A commission investigating Canada’s role in the detention of three Arab-Canadians who say they were tortured in Syria has been so secretive that the men were denied due process, Amnesty International said on Monday.
Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty International’s Canadian chapter, said the federal government’s closed-door inquiry into torture allegations made by Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati and Muayyed Nureddin, cannot be considered fair or just.
“This is an inquiry that has extended secrecy to everything, not just the national security concerns. We’re used to private legal proceedings when national security is at stake. But here it went too far, excluding the suspects and public from the proceedings in their entirety,” Neve said from his office in Ottawa.
A report on the inquiry’s findings was released to the Privy Council Office, which advises the prime minister, on Monday, but it was not clear when the government would make the findings public.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper named former Canadian Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci in December to investigate allegations by Almalki, El Maati and Nureddin that they were tortured in Syria after traveling there separately on personal business between 2001 to 2003. None has been charged with a crime.
The three say they believe the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or intelligence officials tipped off foreign intelligence agencies about their travel plans to the Middle East and provided questions to their captors. The men want to know whether the Canadian government orchestrated their overseas interrogations in cooperation with foreign allies.
The commission’s probe was carried out almost entirely out of the public eye, which means that the men and their lawyers have had no chance to see evidence filed in the proceedings or to attend hearings and interviews with Canadian officials. Lawyers were allowed to see and file responses to a draft narrative of facts compiled by the commission, but were forbidden to share the information with their clients.
“How can we trust the findings of an inquiry that has heard only one side of the story?” asked El Maati, who was arrested in November 2001 when he flew to Syria to celebrate his wedding.
John Laskin, chief counsel for the inquiry, said last week the terms of reference drawn up by the government left Iacobucci no choice but to hear most of the evidence in private for national security reasons.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
UNSCHEDULED VISIT: ‘It’s a very bulky new neighbor, but it will soon go away,’ said Johan Helberg of the 135m container ship that run aground near his house A man in Norway awoke early on Thursday to discover a huge container ship had run aground a stone’s throw from his fjord-side house — and he had slept through the commotion. For an as-yet unknown reason, the 135m NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s house in a fjord near Trondheim in central Norway. Helberg only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone. “The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television
RSS