 2012. This means that they will spend six years in jail just for the courts to say its word about this big lie the government created for political gains. Taking into consideration that the time served in solitary is normally counted a three, and the time served in detention normally counted as 2, this makes them serve thirteen and half years (13.5)!

Thirteen and half years in detention! For what! If this is not the ultimate injustice, what would it be then? These men will eventually walk away free as the prosecution’s case is very weak, and every one knows it. It is, as I was told by a lawyer, looked at as a joke within the legal circle. 

I don’t know how Canada is being more safe with these men looked up without trial or bail for 13 years. Canada has much more serious issues with the policies of the neo-con government extremists in power than having these young men detained. It is an irony to lock these men and leave Steven Harpor sending our troops to face real danger and to die every day, non-stop, defending God knows what!

I ask Canada: where is logic? Where is common sense? Where is justice? Is this what the nation considers victory and takes pride at; to detain few innocent men that did not commit any crime, maybe other than chatting and playing?

 

19. Darkness more than the Night….

Twenty eight months have already passed since the Toronto 18 were first arrested. Seven of the detained were set free; including the alleged “Ring leader”. The case took central stage on the Canadian Media and politics. It was a big day for the Media, the Police, and the ruling party’ Politicians to affirm their guard of Canadian life; no matter what the truth behind this affirmation might be.

However, after the first splash, the case took a down when the Prosecutor cancelled the Prelim hearings after 19 month of the trial and took every one and every thing back to square 1. Nine months later, the case is still standing still; no progress whatsoever.

 

Last May, of 2008, in one of the monthly case management meetings, which were, for the most part, dedicated to discussing the lawyers’ funds and remanding the accused for upcoming date, Shareef stood up and asked the case management Judge when the case will actually take place? Is there an end to this dilemma? He mentioned that every one leaves the court room goes back to his regular life and family, except for the “presumed innocents”. They don’t. And it seems that no one cares for the waste of their lives. They already have been found guilty by the Media and the Intelligence agencies, and deserve whatever happens to them! The Judge expressed his understanding and gave instruction to lawyers and the prosecutor to get serious and start working hard to get things on the wheel. He said: ”this is not acceptable; we will be moving full speed ahead from now on”.

Since May 2008, the court worked six days on the case! Only six days; two days in May, one in June, one in July, and two in August. This is the “full speed ahead” that the Judge was referring to! One would wonder what it would be if it wasn’t full speed ahead!

Considering that the trial and motions are estimated to take about two years at least, or 600 full time working days, simple math shows that on this paste the case should be finished by the year 2041! I doubt that any of the defendants, Judges, politicians or parents will be alive by that time.

It is not the point whether the accused might be guilty or not. It is the principle that humans have agreed to, that is everyone has the right to a speedy and fair trial. But, not in this case! The point is that these guys will spend the rest of their lives waiting for some one to show them why they are charged and find out if this was the truth!

Nothing is happening. Nothing is moving ahead. It’s already as dead as the Israelis/Palestinians peace negotiations!

20. So, It is Political after all….!

The guilty verdict that was delivered today in court against one of the youth in the case proves beyond a shadow of doubt that this case is all about politics. No truth, no justice...just politics. It also proves that the “Justice” system in Canada has been sold to politics. It is not only a wrong verdict, but is one that is covered with shame on the judge who delivered it, and the whole Justice system.

The “Training camp” story has been discussed many times in court during the prelim and the hearings of the seven people that were released after the prosecution dropped the charges against them. There was nothing that can be described as ‘evidence’ of the plot, set aside what is described by the Judge as “overwhelming evidence”. It is known to all who heard or watched the hearings that it was just a sports event attended by a group of youth to keep them in shape; playing paint ball.

The prosecution’s paid witness, Munin Shaikh, has testified that the defendant did not know the nature of the camp, and that he was there to play. But the honorable Judge did not take his word for it! It is either Mubin was a liar or he was telling the truth. If he was a liar then his testimony about the whole story should be dropped. If he was telling the truth, the youth should be declared innocent. Either ways, the camp and the whole plot the judge was talking about is not but a sting operation for political gains.

The Judge’s ruling is as ironic as the prosecution’s case. In his argument, the judge logic was poor and flawed.  First “there is an overwhelming evidence of a plot”, second, the youth could not be ignorant of it, therefore he is guilty. The first part has no proof whatsoever, and the second is just an assumption of the Judge, ignoring the testimony of the police informant.

This is a clear example of a prejudicial verdict, designed to uphold the face of the political system from being exposed to humiliation and dishonor.

This verdict also is a hint to where the rest of the trial is heading; another ten guilty verdicts to satisfy the system. And we still talk about free society and democracy!

 

21. After the dust settles….!

Now, as the dust settles from the verdict that was handed to the youth in the now “Torornto10” case, it is time to reflect on some aspects of the decision and it’s implications for the rest of the group.

 

It is a given that, whether the Judge meant that to be or no, the verdict had served the interest of the conservative government and was a “safe face” tool for the RCMP and CICS. The case was practically falling apart after 7 of the 18 individuals were released. The star witness Muben had flip flopped throughout the course of the hearings, between his feel of guilt and wanting to help, and his need for the money to satisfy the addiction! The prosecution had to challenge his own witness and declare him a “liar” to keep the case opened! This is an unprecedented move in such a sensitive case that is solely dependent on the work of two malls, discounting the third mole that has surfaced during the hearings and denied by CICS agents.

 

The second mall has gone to the hiding since day one, with his booty of $4.1m. He had played it well with CICS. He convinced them that he can not live within the community after his anticipated testimony, and his live would be in great danger. Thus, he needs to secure his whole future with the millions he stripped of the tax payers’ money. However, a person with IQ of 15 can ask a simple question, how come Muben is talking and walking in the community safe and sound with no harm, or even a threat for that matter made to him or his family? The answer is that the Egyptian spy is much smarter, and the intelligence agents are much dumper. Also, they kept him in hiding not to expose him to the lawyers and risk him losing his credibility like Muben has.

 

The verdict by Judge Sprout has been a result of a weak defence, and a flawed logic on the judge part. The decision hangs on assumptions that have not been proven to any degree of certainty; which is absolutely needed when it comes to such a high profile case; a case that is testing new, controversial and publicly challenged law. The assumption that “there was a plot” is has been prematurely made before all the facts are introduced in the case. To prove that there was a plot, the rest of the group have to be put through the trial and the prosecution has to prove, without a shadow of doubt that a plot actually existed. Hence, the assumption that the youth knew what is happening is false as it was built on the first assumption that “there was some thing actually happening”.

 

 

22. Hard Present… Harder Future!

It was supposed to get easier with time, at least, that is what I believed and so as every one around us; families of the “unfortunate”! We were supposed to adapt and get familiar with the situation we found ourselves, sons, brothers, and husbands dragged into for a reason only God, and the so called Intelligence agencies, knows.  But, time is telling otherwise. It is getting cruelly harder, a lot harder.

 

It is true that the first blow is over, and things settled in kind of a routine way. But, although the first wave of hopelessness, rage and depression seem subsided, it didn’t. It just sank into the deep unconscious. It surfaced out in different formats. Broken-heart look instead of the scared look, slower response to the immerging events instead of fast response, and much less hope in any movement or motion in the case rather than holding on to any new development as a possible opportunity out of this dilemma.

 

I religiously visit my son every Saturday…I see him, as usual, and the other felloes, in the same orange outfit for the last 30 month, as if a spill was cast on them and their lives stood still. Their hopes and dreams of the future, as normal young guys, have faded away completely. Their dreams have now shrunk to a mere nice meal in the court days or a reasonable guard during the night shifts!

 

I ask the question: was this necessary just to make a point? Did the Intelligence community conscience accept this burden with no second thought? It is a matter of fact that these guys where not, on their own, capable of carrying out any threat. They are goofy talking, inexperienced dreamers. Even if they talked about issues of that sort, a simple interrogation and threat would be enough to make them never ever dream about talking around these matters again. Just a simple interrogation instead of the multimillion dollar show that was put to glorify the inglorious officers who did nothing but cost the tax payers millions of dollars under the delusion of making them more safe. Instead, these inglorious officers went out of their way to set up a chatter group, drag them into conversations and getting words out of their mouths, securing all what they later considered evidence against them! This is the lowest level human can sink into…trapping others for your own benefit. They call it “Intelligence”! This is still with the big ‘Even if”.

 

 

23. Are we far off from the US Injustice?

On Monday morning, Anna Maria Tremonti of CBC news radio program– The Current – hosted two US military related personnel.  The interview was so sad and heart-rending. It reflected the vicious and criminal actions made by the US government and its allies such as the Harpor government. And also, it reflected the human conscious that still alive in many of the citizens of these countries, despite all the efforts put by such criminal governments and the media to corrupt it

 

The first was a Military prosecutor in Guantanamo Bay penitentiary. He resigned his job after he found out that justice will never be served to the detainees of that devilish place. He gave examples of how the Military tribunals are ought to fail in dealing in fairness with those people; who are now entering there seventh year without trials. He showed how he found documents that were on the prosecution table, and were supposed to be delivered to the defence lawyers, which never delivered and were potentially helpful to the defence’s case. He spent two years in that post and had to quit after he couldn’t justify the actions and practices of the Pentagon and the associated military tribunals. He said he believed in justice, but justice, in this case did not, and will never, be delivered. He said that there is no justification to such injustice no matter what the alleged accusations are.

The second person is a former US interrogator in Iraq, who happened to serve in Abu Gharib Iraqi prison for the US counter intelligence unit. His voice was shattered and almost in tears. Pain was so obvious in the way he talked about his experience with that post. He said he saw torture and human suffering that will last him his life time with terrible memories. He is already on medication and is expected to last on medication for the rest of his life. He said he couldn’t believe the degree to which his country has shammed itself and its citizens by what is happening in Iraq. He mentioned that they used to hang Iraqis from the rests up to the ceiling for long time to extract information from them, some thing, according to him, that will never produce any credible information under such torture. He said that he is already in shame and possibly will never be the same person as before again.

 

Two examples of how those who launched these wars, including the one called War-on- Terrorism, have lost humanity and joined ranks within the animal kingdom.

 

 

24. Is the world is safer now?

We, family of the remainder eleven accused in the so-called “terror case” – are, slowly but surely, approaching the third anniversary of our Sons, brothers or husbands in detention, with no time in sight to starting their trial.

 

I wonder, after 30 months of their detention, if the world now a safer and better place to live? Did we really succeeded in detaining the evil and capture the devils that were poisoning our lives, threatening our economy and putting the lives of our loved ones in danger?

 

Well, let us examine the situation as it stands now. The world is in deep recession, or actually a depression. That is not because of the “terror”. It is because of the failing economic policies set by those who were in power in the United States, same gang who waged a war in Iraq that cost their economy $602,461,001,534 (up to this moment), other than the cost to other economies. The cost of life is unimaginable. Laterally, over a million people died (if we count an Iraqi live as a human life!) and millions wounded. A whole country was destroyed.

 

In Afghanistan, the situation is not less chaotic. Recently, Stephen Harpor, in a news conference in Ottawa, said that Taliban are “Unbeatable”! Well, Mr Prime Minster, did we have to spend over 20 Billion dollars and hundreds of Canadian lives, set aside thousands of civilian Afghani lives, to come to that conclusion? And, just to assure the late Bush that we are working with his administration on “defeating terror”, which our own version of that fight was proclaimed in the theatrical events of the Toronto 18 case.

 

In Gaza, Literally, one and half million civilians, together with their democratically elected government, were placed under siege for months without food, medicine or power. Then, they were bombarded from the ground, sea and air, killing fourteen hundred civilians, mostly women and children. But, hay, this is not “terror”; we already captured the terrorists in Canada, and they are locked away. So, this must be some thing else. Let us call it a war between Israel and its enemy! A legitimate war!!! Give me a break…shame on you all, who ever accepts it and condone with it.

 

A global depression, a war that has no aim or purpose, body bags coming back on monthly bases, civilians getting killed on daily bases…are we better or safer…I think not….

 

25. The Guilty Plea .. What it really means? 

 

It was expected, for more than a year, that some one of the young accused to just go ahead and do the forbidden; plea guilty. It was even more expected after the shocking conviction of the youth, accused of attending the camp scam. Fear of injustice, of the unknown, of what might happen if the judge or the juries did not really care much about considering the facts as a whole? Under tremendous pressure of three years of detention with no trial to be seen in the near future, one of the accused decides to give up, to end the dilemma, to plea guilty.

 

As sad as it is, it is some how understandable. It is however, a huge disappointment to other co-accused and their families. No matter what any one would say, the case, in the final analysis, is one case. For one person to choose to fall is for all – or most - to start the way down. To me, it is very frustrating. However, we did not start these chain of events, and certainly, we will not be responsible for ending it…it is a mere fate and test from God swt.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if others do follow suit. It is natural that the feeling of defeat and despair is contagious. But, does this means that all those who were involved in the case are guilty? Let us take a look

 

First, on the ground level, let us not ever forget that, even with the person who pleaded guilty already, the question stands: guilty of what? No one got heart, no building was destroyed, no one shot or a gun was fired, no one got injured…nothing really happened.

 

Secondly, on the planning side, these people, at most, all what they can plea guilty of is just talking, with no capacity, competence or means to carry out any thing, whatsoever. The actual planning, renting trucks, hiring drivers, leasing warehouses, purchasing the fertilizer, all was the work of the "Intelligence" and the "RCMP". These are hard facts. Some one in the process should see this. Otherwise the hasty “guilty plea” is justified.

 

Thirdly, some of the cases are actually completely different in nature than others. Each individual in this case was played by the Intelligence" and the "RCMP" in different way, and used for a specific role. So, it is essential for all the truth and facts to be out to know who is guilty. And if so, to what extent.

 

I am not a lawyer, but it doesn't take a degree in law to know that when the authority participates to that extent in making up a case stand, with all the actions done through and by its own agents, it is unfair and unjust to blame those who had some ideas flying over their heads, with no capability or competence of doing any of it.

 

What the "Intelligence" and the "RCMP" might appear to the rushed eye that it is legal, hence, right. But to the hard looking eye, what they did was wrong, immoral and wicked.

 

Admitting of guilt, under these circumstances, should not be associated with dome and glom upon the person who admitted it, or for others. It simply means that the person has done something wrong, that he is guilty in doing. But the extent of guilt should also be a function of all the circumstances surrounding the case as a whole.

 

 

26. Don’t Guess it… here is what we beileve 

I grew up in Egypt, during the era of Jamal Abdulnaser; the first dictator in the Middle Eastern modern history. He ruled Egypt from 1952 to 1970. No one was able to say a word against him or his ruling government. I was one of those who couldn’t take this kind of abuse. I used to talk. I always believed that words are the most powerful peaceful way to restore freedom. If one loses the right to speak, he or she will automatically resort to violence.

 

At that time, more than 40 years ago, the Western democracy was a way of life that Egyptians never dared to even dream of. However, with minute insignificant differences, the way the situation had developed in the West, democracy, with the help of the so called “Intelligence”, has become the pretty face of the same old dictatorship.

 

It is not the intent of this article to criticize “Intelligence”. I only need to note that one of many ways they use to destroy democracy is to put words in people mouths. Or, alternatively, twist their words to make it awful. They, some times, use their “Intelligence” to put together accusations based on their own interpretation of some ones words.

 

The best way to counter this ‘Intelligence’ is to talk. To say what you really mean or believe. And that is what I intend to do here in an attempt to set the record straight in regards to what Islam say in the matter of attacking innocent civilians, any civilians wherever they might be.

 

A correct saying of the Prophet (pbuh), is reported in Muwata Imam Malik that "The Prophet pbuh has forbidden killing women and children (in the war)". Under no circumstances this rule should be changed or challenged. If this rule is set for the soldiers who are actually facing the enemy on the war ground, it is more certain to be followed and respected if kids, women, elderly or sick are behind the enemy lines, let alone if they just live in their original countries. Islam is not a religion of revenge. If other so called civilizations around the world kill our women and children – and call it "war on terrorism" or "collateral damage" or whatever their dead subconscious might suggest – Muslims should not and would not do the same. We are alike then, and nothing would differentiate between angels and demons. Muslims – like any one else - are allowed to defend their land and wealth, but they also have to resort to their religion to get the limitations and conditions of such defense. Hence, any attack that might heart women or kids, or destroy trees and heart the environment, is not acceptable.

 

Cowards, bombarding innocent civilians with "no pilot" planes and kill hundreds of women and kids every day, are but sub-humans, dressed as humans. Good Muslims do not do that, no matter how low such mutations of the human race go in dealing with them. It is just not religiously correct to kill innocents, period.

 

 

28. Admittance of Guilt..or Guilt of Admittance?

 

It has been a while since I last updated this series of commentary on the affair of the "Terror Case". It was partially because of being busy trying to overcome the work situation which CISC have unjustifiably created for me by denying me a permit to enter my job site as a Nuclear Planner; a job I held for the last 20 years in Canada. Also, it was partially to observe the series of "admittance of involvement" which, after 33 months of captivity including 13 months of solitary confinement, has been lately offered by a number of the accused.

 

In terms of my work permit, it is obvious that the agency has determined that I am a dangerous person, all of a sudden, in spite of the fact that I have no role of the so called "terror" plot, or, otherwise, I would be in a cell room wearing an orange jumper! But, under the Fundamentalist/Extremist Harpor "Anti Muslim" government, it's their role to make the lives of Canadian Muslims; such as myself, harder, to say the least.

 

The other part, which I have been thinking of, is why such kids have admitted such involvement after all this lengthy imprisonment? I will not go as far as saying that there was nothing happening in the background within the circle of some of these kids. But, it is absolutely important to find out what is the degree of involvement of each? And, what led them to get to the point where action was viable and mere thoughts were starting to move forward to more active role? What were CISC role and the two paid atheist spies in converting thoughts of a group of kids, mostly between the ages of 15 to 22 years old, angry of the human massacres that are being committed against there people all over the world, to the action of purchasing stuff and hauling it?

 

It is a known fact that the warehouse was rented by CISC, and that the Truck was driven by a CISC agent, and the material; the "fertilizer" was purchased through a CISC agent. It is also known that these kids would never be able to do any of these actions, hadn't CISC actively participated in these actions to the point were all the preliminary actions were made by their agents.

 

These kids, after such lengthy imprisonment, have definitely lost faith in any kind of fair trial that would not only use the terms and wording of the Law, but extend the definition of Justice to encompass the soul of the Law; were enticing a crime is considered a crime of its own. In this case, it was actually more than just enticing. It was babysitting the concept, nurturing the plot, filling the gaps of actions, offering what would be impossible to get otherwise, just to make sure that when the time comes, a case would be ready to be presented to the public, and heroes of the RCMP and CISC are rewarded!

 

This is the essence of the world which we live in; not only in Canada or the West, but is now the face of the falling justice everywhere. Deception, fraudulency, dirty games are the essence of being part of the elite. Honesty is now just a prescription to fail.

 

We, moderate Muslims, are against all such cheap principles. And, as such, against the killing of all innocents everywhere, no matter if they are Canadians, Palestinians, Afghanis or otherwise. This is my definition of being fair and just. And I have always been ready to bear its consequences.

 

This, the fear of not getting the full justice, combined with over 36 months of imprisonment, makes one wonder about these “confesses of involvement”, are they really admittance of guilt, or they are merely guilt of admittance?

 

 

 

29. The Trial … At last!

After exactly 42 months and 22 days of captivity, Shareef is finally going to get his day in court with only 18 days to go. I know it’s a relief no matter the outcome is. I know that Shareef never meant harm to any one, at all. He is simply not that kind of person. I know his lawyer understands his personality and knows what he is and is not capable of. This fact about Shareef’s personality is what makes me, as his father, feel good. I am sure the Judge will see, if not already saw, his innocence. Maybe tricked, but innocent.

All this propaganda, all this cost and effort, was to expose what some “kids’, out of their naïveness, misguidance, ignorance and understandable anger, have started to “think” about, discuss, even fantasize, as it is the case with some of them, to punish the system, not the people. The system, in their vision, has betrayed humanity, by killing weak and helpless Muslims. They were wrong, but not criminals. It was so easy to correct their understanding, redirect their energy to help their people in other ways. The system was watching them for two years. They know they have no way to convert words to action. This whole saga would simply have been avoided by a series of visits to the parents of those kids, telling them what they were thinking of. Maybe arranging interviews with some scholars whom the kids trust, to explain the facts of Islam and guide them through this anger.

But that would not help the Government. It will not show support to the criminal Bush Administration in its quest to take over the oil resources. It would not support Harpor in his campaign as a “terror” fighter, whom the country need to safe guard its people. It would not help the spying agencies to get more funds, more power and more control. So, they decided to play the dirty trick of giving those kids a hand, in a very criminally professional way, a way that wouldn’t be proven to be entrapment in a court of law. That is how they played it.

However, I believe that everyone is accountable for his own doing. Everyone has to pay his bills; either now or later, when the day of final judgment comes. At that day, there will be no media, no supporters, no assistances, no crown to cheer or photo ops. It will be a bad day for the real criminals who took advantage of the weak and young to support their pathetic goals.

As for these kids, it is to their advantage to pay their bills, here and now.