International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group
15 novembre 2019
Open Letter to PM: Minority Government Must Act to Promote, Defend Civil Liberties
ICLMG 14/11/2019 - During the recent federal elections, there was very little discussion of national security and anti-terrorism laws, and none of it related to its impact on human rights and civil liberties.

On the eve of the opening of the 43rd parliament, though, there is an urgent need for action on several fronts, including:
  • Growing state surveillance;
  • Ongoing complicity in torture;
  • Secret evidence undermining the right to a fair trial and due process;
  • The continued use of the secret and rights-violating No Fly List;
  • The refusal to reform Canada’s flawed Extradition Act; and
  • Countering racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and all other forms of hate.

Today the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group sent the following open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, copied to all party leaders, outlining where the government must take action. Read more - Lire plus + Share on Facebook + Twitter + Instagram
Tim McSorley Talk on Civil Liberties at CCU 50th Anniversary Convention
CCU 10/11/2019 - In October 2019, the Confederation of Canadian Unions held its 50th Anniversary Convention in Ottawa. Tim McSorley of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group discussed human rights and civil liberties in Canada, how legislation by recent federal governments is affecting them, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and how so called "anti-terrorist" laws are leading to racism and division. Watch and share - Visionner et partager
Justice pour Hassan Diab: La BD
Le 14 novembre 2014, le Canadien Hassan Diab était extradé à tort vers la France. 5 ans plus tard, et 11 ans après son arrestation par la GRC, Hassan Diab est libre mais il n'a toujours pas obtenu justice.

Manifestations: Montréal va abroger le règlement P-6
La Presse 13/11/2019 - Le controversé règlement municipal P-6, adopté pour contrôler les manifestations étudiantes de 2012, sera officiellement abrogé lors du prochain conseil municipal, a annoncé mercredi matin la mairesse Valérie Plante.

« Je vous annonce aujourd’hui la décision d’abroger le règlement dans son ensemble », a déclaré Mme Plante lors de la réunion du comité exécutif mercredi matin. L’avis de motion sera déposé lors du prochain conseil municipal, lundi. Cette date n’a pas été choisie au hasard, a précisé la mairesse. Le 12  novembre 1969, a-t-elle rappelée, « l’ancêtre de P-6 a été adopté ». À l’époque du maire Jean Drapeau, le règlement 3926 avait été adopté dans une période socialement agitée pour interdire les rassemblements « qui mettent en danger la paix, la sécurité ou l’ordre public ».

Le règlement P-6, qui n’était plus appliqué par les policiers depuis 2016, sera abrogé et ne sera pas remplacé. « Il existe énormément d’outils réglementaires » pour s’assurer de la sécurité des citoyens, des manifestants et des policiers, a précisé en point de presse la responsable de la sécurité publique au comité exécutif, Rosannie Filato. Elle a énuméré le règlement municipal P-1 pour assurer de la sécurité des citoyens sur la voie publique, le Code de la sécurité routière pour prévenir les entraves sur le domaine public, ainsi que le Code criminel, concernant les actes comme le vandalisme ou les voies de fait.

En mai 2012, alors que les étudiants manifestaient depuis quelques semaines dans les rues de la ville, le conseil municipal adoptait le « Règlement modifiant le Règlement sur la prévention des troubles de la paix, de la sécurité et de l’ordre publics, et sur l’utilisation du domaine public (R.R.V.M., chapitre P-6) » pour y insérer de nouvelles contraintes à la tenue de manifestations. Désormais, il était interdit aux manifestants de se cacher le visage (par exemple, avec un masque ou une cagoule) et les organisateurs devaient soumettre à l’avance le trajet qui allait être emprunté. Read more - Lire plus
What will it take for the Government of Canada to stop characterizing the U.S. as a ‘safe’ place for refugees?
Amnesty Canada 08/11/2019 - The brief and frustrating answer: it’s unclear what it takes. Submissions in the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) challenge continued to be delivered from November 4-8th at the Federal Court in Toronto. Earlier this week, counsel for the applicants – representing Amnesty International, the Canadian Council for Refugees and the Canadian Council of Churches, and other individual litigants – provided a general overview of the requirements for a safe third country designation, why it is unlawful, and why the operation of the agreement violates the security and equality rights of STCA returnees.

At its core, the STCA is a responsibility-sharing agreement for the protection of refugees. By designating the U.S. as a ‘safe’ country, the law requires that Canada ensure that the U.S. continues to protect refugees in a way that aligns with international human rights law standards, and that the situation in the U.S. is continuously reviewed. In their submissions to Justice Ann Marie McDonald, counsel for the Government of Canada (the respondents) argued that STCA requirements have been met because Canada has conducted reviews of the U.S. based on an overall assessment of the situation and a “qualitative balancing”. But a balancing of what? Without getting too deep in the weeds of administrative law, the big take-away from the arguments put forward by the applicants is that the current review process has no measurable tipping point: Canada has provided no defined standard of how bad the situation in the U.S. needs to get in order for the U.S. to no longer be considered a ‘safe’ country under the STCA.

During his submissions, Mr. Jared Will (counsel for the applicants), considered the evidence that the government did review, including the mandatory detention of refugee claimants returned under the STCA, the separation of children from their parents at the border, and the shameful and inhumane detention conditions faced by all returnees, including children. Despite all the information in front of them – particularly as the situation went from bad to worse to unimaginable under President Trump’s administration – the Government of Canada still chose to maintain the status quo, refusing to acknowledge that the negative evidence has tipped the scales. On top of this, nothing has been done to monitor what actually happens when refugee claimants are returned to the U.S. under the STCA: refugee claimants are sent back, and no questions are asked about what becomes of them. As Mr. Will noted, the overall approach of the Government of Canada “can be described as see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”. Read more - Lire plus





Syrie: Ottawa accusé de ne rien faire pour les «orphelins du djihad»
La Presse 07/11/2019 - Les familles de trois fillettes dont les parents canadiens sont morts dans la Syrie du groupe armé État islamique se préparent à traverser la planète et même à mener des tests d’ADN en plein désert pour pouvoir les ramener au pays. Les proches des enfants accusent Ottawa de ne « rien faire pour les sauver ». Elles ont toutes les trois 4 ans. Elles sont nées dans la Syrie de l’EI. Et elles sont Canadiennes.

La première, Amira, est orpheline. Elle a été trouvée après la chute de Baghouz, dernier bastion de l’EI, en avril 2019 et elle a été emmenée au Camp Al Hol dans le nord de la Syrie. Elle y est enregistrée comme Canadienne. « Elle a été témoin de la mort de toute sa famille, y compris de ses trois cadets », raconte Alexandra Bain, directrice de l’organisme FAVE Canada, qui vient en aide aux familles concernées. « Amira a expliqué ce qu’elle avait vu en disant qu’ils s’étaient tous couchés. » Dans le camp, la fillette vit avec une femme dont même sa famille au Canada ne connaît pas l’identité. La femme a été en contact plusieurs fois avec les proches d’Amira et se dit prête à leur rendre l’enfant.

Le cas des deux autres fillettes est un peu différent. Leurs pères, deux Canadiens, dont un Québécois, sont morts en territoire occupé par l’EI. Leurs mères, des étrangères, se seraient vues déchues de leur nationalité par leur pays d’origine. « Elles espèrent envoyer leurs filles chez des parents au Canada. C’est mieux que les voir mourir dans les camps », dit Mme Bain. Des oncles et des tantes des trois enfants veulent se rendre en Syrie dans l’espoir d’accélérer une éventuelle opération de sauvetage. Leur mission a même reçu, selon Mme Bain, l’autorisation des forces kurdes d’entrer dans le camp. La récente offensive turque a retardé leur plan. « Nous avons essayé d’envoyer des équipes. Ce n’est pas facile d’entrer dans le nord de la Syrie. Il y a des moments où, à cause de la violence, nous ne pouvons pas nous y rendre. » [...]

On les appelle les « orphelins du djihad ». Des pays européens, dont la France, les Pays-Bas et la Belgique, en ont rapatrié de petits contingents. En juin, la France a ramené 12 enfants « orphelins ou isolés », a confirmé le Quai d’Orsay dans un communiqué. Cinq autres mineurs avaient été sauvés de la même manière quelques mois plus tôt. Selon l’avocat montréalais Stéphane Handfield, qui représente des enfants canadiens, Ottawa doit agir. Read more - Lire plus


The names of Palestinians killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza
MEE 13/11/2019 - After two days of escalating violence in the Gaza Strip, a ceasefire came into effect early on Thursday. Israel unleashed an air campaign against Gaza after it assassinated senior Islamic Jihad commander Bahaa Abu al-Atta and his wife on Tuesday morning. At least 34 Palestinians have been killed during Israel's assault and more than 100 injured. The Palestinian ministry of health said on Thursday morning that the dead included eight Palestinians from the same family who had been killed in their home by an Israeli air strike. Statistics for the casualties issued by the ministry showed that the 34 Palestinians killed included eight children and three women. The wounded numbered 111, including 46 children and 20 women. Read more - Lire plus




Abortions, IUDs and sexual humiliation: Muslim women who fled China for Kazakhstan recount ordeals
The Washington Post 05/10/2019 - The women have found refuge from Chinese authorities across the border in Kazakhstan, their ancestral homeland. But they remain haunted by the stories of abuse they carry with them. Some said that they were forced to undergo abortions in China’s Muslim-majority province of  Xinjiang , others that they had contraceptive devices implanted against their will while in detention. One reported being raped. Many said they were subjected to sexual humiliation, incidents that included being filmed in the shower and having their intimate parts rubbed with chile paste. The allegations come as China expands a years-long crackdown on its Muslim minority, which includes not only  Uighurs  but also  Kazakhs  and other ethnic groups. While the experiences described could not be independently verified, local rights groups and lawyers say they are common — and reveal a wider pattern of abuse directed specifically against women, aimed at curbing their ability to reproduce.

In December 2017, Gulzira Mogdyn, a 38-year-old ethnic Kazakh and Chinese citizen, was detained in Xinjiang after a visit to Kazakhstan because WhatsApp was found on her phone. She was placed under house arrest and examined by doctors at a nearby clinic, who discovered she was 10 weeks pregnant. Officials told her she was not allowed to have what would be her fourth child. The following month, Mogdyn said, doctors “cut my fetus out” without using anesthesia. She still suffers from complications. “Two humans were lost in this tragedy — my baby and me,” Mogdyn said during an interview on the outskirts of Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city. She received her Kazakh citizenship in July and says that has emboldened her to speak out. She is also pressing Beijing for a response: either financial compensation or, at the least, an apology. Others are still constrained. Read more - Lire plus

‘It’s Mutilation’: The Police in Chile Are Blinding Protesters
'Enormous Victory': US Judge Rules Suspicionless Searches of Travelers' Electronic Devices Unconstitutional
Common Dreams 12/11/2019 - In a development that the Electronic Frontier Foundation declared "an enormous victory for privacy," a federal judge in Boston ruled Tuesday that suspicionless searches of travelers' phones, laptops, and other electronic devices by government agents at U.S. ports of entry are unconstitutional. "This is a great day for travelers who now can cross the international border without fear that the government will, in the absence of any suspicion, ransack the extraordinarily sensitive information we all carry in our electronic devices," EFF senior staff attorney Sophia Cope said in a statement.

The lawsuit, Alasaad v. McAleenan , was filed by EFF, the national ACLU, and ACLU of Massachusetts on behalf of 10 U.S. citizens and one lawful permanent resident who had their devices searched without warrants. The suit named as defendants the Department of Homeland Security and two agencies it oversees—Customs and Border Protection as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Plaintiffs in the case include Sidd Bikkannavar, an optical engineer for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory living in California; Jeremy Dupin , a journalist living in Massachusetts; and Diane Maye , a college professor and former U.S. Air Force captain living in Florida.When the suit was filed in September 2017, Maye said that she "felt humiliated and violated" after she was detained for two hours at Miami International Airport upon her return to the United States from a vacation in Europe.

"I worried that border officers would read my email messages and texts, and look at my photos," Maye explained. "This was my life, and a border officer held it in the palm of his hand. I joined this lawsuit because I strongly believe the government shouldn't have the unfettered power to invade your privacy. Esha Bhandari, staff attorney with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, said Tuesday that "this ruling significantly advances Fourth Amendment protections for millions of international travelers who enter the United States every year." The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Bhandari added that "by putting an end to the government's ability to conduct suspicionless fishing expeditions, the court reaffirms that the border is not a lawless place and that we don't lose our privacy rights when we travel." Based on government data, CBP conducted more than 30,000 searches in fiscal year 2017. The privacy advocacy groups pointed out in their joint statement Tuesday that "the number of electronic device searches at U.S. ports of entry has increased significantly" in the past few years. Read more - Lire plus
Murtaza Hussain: Baghdadi Died, but the U.S. War on Terror Will Go on Forever
The Intercept 10/11/2019 - As a matter of principle, I try to restrain myself from celebrating the misfortunes of others. But nearly a decade ago, when I heard the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed in a nighttime U.S. military raid in Pakistan, I briefly allowed myself a moment of naive optimism. My hope was that the death of the Al Qaeda leader might be the beginning of the end of the “war on terrorism” — that strange, brutal global conflict that had defined our generation and already claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people worldwide.

Such hopes, it turned out, were far too optimistic. The killing of bin Laden did not usher in a better world. In the years since his death, the Middle East has become a far more violent place, marked by state collapse, ever more brutal wars, and the sinister growth of international terrorism. At the same time, Europe and the United States have turned inward, erecting physical and psychological barriers to insulate themselves against the chaos now consuming the region. We now face the very real specter of far-right governments arising in countries that had championed liberalism and social democracy just a generation earlier. As ugly as things looked in 2011, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that we may now be headed to much darker places.

I thought of bin Laden’s death last week after hearing the news that the U.S. military had killed another infamous terrorist, 49-year-old Islamic State leader Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri – better known by his nom de guerre Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Baghdadi’s death provided a moment of brief catharsis, particularly for his hundreds of thousands of mostly Iraqi and Syrian victims. But at home, the celebrations that followed his death were much more muted than those that we saw in 2011. There were no crowds outside the White House jubilantly celebrating the raid. President Donald Trump’s self-congratulatory speech appeared to engender little enthusiasm even among his own supporters. Personally, I felt none of the cautious optimism that had accompanied the news of bin Laden’s death. As it has long become clear to any observer, the war on terrorism has today transformed into a seemingly omnipotent, Frankenstein-like creation, capable of outliving any one individual or group. [...]

The group was defeated on the ground by a combined force of Arab and Kurdish military units and militias, many of which Giglio embedded with during the fighting. These troops were supported by a U.S.-led international coalition that pummeled cities held by ISIS with airstrikes and artillery barrages — attacks that are also alleged to have killed thousands of civilians . Despite loud self-congratulation by the coalition for its defeat of ISIS, the war may have been conducted in a manner as strategically self-defeating as the 2003 invasion of Iraq that deposed Saddam Hussein. A French military officer who fought with the anti-ISIS coalition later criticized the brutally indiscriminate way in which the war had been waged. “We have massively destroyed the infrastructure and given the population a disgusting image of what may be a Western-style liberation leaving behind the seeds of an imminent resurgence of a new adversary,” wrote Col. Francois-Regis Legrier in an article for France’s National Defense Review earlier this year, which was later removed from the site.

Even the rise of ISIS itself is strongly tied to U.S. actions since 2003 — yet another crisis of the global war on terror generated by the war itself. ISIS grew out of Al Qaeda in Iraq, an extremist outfit birthed in the chaos of the Iraq War that later rebranded itself as the Islamic State. While ISIS may be temporarily repressed at the moment, the spread of increasingly fanatical terrorist groups is just one of many disasters still plaguing the Middle East since the U.S. initiated its response to September 11th. “The consequences of the U.S. invasion are baked into the DNA of Iraq today. You can see it in the physical landscape of blast walls and security checkpoints, but in the people as well,” Giglio told me recently. “Everyone in Iraq has been marked by this unending violence and has lost relatives, colleagues and friends. We don’t know what ISIS will look like in the future, but the next iteration of this group will have the mark of three U.S. presidents.” Read more - Lire plus
Philippines: 'We are a humanitarian organization,' Oxfam stresses after AFP labels them terrorist front
Phil Star 06/11/2019 - International organization Oxfam stressed that it is a humanitarian organization that operates globally in response to the Department of National Defense's assertion that it is linked to "communist terrorist groups." In a statement, Oxfam said that they learned that the DND tagged its Philippine arm as a supposed front of local "communist terrorist groups" while its International and UK arm were branded as "foreign funding agencies wittingly or unwittingly providing funds" to "CTG front organizations." Oxfam stressed that it has been legally registered and has been working in the Philippines for more than 30 years. It added that it works in "accordance with humanitarian principles, international law and the laws of donor governments and have stringent systems in place to ensure our aid gets to the people who need it most."

Maj. Gen. Reuben Basiao, Armed Force of the Philippines deputy chief of staff for intelligence, listed 18 organizations, including Oxfam and Gabriela Women’s Party, that he claimed are fronts of communist rebels. Basiao made the claim at a briefing at the House of Representatives on updates on the AFP's modernization program. [...] Rep. Arlene Brosas (Gabriela Women’s Party) also slammed the AFP's accusation of her group as a "clear attempt to criminalize dissent and weaponize the law. The Congress should not allow itself to be a platform for lies. Gabriela is here because we participate with the government," Brosas said in Filipino. Gabriela Women’s Party won a seat in the 18th Congress in the 2019 midterm elections but is one of the 18 organizations listed by the AFP. It used to be part of the admnistration's supermajority at the House until leaving with other party-lists of the Makabayan bloc in September 2017 over disagreements with the Duterte administration's policies. Brosas stressed that Gabriela is not an armed group and being an activist in the country is not a crime.

Last April, Makabayan  filed a complaint before the Commission on Elections accusing military officials of red-tagging and campaigning against its party-list groups.
Aspirants from Makabayan particularly focused on a post on the official Facebook page of the Civil Relations Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines titled “Junk CPP-NPA-NDF HOUSE FRONTS.” Red-tagging is defined by Philippine jurisprudence as “the act of labelling, branding, naming and accusing individuals and/or organizations of being left-leaning, subversives, communists or terrorists (used as) a strategy... by State agents, particularly law enforcement agencies and the military, against those perceived to be ‘threats’ or ‘enemies of the State.’” Members of several rights groups and the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers sought relief from the Court of Appeals against red-tagging as they said that their rights to life, liberty and security have been violated by “persistent threats and harassment, and red-tagging." The court junked their pleas. Read more - Lire plus

EXCLUSIVE: This Is How the U.S. Military’s Massive Facial Recognition System Works
One Zero 06/11/2019 - ver the last 15 years, the United States military has developed a new addition to its arsenal. The weapon is deployed around the world, largely invisible, and grows more powerful by the day. That weapon is a vast database, packed with millions of images of faces, irises, fingerprints, and DNA data — a biometric dragnet of anyone who has come in contact with the U.S. military abroad. The 7.4 million identities in the database range from suspected terrorists in active military zones to allied soldiers training with U.S. forces. “Denying our adversaries anonymity allows us to focus our lethality. It’s like ripping the camouflage netting off the enemy ammunition dump,” wrote Glenn Krizay, director of the Defense Forensics and Biometrics Agency, in notes obtained by OneZero. The Defense Forensics and Biometrics Agency (DFBA) is tasked with overseeing the database, known officially as the Automated Biometric Information System (ABIS).

DFBA and its ABIS database have received little scrutiny or press given the central role they play in U.S. military’s intelligence operations. But a newly obtained presentation and notes written by the DFBA’s director, Krizay, reveals how the organization functions and how biometric identification has been used to identify non-U.S. citizens on the battlefield thousands of times in the first half of 2019 alone. ABIS also allows military branches to flag individuals of interest, putting them on a so-called “Biometrically Enabled Watch List” (BEWL). Once flagged, these individuals can be identified through surveillance systems on battlefields, near borders around the world, and on military bases.

The presentation also sheds light on how military, state, and local law enforcement biometrics systems are linked. According to Krizay’s presentation, ABIS is connected to the FBI’s biometric database, which is in turn connected to databases used by state and local law enforcement. Ultimately, that means that the U.S. military can readily search against biometric data of U.S. citizens and cataloged non-citizens. The DFBA is also currently working to connect its data to the Department of Homeland Security’s biometric database. The network will ultimately amount to a global surveillance system. In his notes, Krizay outlines a potential scenario in which data from a suspect in Detroit would be run against data collected from “some mountaintop in Asia.” Read more - Lire plus


Australia: Privacy Commissioner blasts 'obnoxious, fundamentally flawed' anti-terror law
News Hub 12/11/2019 - The Privacy Commissioner is lashing out at a proposed law that would impose restrictions on returning New Zealanders involved in terrorism, describing it as "obnoxious". The Foreign Affairs Committee heard from submitters on Tuesday on the Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill, also known as the "Mark Taylor law". 

The second submitter, Privacy Commissioner John Edwards did not hold back, describing the legislation as "obnoxious", "fundamentally flawed", and an "affront to the principles of due process". It is my deep belief that this is an obnoxious piece of legislation and should not proceed," Edwards, whose role is to review laws that could impact privacy, told the committee. He also described the proposed law as an "extraordinary and unprecedented intrusion on individuals' rights, privacy and liberty", in that people could have control orders imposed on them without sufficient evidence. He implored the importance of "proof beyond reasonable doubt" in New Zealand's criminal justice system, pointing to a system whereby cases against individuals begin when the police or other prosecutor build a case.
 
"We have a system of criminal law of which terrorism offences are part, which requires the prosecution to bring their case to the criminal court to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused has committed the act. "This proposal says we think you've committed a criminal act, but we can't prove it, so we need to lower the standard of proof." The proposed law would give the police the ability to apply to the High Court to impose control orders, or restrictions, on New Zealanders suspected of engaging in terrorism overseas - ultimately leaving it up to a judge. Edwards suggested people's rights could be trampled on under the new law because it's "hard to gather evidence from battlefields in Syria and put together a prosecution file". Read more - Lire plus

Statement of Civil Liberties Concerns About Monitoring of Social Media by Law Enforcement
Brennan Centre for Justice 06/11/2019 - On November 6, the Brennan Center, ACLU of Northern California, Free Press, and MediaJustice, together with 51 other civil society organizations, released a statement on civil rights concerns about monitoring of social media by law enforcement. The statement sets out six harmful impacts from social media surveillance that lawmakers and the public must take into account in any discussion about surveillance of social media users, including the chilling effect on First Amendment-protected activities, disparate impact on marginalized communities, lack of public input or approval, threats to privacy, heightened risks arising from undercover activity online, and the elevated stakes of using social media for criminal justice purposes. Social media has proven to be an invaluable tool for activists to connect and organize online. Powerful platforms have allowed movements like #BlackLivesMatter, #Not1More, and #MeToo to flourish and influence the national dialogue on issues that affect all Americans, including the most vulnerable people in the United States.

But these services have also provided law enforcement with unprecedented power to monitor these growing movements and the people they represent. Often covert and conducted without oversight, social media surveillance gives law enforcement
agencies the ability to monitor and archive information on millions of people’s activities. This includes tracking people’s political actions, a practice that endangers activists and undermines our First Amendment rights to speech and association. This is particularly concerning given repeated recent reports of targeting and surveillance of Black protesters and activists, family separation protestors, and border groups by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. At the same time, few law enforcement agencies have publicly available policies showing how they use social media data on the communities they are supposed to protect. As with other surveillance in the United States, it appears that social media monitoring has been focused disproportionately on communities of color and other marginalized communities. These monitoring tactics and law enforcement secrecy lead to civil rights and civil liberties harms.

Here are six of the harmful impacts from social media surveillance that lawmakers and the public must take into account in any discussion about surveillance of social media users: 1. Social Media Monitoring Can Have a Chilling Effect on First Amendment-Protected Activities; 2. Social Media Monitoring Disproportionately Impacts Communities of Color and Other Marginalized Communities; 3. Police are Monitoring Social Media without the Public’s Input or Approval; 4. Suspicionless Monitoring of Individuals Threatens Privacy and Allows Invasive and Persistent Tracking; 5. Fake Accounts and Other Undercover Law Enforcement Activity Pose Particular Threats; 6. Social Media Can Be Highly Context-Dependent, Raising the Stakes When it is Used for Criminal Justice Purposes. Read more - Lire more
UK breaching international law over torture ‘cover-up’, UN expert warns
Independent 11/10/2019 - A UN special expert has formally warned the UK its refusal to launch a judicial inquiry into torture and rendition breaches international law, The Independent can reveal. UN special rapporteur for torture Nils Melzer accused the British government of covering up its involvement in the practices post-9/11, saying he suspects a cover-up organised to protect figures who are “very high up”. He has written a private “intervention” letter to the foreign secretary challenging the refusal to investigate “credible” claims that UK officials have been involved in torture.

He told this newspaper it appears the government has engaged in a conscious policy of cooperating with torture since 9/11 , saying it is “impossible” the practice was not approved or at least tolerated by top officials. The letter says the UK government must hold a judicial inquiry and prosecute government officials found to be responsible, as it is bound by the UN Convention Against Torture to criminalise all acts of torture whenever there are credible grounds. Such grounds were established by evidence published by Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) in 2018 which showed British intelligence agencies have been involved in torture and rendition cases since 9/11, the letter said. The interesting question is not whether the UK was involved in torture because you already have the evidence.

You already have the Intelligence and Security Committee saying so,” Melzer told The Independent. “You [the UK government] have a legal obligation to investigate and to prosecute.” Mr Melzer, who is an expert in international law and has been deputy head of delegation at the International Committee of the Red Cross, said the government’s refusal to hold an inquiry is a “scandalous” breach of the law and a move towards “disabling democracy.” He is concerned the government is blocking the judicial investigation to protect senior officials who he believes may have authorised the involvement. Read more - Lire plus
What we've been up to!
What we've been up to so far and what's to come for the second half of 2019!
ICLMG - 2019 has been very busy so far, and it's not looking to slow down for the second half of the year!

As I write these lines, we are continuing to work on, among other things:

  • The immediate public release of the report from Murray Segal's external review of the case of Hassan Diab, and the launch of public inquiry into Dr. Diab's case and the Extradition Act overall.

  • Stopping Mohamed Harkat's deportation to torture and getting the Public Safety minister to allow him to stay in Canada.

  • Obtaining a strong and effective review mechanism for the Canada Border Services Agency, and more restrictions on the collection of Canadians' data by military intelligence.

  • The repeal of the Canadian No Fly List, as well as putting a stop to the use of the US No Fly List by air carriers in Canada for flights that do not fly over the US, let alone land there.

  • An information card detailing how the different federal parties have voted on national security legislation since 2001, and calling on federal parties to commit to protecting human rights and civil liberties in the context of national security. Campaign coming soon!
ACTIONS & EVENTS
Memorial for Michele: End Femicide, Reform Extradition Act NOW!
Monday, November 25, 2019 at 12 PM – 1 PM
Meet at the Justice Department Headquarters, Sparks Street Mall, East of Lyon

As we gather to remember and honour Michele’s life – one of her daughters writes Michele was a warrior for them who saved their lives – we also will reflect on the systemic abuses that led to her death in the notorious Leclerc prison and demand three things:

1. An independent public inquiry into Abuses Committed under Canada’s Extradition Act, examining the cases of Michele Messina (aka MM), Dr. Hassan Diab, and numerous other individuals whose lives and families have been ruined by one of the most unfair processes in Canadian law. Legislative action to bring the extradition Act in line with international and domestic human rights standards is also desperately needed.

2. Immediate steps to develop and implement a United Nations-mandated National Action Plan to End Violence Against Women and Girls.

3. Immediate action on the call from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls for the creation of a national plan to address violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people.
Canada’s Extradition Act is in urgent need of reform. A recent “external review” of Dr. Hassan Diab’s extradition commissioned by the Minister of Justice does nothing to prevent future injustices like those suffered by Hassan. But we are not giving up!
Here's what you can do:

1) Please write to Prime Minister Trudeau to demand an independent public inquiry into the extradition case of Hassan, and reform of Canada’s Extradition Act. You can send a message to Mr. Trudeau from the following web page: https://iclmg.ca/diab-action

2) Please call PM Trudeau ’s office at (613) 992-4211, and reiterate your message. Click on the take action button for a sample message. Thank you! Version française ici
***Please mention Michele (MM) in your emails and calls. She fought against extradition to the US for 8 years. Her "crime"? Saving her children from a violent father. After the Supreme Court recently refused to hear her case, she was found dead in her cell on November 5, 2019. This tragedy could have been avoided if the extradition law had been reformed and Justice Ministers had acted. This should never happen again. Facebook 1 + Facebook 2 + Radio-Canada + CBC
Send a letter opposing cameras in the ByWard Market
Send a letter in support of CAMS Ottawa's response to Mayor Watson. While we share concerns about ongoing violence in the Market, installing surveillance cameras is not an appropriate solution. The very premise that CCTV can deter violent crime is highly doubtful. Video surveillance also raise significant concerns regarding the treatment of marginalized members of our community. We urge you to take the above problems and the following evidence into consideration and reconsider implementing such an ineffective, costly, and intrusive system.
Your phone is not safe at the border
Canada’s border agents can search your phone and laptop at borders and airports, including looking through your private photos, personal messages, and call history.

These ‘digital strip searches’ are allowed because our laws are incredibly out of date. But politicians are refusing to update them for our digital age.

Fight back with us: demand updated laws , learn more about your rights, and make a complaint if your privacy has been violated at the border.
Stop CSIS from targeting everyday citizens & community groups
A recent report revealed that CSIS, Canada’s spy agency, collected over 8,000 pages of documents, spying on citizens like you, people who exercise their democratic rights by attending a community meeting at a local church or taking peaceful action for what they believe in. And CSIS shared this info with Big Oil corporations.

Sign this petition to tell the govt to stop using taxpayer money to unconstitutionally spy on Canadians part of peaceful community groups.
Stop Facial Recognition in Canada
Facial recognition is invasive, biased and unreliable. But Canadian agencies and law enforcement have started using the tech despite the huge controversies.
Canada’s out-of-date privacy laws don’t yet cover facial recognition tech, leaving our government free to experiment on us with no oversight or regulations. We need to slam the brakes on the spread of this dangerous technology before it’s too late. Demand a moratorium on the use of facial recognition technologies and a full review of our privacy laws — before it becomes entrenched as a surveillance method in Canada.
Release Yasser Albaz from arbitrary detention in Egypt
On February 18, 2019, my dad, Yasser Albaz, was stopped at Cairo airport, his Canadian passport was confiscated, and he was kidnapped by Egyptian State Security. My dad remains in the notorious Torah prison where he is forced to sleep on cold, concrete floor. He has not been charged and continues to receive 15-day extensions to his arbitrary detention.

Sign to tell PM Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland to do everything in their power to bring this Canadian citizen home to his family.
Canada must act to end Islamophobia in Xinjiang, China
There is credible evidence that up to one million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other mainly Muslim groups in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region are being detained in secret internment camps. Detainees are brainwashed, tortured and are forced to renounce their religion and culture.


And send a message to Chrystia Freeland demanding that Canada actively support an independent and unrestricted international fact-finding initiative to Xinjiang.
Free Ahmed Mansoor
Ahmed is an award winning human rights defender and blogger. The UAE has said Ahmed had been arrested for using his social media accounts to “publish false information that damages the country’s reputation” and to “spread hatred and sectarianism”. Right now, Ahmed is being held in solitary confinement and has not had access to a lawyer, an d he is on hunger strike. Act now and demand that the UAE release Ahmed immediately and unconditionally. TWITTER ACTION
All-in-one action page: Stop Mohamed Harkat's Deportation to Torture
Call PM Trudeau, write a letter to Public Safety Minister & your MP, and sign Sophie Harkat's petition to stop the deportation of Moe Harkat.

If sent back to Algeria, Moe faces detention, torture and death.

No one should be deported to torture. Ever.
OPP must be held accountable for violent repression of land defenders
The terrifying incident happened in April 2008 during a land occupation and road blockades by members of Tyendinaga Mohawk Nation, near Belleville, Ontario. Although the road blockades involved only a small number of community members – none of whom were armed -- the Ontario Provincial Police sent more than 200 officers, including the Tactics and Rescue Unit (TRU), tasked with responding to “the most serious threats to peace and order”. The UN Committee against Torture called on Canada to launch a thorough and impartial review to ensure accountability.
Five Eyes: Save encryption
Ministers from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the U.S. have gone public with their plans for a huge attack on our personal security.

They want to force companies to crush the encryption that protects our private data and messages. But ordinary people need and use encryption every day, in everything from online banking to personal messaging in apps like WhatsApp.

Tell ministers to stop their attacks, and commit to protecting our privacy and security.
Call on Justin Trudeau to ensure justice for Abousfian Abdelrazik
In September 2003, Canadian citizen Abousfian Abdelrazik was arrested in Sudan, while he was back in the country visiting his ailing mother. Over the next three years he was imprisoned for nearly 20 months and was held under house arrest for 12 months. He was denied a lawyer, and was never charged or brought before a judge. During that time he was badly tortured in three different prisons. Not only did Canada fail to take steps to protect him, CSIS officials frequently obstructed efforts to secure his release.
Make January 29 a National Day
On Jan. 29, 2017, a lone gunman entered a mosque in Quebec City and opened fire on dozens of Muslim-Canadian worshipers. By the time the shooting had ended, six had been tragically killed, and 19 more injured. 

 W e, citizens and residents of Canada, call on the government of Canada to henceforth designate January 29th as a National Day of Remembrance and Action on Islamophobia and other forms of religious discrimination or a National Day of Action against Hate and Intolerance .
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Les opinions exprimées ne reflètent pas nécessairement les positions de la CSILC - The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the positions of ICLMG.
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