Travelling 'torture caravan' disturbing sign of the times.

This is from the Star.
Almalki, Nurredin, and El Maati deserve a lot of credit for mounting this publicity campaign. The campaign is bringing the issue to many people who would otherwise hardly know or think about the issues. There is nothing like face to face interaction for influencing people's thoughts and feelings. It is easy for people just to shrug off the rare reports that are heard in the mainstream media. Arar received plenty of publicity and became for a time a media star but these three are very much in the shadows. The Iacobucci inquiry has been carried on in almost total secrecy. The final report will not even be seen by the public, just a summary. In the name of national security reality will be kept from us and after a great deal of hand wringing and a flurry of media attention, some criticism of the intelligence services and a number of recommendations things will go on as before except Iacobucci will receive a hefty fee for his labours in the darkness. There will be no compensation for Almalki, Nurredin, and El Maati unless they somehow manage to mount an effective suit against the government. It is possible that Iacobucci might recommend some action on compensation but I think that is probably wishful thinking. It is not part of his mandate and so far he has been very careful to narrow the inquiry as much as possible.


Travelling 'torture caravan' disturbing sign of the times TheStar.com - comment - Travelling 'torture caravan' disturbing sign of the times


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While inquiry meets in private, tortured trio bring tales of terror to small-town Ontario
June 09, 2008 Heba Aly
It is a bizarre feeling – eating, walking, laughing with men who have been hung from their wrists and beaten with electric cables. To see them behave so normally despite their experiences is a bit destabilizing.
But for five days, that is what I did, as three men – Abdullah Almalki, Muayyed Nureddin and Ahmad El Maati – travelled from small town to small town, telling Canadians their stories and pushing for a public inquiry into what happened to them.
All three men – Canadian citizens, but also Arab and Muslim – were detained and tortured in a Syrian prison on unproven suspicions of terrorism. They accuse the Canadian government of complicity in their torture. None has ever been charged with a crime.
Toronto-based Nureddin, for example, had fled his homeland of Iraq in 1991. As as a Turkman, he was discriminated against under Saddam Hussein's regime. When the regime was toppled in 2003, Nureddin decided to go back to visit family he had not seen in nine years. On his way back to Canada, he was stopped on the Iraq-Syria border and thrown into jail. During questioning, he was asked the same questions by his Syrian torturers that he had been asked months before by a Canadian security intelligence official – a sign, he says, that the questions must have originated from Canada.
The stories of these men echo that of Canadian citizen Maher Arar, who was detained and tortured in the same infamous prison in Syria. He has since received an official apology from the Canadian government and $10 million in compensation after a public inquiry established that his torture was due in part to information the RCMP shared internationally, falsely identifying him as a terrorist.
The report that emerged from that inquiry found that the RCMP sent questions about one of the other men, Ottawa engineer Almalki, to Syrian interrogators knowing that questioning could result in torture.
A second inquiry is now looking into the role Canadian officials played in these three cases, but it is being conducted in almost-total secrecy. The men themselves, their lawyers, the public and the media are not allowed to attend. They have seen no documents and cross-examined no witnesses.
This has caused endless frustration for Almalki, Nureddin and El Maati, who are still trying to recover from the emotional and psychological scars of their torture abroad – only to face a new struggle upon returning to Canada.
"For me, this inquiry is another form of torture because I don't know what's going on," El Maati said. "My life is on the line; my reputation is on the line."
And so one rainy day in May, these men, along with about 30 other regular Canadians, set off on a week-long caravan to try to do something about it. Organized by a group called Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture, the caravan travelled from Toronto to Ottawa to raise awareness about these cases and build momentum for a public inquiry. It was an interesting bunch of people, to say the least.
There was Dick, the retired engineer and former Roman Catholic priest who had just turned 82. There was Tracy, the civil rights junkie who pulled her 13-year-old daughter out of school for a week to join the caravan, because, "What's better than a civil rights march?" And there were Vidya, Frank and their 10-month-old baby; the couple saw a random email about the caravan and decided it was too important an issue not to participate.
Reactions were varied when people saw the group sporting bright orange jumpsuits kneeling on the pavement, their bowed heads covered in black hoods, their hands behind their backs – now a worldwide symbol of torture.
Some wanted no part of it. "I'm the torturer!" one Correctional Services Canada staff screamed mockingly as she drove past the group's silent vigil outside a maximum-security prison in Bath, Ont.
Others were eager to hear more. In many of the mostly white, middle-class towns we travelled through, passersby had no idea that this alleged "Canadian torture" even existed. They had never heard of Maher Arar, let alone any of the others who have undergone similar ordeals.
Still, support was surprisingly high. At Trenton, home to a Canadian Forces Base, one soldier signed the petition asking the Prime Minister to make the inquiry public. In Cobourg, three high-school classes gave the men a standing ovation after hearing their stories.
"Ahmad. Muayyed," one high-school teacher repeated to himself as he walked down the hallways of his school. "I'm practising the names," he said with a chuckle.
And just as it was destabilizing for me to watch these men connect with the public on such a personal level, it was destabilizing for them, too. After so many months in isolation, seeing how much people cared was a bit overwhelming.
"Part of the healing process as a torture victim is to be recognized," Nureddin told me after lunch one day as we sat in the basement of a church hosting us in Napanee. "The public has recognized us. That recognition means they trust in (my) story." That was a first for Nureddin, who until then had shied away from sharing his experience publicly.
In September, retired Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci, who is overseeing the latest inquiry, will release his findings. Only a summary of the report will be public. The government argues more disclosure would pose a risk to national security.
But for Almalki, getting answers is essential – not just for him, but for all Canadians.
"It's extremely important that we get to know the full truth of what happened to all of us. That is because ... it looks like it is a pattern. It's not just one case or two cases or three cases," he told a crowd gathered at Kingston's Public Library.
"This doesn't just affect me and my family or Muslims. It affects all of us. It defines who we are as a country."
It seems their call for some answers is being met with a sympathetic ear from Canadians. Consider these thoughts from some of the people we met along the way:
"I think you're doing us all a favour," Kevin Doyle said at a public lecture in Ottawa. "What happened to you is a change in North American society that is detrimental to all of us. Many of us who were born here are afraid of what's ahead. You give us the courage to do more to counteract this."
"For the first time in my life, I'm ashamed to be Canadian," high-school teacher Gary O'Dwyer told his students in Cobourg.
"I'm so disturbed," one lady said after hearing Almalki speak in Kingston. "I don't even want to think about it."
But that's just it. She has to. We all do. And the government certainly should.
Heba Aly is an Ottawa-based freelance journalist.

New book next year on Arar and three other detainees

Since the book is not scheduled to be released until Fall of 2008 it may be able to comment on the results of the Iacobucci Inquiry due in January of 2008. One thing is certain the Iacobucci Inquiry will do absolutely nothing to help the three clear their name unlike the Arar inquiry. Virtually everything is being done in secrecy. The web page for the inquiry gives no information about what is happening. The last entry about what was new was published last April. About half the inquiry so far has taken place without the public knowing anything about what is going on: no summary, no news releases, nada.

New book will outline plight of Arar, three other detainees
Paul Gessell, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Friday, September 14, 2007
There's been a play, an art show and a soon-to-released movie to tell the story, or one just like it, of Ottawa engineer Maher Arar. Next up is a book by family friend and social activist Kerry Pither.

Arar is not just a diplomatic incident or a political controversy. He has become an enduring figure in popular culture, a man with a story suitable for all media.

The wrongfully convicted grab our imagination like few others, with Steven Truscott, David Milgaard and Wilbert Coffin being other examples of Canadian men whose stories refuse to disappear from books, movies and theatres.


The tale of Ottawa engineer Maher Arar will be part of a book being penned by Kerry Pither.
Wayne Cuddington, The Ottawa Citizen



The latest version of the Arar story is to surface in The Lucky Ones: Canadians Betrayed in the Name of Fighting Terror, which is to be published by Penguin, probably in the fall of 2008, the company announced yesterday.

That non-fiction book will examine the case of Arar and three other Muslim Canadian men -- Ahmad El Maati, Abdulla Almalki and Muayyed Nureddin -- who were all imprisoned and tortured in the same Syrian jail and eventually freed without any charges being laid against them anywhere.

After Arar's release, a federal inquiry exonerated him and recommended millions of dollars in compensation. Another inquiry, known as the Iacobucci Commission, is investigating the facts around the imprisonment of the other three Canadian men.

During Arar's detention, Pither worked closely with the man's wife, Monia Mazigh, Amnesty International and the Council on American Islamic Relations to free him and to push for a public inquiry. Frequently, Pither served as a spokeswoman for the Arar family.

"Once the Arar Inquiry was set up, Pither co-ordinated the work of 18 national and international human rights, labour, civil liberties and Muslim and Arab organizations with intervenor status, analysing documents, listening to testimony and proposing questions for witnesses," says a Penguin news release on the book.

Pither is now engaged in similar activities at the inquiry examining the events involving the other three men.

"Since the attacks of 9/11, much has been written about the 'terror suspects' through the eyes of investigating agencies," says Diane Turbide,

editorial director at Penguin Group (Canada). "Very little has been written about these investigations through the eyes of their targets.

"Kerry Pither will do this by telling the personal stories of these four men -- from their first encounters with CSIS and the RCMP, to their overseas

incarceration, torture and interrogation, to their eventual

release and the long wait for answers about the role of Canadian officials."

News of the forthcoming book has surfaced just as movie screens across North America prepare for the release of Rendition, a feature film about an Egyptian-American man jailed and tortured because of suspected terrorist links. Rendition is not based exclusively on, but is influenced by, the Arar story.

Arar was the subject of an exhibition of abstract art this summer at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax. The exhibition by Garry Neill Kennedy was called The Colours of Citizen Arar and was inspired by horrifying anecdotes from his Syrian detention posted on Arar's personal website.

Two years ago, GCTC staged a play, Relative Good, that was inspired by Arar's case and echoed the events of his imprisonment.




© The Ottawa Citizen 2007

Iacobucci Inquiry Faces Time Crunch

I am beginning to think this whole inquiry is cut out to be a whitewash with the intelligence services operating to sabotage everything in private, although at least there are groups being allowed to make presentations. However, all the questioning of officials will be behind closed doors for the most part and who knows what will even be made available publicly. I have been asking two simple question's of Stockwell Day's office since January 11: When will the Inquiry begin? Will there be a website? So far I have had no answer just a response from my MP's office that doesn't answer the questions. Is this typical? What is the use of giving an email address for Day if no one even acknowledges receipt of email. I have sent several followup emails.


Meeting deadline in commission probe will be challenge, co-counsel says Canadian Press
Published: Sunday, February 18, 2007 Article tools
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OTTAWA (CP) - One of the newly appointed lead counsel for an inquiry into the foreign imprisonment of three Canadians acknowledges it won't be easy to meet the commission's tight deadline.

"It's certainly a challenge," lawyer John Laskin said Friday.

"We're going to do it as expeditiously as we can."

Laskin, a senior partner at Toronto law firm Torys LLP, will serve as lead counsel for the commision of inquiry along with John Terry, also a partner with the firm.

The probe, headed by former Supreme Court judge Frank Iacobucci, will examine the cases of Abdullah Almalki, Muayyed Nureddin and Ahmad El Maati.

The three Arab-Canadians, like engineer Maher Arar, say they were detained and tortured in Middle Eastern prisons - possibly on the basis of information supplied by Canadian officials.

Iacobucci has until Jan. 31 to deliver a report.

A one-day session is planned for March 21 in Ottawa to hear from parties interested in taking part in the inquiry. A few weeks later there will be a session inviting input on inquiry procedures.

The terms of reference for the inquiry indicate the bulk of the probe, unlike the high-profile Arar commission, will be behind closed doors.

One key reason is that Iacobucci must avoid compromising any continuing criminal investigations. The RCMP has repeatedly said that Project A-O Canada, an anti-terrorist investigation in which Almalki was once considered the main target, is ongoing.

Laskin said it is unclear how much of the hearings will be in public.

"Those are determinations that have yet to be made. And it's one of the points on which the commissioner might wish to hear from the interested parties."

Laskin, however, suggested the relatively closed nature of the proceedings may prevent the sort of delays that saw the Arar inquiry continue for 2 1/2 years. Much time was spent wrangling over whether certain information was too sensitive to disclose.

Laskin said a large amount of documentation is being amassed for the latest inquiry. "We're in the process of assembling the information we'll have to sift through."

He has some experience with national security matters, having acted for the now-defunct RCMP Security Service on behalf of the Solicitor General, and as one of the counsel for the Security Intelligence Review Committee, the watchdog over CSIS.

Laskin says he is looking forward to the task ahead.

"Obviously, the government has determined that these issues are worthy of the kind of consideration that this process can bring to bear."

© The Canadian Press 2007

Iacobucci Inquiry appoints members

I have sent emails to Day's office since January 11 with several followups including to NDP and Liberal justice critics. Only my own MP has responded and his office has never answered my questions. I asked when the inquiry would begin and if there would be a website as in the O'Connor inquiry. No answer is yet forthcoming. I wonder if the name of one of the legal firms Torys is any significance LOL

Attention News Editors:

Commissioner Frank Iacobucci appoints staff
OTTAWA, Feb. 16 /CNW Telbec/ - The Honourable Frank Iacobucci, who has
been appointed as Commissioner to conduct the Internal Inquiry into the
Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad
Abou-Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin, is pleased to announce the appointment of
certain senior members of the Inquiry's legal and administrative staff.
Mr. John B. Laskin will act as Lead Counsel. Admitted to the Bar in 1979,
Mr. Laskin is a senior partner at Torys LLP in Toronto, where he maintains a
wide-ranging litigation practice.
Mr. John A. Terry is appointed Co-Lead Counsel. Also a litigation partner
at Torys LLP, Mr. Terry's main areas of practice include international, public
and business law. He was called to the Bar in 1991.
Ms. Danielle Barot is appointed Counsel with primary responsibility for
managing the Inquiry's documentary evidence. Ms. Barot is a specialist in
criminal law and a partner at Schurman Longo Grenier in Montreal. She was
admitted to the Bar in 1971.
Ms. Nicole Viau-Cheney is appointed Director, Finance and Administration.
In that capacity, Ms. Viau-Cheney will be responsible for all administrative
and financial aspects of the Commission. She brings to the Inquiry the
experience of having served with several Commissions of Inquiry over the
years.
Ms. Francine Bastien will be responsible for Communications and Media
Relations. A native Montrealer and former Radio-Canada/CBC radio and
television journalist, Ms. Bastien served in a similar capacity with the Arar
Commission.
The Commissioner expects to make further appointments as the work of the
Inquiry proceeds.
The Commission expects to convene initial hearings shortly to deal with
certain preliminary matters, including applications for participation in the
Inquiry.

Established under Part I of the Inquiries Act by the Minister of Public
Safety, the Commissioner's mandate is to determine whether the detention of
these three individuals in Syria or Egypt resulted from actions of Canadian
officials, particularly in relation to the sharing of information with foreign
countries; those actions or the actions of Canadian consular officials were
deficient in these cases and whether any mistreatment of these three
individuals in Syria or Egypt resulted from deficiencies in the actions of
Canadian officials.



For further information: Media contact: Francine Bastien, (613)
947-7606, Cell.: (613) 299-6554, fbastien@bellnet.ca