International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group
December 7, 2018
Two Minutes Against Torture: Stop Moe Harkat's Deportation!
ICLMG 05/12/2018 - December 10th is International Human Rights Day. Ironically, it was also on this day, in 2002, that Mohamed Harkat was arrested. He continues to be persecuted by the Canadian state, and has never been charged with, let alone convicted of a crime, 16 years later. He now faces deportation to torture in Algeria. Please take two minutes to make a call and send a letter to PM Trudeau to end the illegal and immoral deportation to torture proceedings against Ottawa refugee Moe Harkat. 1. Call the PM: Let’s flood the lines to call for an end to Moe Harkat’s deportation and remind Justin Trudeau of his promise to oppose torture! You can reach the Prime Minister’s office at 613-992-4211. Here is a suggested message you can use: "Hello Prime Minister Trudeau. I'm calling about the case of Mohamed Harkat. He is a refugee in Canada facing deportation to torture in Algeria. Mr. Trudeau, you have said no one should ever be tortured. That should be true for Moe, too. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale has the power today to allow Moe to stay in Canada. Please speak with Minister Goodale, live up to your word, and make the right decision: let Moe Harkat stay in Canada. Thank you." If you’re comfortable, please leave your name and where you are calling from to show that we have support from across the country! 2. Send a letter: Once you have made your call, please visit our website to send a letter to your own MP, the PM and federal ministers, asking them to act now. We need all MPs to know that the pressure is on to oppose torture and to keep Moe in Canada. Facebook event - Évènement Facebook

This is a dark day for press freedom: Vice editorial response to Supreme Court of Canada ruling
Vice 30/11/2018 - We thought about starting this editorial with a defiant "journalism is under attack" statement. And that's true. But what we're also feeling today is a profound sense of disappointment—that our society has failed to recognize the importance of a free, and independent press. This morning the Supreme Court of Canada  ruled against VICE Canada  and VICE national security reporter Ben Makuch, siding with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s demand to access Makuch’s notes relating to a series of interviews he conducted with an alleged ISIS member in 2014. Prosecutors for Canada’s national police force argued they needed the notes to build a case against Farah Shirdon, a Calgary man who allegedly joined ISIS in Iraq and Syria in 2014. The US military says he was killed in an airstrike in 2015. Lawyers for VICE Canada argued unsuccessfully through three levels of court that the RCMP is fishing for information and is effectively forcing a journalist to be an agent of the state. With this court decision hanging in the balance for years, Makuch has continued to produce fearless and important journalism on sensitive and often dangerous topics. Today’s decision will no doubt have a chilling effect on both sources, who may be reluctant to talk to reporters, and on journalists themselves, who could be less inclined to report on sensitive issues. While our lawyers lost, we strongly believe that the journalism—which is already under attack across the globe—needs to be free from state intervention. Read more - Lire plus 
Government document calls Unist’ot’en leader ‘aboriginal extremist’
APTN 03/12/2018 - Hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation say their territory and sovereignty are under attack by a pipeline company that’s turning to the courts for help in building a pipeline through unceded Wet’suwet’en lands. But federal government documents obtained by APTN News reveal the odds may already be stacked against the Wet’suwet’en, and in particular the Unist’ot’en House of the Gilseyhu Clan, which the government regards as a risk to Canada’s “national interest” and one of its leaders an “aboriginal extremist”. The documents, dated April 1, 2015 and marked “SECRET”, also reveal the government’s concern that ending the years-long Unist’ot’en resistance to pipeline development through their territory could trigger nationwide Indigenous-led protests. Last week Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd., a subsidiary of Calgary-based energy company TransCanada, filed for an injunction with the Supreme Court of B.C. against the Unist’ot’en, whose members reoccupied parts of their traditional territory eight years ago. The Unist’ot’en, who say they have the full support of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, have until Dec. 10 to respond to the application. If they don’t evacuate the area they’re occupying, the courts could compel police to remove them by force. The documents obtained by APTN come from the Government Operations Centre (GOC), an office of the Department of Public Safety that compiles information from other departments and police and intelligence agencies to identify potential threats to what the government regards as Canada’s national interest. The 12-page report assesses the Unist’ot’en’s risk to the national interest as “Medium-Low”. A section titled “Impact on the National Interest” appears to offer details on this conclusion but is entirely redacted. The report contains no expressed concern for the Unist’ot’en or discussion around whether the potential resource development on their territory poses a risk to their Indigenous rights. The Unist’ot’en say the person referred to in the government document is not an extremist, but a hereditary chief. They suspect Canada and the RCMP will try to portray them as potentially violent and as criminals if police are compelled by the provincial supreme court to remove the Unist’ot’en from their land. Read more - Lire plus 
UN Special Rapporteur: ‘Counter-terrorism is devouring international law’
CIVICUS 05/12/2018 - CIVICUS speaks to Agnes Callamard, United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, about her latest report,  Saving lives is not a crime , which goes beyond documenting attacks on civil society to show how closing civic space also affects people who need life-saving help. Q: Your latest report presented to the UN General Assembly is titled  Saving lives is not a crime . Why did you choose this topic as the theme? A: This particular report initially grew out of outrage. Outrage over the repeated examples that I came across of people acting in solidarity with others and being threatened with legal action, such as in Europe and the USA in the context of anti-migration policies. Outrage as well over the criminalisation of humanitarian organisations and assistance because of the counter-terrorism and sanctions regime. So, outrage is the initial driver for this particular report. My subsequent research into empirical evidence and international law applicable to these situations showed that governments were violating their obligations to protect the right to life whenever they prevented or criminalised people from intervening in situations characterised by or leading to arbitrary killings or deprivation of life. Q: In which areas did you find the most direct examples of such actions leading to deprivation of life? A: The greatest direct impact I found was on migrants at borders, whether in the Mediterranean or in desert areas. It’s very clear in the case of the Mediterranean that the number of refugees and migrants killed or murdered has increased due to the fact that there are no longer any humanitarian actors engaged in search and rescue of those who are taking the risk of crossing the sea. The data is not so clear in the case of the border between Mexico and the USA, but one can only extrapolate that if people are prevented from dropping food and water in desert areas, it’s likely that someone will lose their life as a result of not being able to find these life-saving resources. Another example is related to counter-terrorism. Security Council resolutions and national laws on counter-terrorism have led to a significant decrease in humanitarian aid for critically endangered populations. For example, funding to humanitarian organisations operating in Somalia declined by half between 2008 and 2011, and it is estimated that half a million people died in the famine of 2011. Read more - Lire plus
COE Commissioner for Human Rights: Misuse of anti-terror legislation threatens free expression
Council of Europe 29/11/2018 - My predecessors have for instance repeatedly warned against the dangers, arbitrariness and abuses of anti-terrorism laws to stifle freedom of expression in Turkey, where several provisions of the Turkish Criminal Code relating to terrorism and the Anti-Terrorism Law continue to generate some of the most serious violations of freedom of expression in the country. They had notably observed that in many instances the legitimate exercise of freedom of expression had been criminalised as propaganda for terrorism or as proof of membership of terrorist organisations, notably in cases where no other material evidence exists of any link with a terrorist organisation and in the absence of any call or apology for violence. For example, a petition signed by academics calling for the end of violence in south-eastern Turkey continues to result in many terrorism-related sentences being handed down by Turkish courts. In a Memorandum  on freedom of expression and media freedom in Turkey published last year, my predecessor expressed once more concerns at the extensive use of crimes relating to terrorism and the concept of “incitement to violence”, which was systematically interpreted in a non human-rights-compliant manner. [...] The United Kingdom also belongs to the numerous states that have taken or are about to take measures criminalising expression in the name of national security. In a recent  alert submitted to the Council of Europe Platform, media freedom advocates raised alarm over the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Bill arguing that it will have a significant negative impact on media freedom in addition to other freedoms. The Bill would notably criminalise watching online content that is likely to be helpful for terrorism, without a terrorist intent being required, a provision which might impede the work of investigative journalists and academics. The UN  Special Rapporteur  on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism has also criticised portions of the Bill as disproportionately broad or invasive. Secondly, legislation aimed at countering terrorism and extremist violence is frequently adopted following accelerated procedures and/or in the direct aftermath of terrorist attacks marked by shock, anxiety, a sense of emergency and of a necessary united front against the threat, leaving little space for thorough and peaceful discussions on the human rights impact and safeguards. This also increases the risks of misuse either for political or for what could be called ‘populist’ reasons, to send a signal to the population that the authorities are strong on the counterterrorism front and do their utmost to prevent terrorist attacks. Finally, by curtailing legitimate political debate, this response plays into the hands of the terrorists by installing an atmosphere of fear among society. Read more - Lire plus
U.S. Lethal Operations in Somalia Are On the Rise. But Are They Effective?
Just Security 06/12/2018 - Since taking office, the Trump Administration has dramatically increased lethal strikes in Somalia. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has carried out more than 30 strikes in each of 2017 and 2018, more than twice the previous highest total during the Obama presidency. As part of a recent series of strikes in Somalia, on Nov. 20, the U.S. military conducted a “planned and deliberate” airstrike that the U.S. military  claimed  killed as many as 27 members of al-Shabaab. AFRICOM said, as it has in numerous cases, that the operation did not kill or injure any civilians. Such claims require greater scrutiny in the wake of repeated allegations of civilian casualties in Somalia by U.S. and U.S.-backed Somali forces in the past two years. The impact on the ground in Somalia also raises serious questions about the effectiveness of this approach and whether the United States would be better served by exploring alternatives. Take, for example, two well-documented attacks in  August 2017  and  May 2018 . Local farmers  accused  Somali Special Forces, who were accompanied by U.S. forces, of killing innocent civilians. In the past year alone,  reports of alleged civilian harm were accompanied by  claims  of damage to homes, agricultural infrastructure, and livestock. In other cases, reporters have suggested that intelligence failures in operations have not only led to civilian harm (see  here  and  here ) but also indicate that U.S.-led forces may not be doing all they can to avoid killing and wounding civilians. A further concern is whether U.S. airstrikes and lethal operations in Somalia are an effective or even a wise strategy, given al-Shabaab’s resilience to counterterrorism activities. The U.S. has been carrying out covert  operations in Somalia  since at least 2001. [...] How has al-Shabaab proven to be so resilient? After each alleged civilian casualty, the group has been able to capitalize on community outrage to recruit more fighters by spreading messages critiquing the Somali government and foreign forces. Al-Shabaab, which means “The Youth,” has been able to target disaffected young Somalis, who feel restless and lacking in purpose as a  result  of high levels of unemployment and an absence of educational opportunities. Others have been  alienated  from their communities over suspicions that most young men must be affiliated with al-Shabaab. Read more - Lire plus
Canadian woman continues to fight to obtain a passport
rabble.ca 26/11/2018 - In the fall of 2012, 20-year-old Damian Clairmont of Calgary received a new Canadian passport. He received it despite the fact the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) had been monitoring him and knew he intended to fly to Turkey and then go into Syria to join an armed extremist organization, according to information his mother, Christianne Boudreau, was told by CSIS agents. In sharp contrast, in the spring of 2016, the Canadian government forced Boudreau to surrender her Canadian passport. Unlike her son, who had been indoctrinated then recruited to join a terrorist group, since her son’s death, Boudreau has worked with other parents internationally to create and promote educational programs to counter extremism. Dr. Daniel Koehler, director of the German Institute on Radicalization and De-Radicalization Studies, described her role: “Christianne Boudreau was one of the first mothers to speak out publicly against violent radicalization with her own painful personal experience of losing her son Damian. Together with Christianne, I built up a network of affected parents around the world ­– the Mothers for Life Network, which currently includes about 150 families from 11 countries. It is the only international parental self-help group addressing the needs of those parents. I also trained Christianne to be a family counsellor to help other parents of children undergoing violent radicalization.” [...] After Damian’s death, Boudreau said she thought CSIS had some responsibility for his actions and death. In May 2014, she wrote a letter to CSIS: “We, as a family, have a right to know what has happened, and how our system has failed us.” She described her efforts to get answers, how a CSIS agent had asked her to stop speaking out and asking questions. Finally, almost six months later, CSIS director Michel Coulombe responded to her inquiries. Coulombe did not answer her specific questions, yet concluded that “the service acted professionally and within its legislated mandate.” Regarding the warning of a CSIS agent, Coulombe evaded the issue, saying: “We have found no indication of an attempt to interfere in your relationship with other parties.” [...] Despite the CSIS subterfuge and request that she not speak publicly about the matter, Boudreau continued her work reaching out to other families, speaking out against radical extremism and violence. Fifteen months later, in February 2016, Citizenship and Immigration Canada acted in a way that definitely restricted and interfered with “her relationship with other parties.” While Boudreau and her other son, Lucas, were visiting family in France, the Canadian government ordered her to surrender her Canadian passport. Boudreau and her son were stuck in France, dependent on the generosity of family, for the next 18 months. Read more - Lire plus
Saudi friend of Khashoggi living in Canada thinks their texts led to journalist's killing
National Post 03/12/2018 - A Saudi dissident has filed a lawsuit against an Israeli surveillance company, claiming its sophisticated spyware targeted him and helped lead to the killing of his friend, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The suit, filed in a Tel Aviv court on Sunday, follows others previously filed against the company. But because of the dissident’s ties to Khashoggi and his high-profile killing Oct. 2 at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, it is likely to shine a greater spotlight on the Israeli company and the Israeli government, which licenses the export of the surveillance technology. According to the lawsuit, Omar Abdulaziz, a sharp critic on social media of the Saudi royals and a resident of Montreal where he has received asylum, said he was friends with Khashoggi and worked with him on a project meant to rein in pro-monarchy Saudi trolls. CNN reports that the correspondence between Abdulaziz and Khashoggi included texts, photos, videos and voice notes. Khashoggi referred to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a “beast” and suggested “oppression (would) reach even those who are cheering him.” Read more - Lire plus 




For China, Islam is a 'mental illness' that needs to be 'cured'
Al Jazeera 28/11/2018 - Abdulla* goes to bed every night dreading that knock on the door, a knock he has heard in recurrent nightmares and in stories from neighbours. He expects it can come at any moment. He is an ethnic Uighur and has always called Xinjiang his home. His forefathers lived and toiled atop this land for centuries, which the nascent communist Chinese government annexed in 1949. He is a father of two, a son and a daughter, and a devout Muslim - cautiously performing his five prayers every day behind the veil of secrecy his home temporarily offers him. In the past months, several of his friends and colleagues have heard that dreaded knock on their doors and in the quiet of the night, disappeared with no trace or warning. Everybody, including Abdulla, knows where they have been taken and kept. But nobody knows for how long they will be held, nor do they know if they'll ever come back home. Most are yet to return, and those who have returned are shells of their former selves, neighbourhood ghosts, warning others of what looms around the corner for Uighurs refusing to disavow Islam. In August, a United Nations human rights panel  reported  that nearly 1.1 million Uighur Muslims were being held in concentration camps in Xinjiang - the autonomous region in western China, home to approximately 11 million Uighurs. Gay McDougall, who sits on the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, claimed that the imprisoned population could be as high as 2 million. Notwithstanding the estimates, the number of Uighur Muslims being arrested, uprooted from their families and lives, and imprisoned in concentration camps - for no other reason than being Uighur and Muslim - is rising with each passing day. Shortly after the UN broke the news of the concentration camps, Sigal Samuel of The Atlantic reported  that inmates were "forced to renounce Islam, criticize their own Islamic beliefs and those of fellow inmates, and recite Communist Party propaganda songs for hours each day." Male inmates were compelled to shave their beards and were force-fed pork and alcohol - which Muslims are forbidden from consuming. These concentration camps, which hold more than 10 times the number of Japanese citizens and residents the US government locked away during World War II, are where Uighur Muslims are remade into atheist Chinese subjects.These are horrific sites where fear and physical violence, psychological trauma and emotional abuse are all available tools, wielded to push Uighur inmates to renounce Islam, which the state has called a " mental illness ", and reject the distinct Uighur customs that are deeply intertwined with their faith. This programme of brainwashing and indoctrination is not exclusive to adults. The state also operates orphanages for Uighur Muslim children taken from their parents, where the process of disconnecting them from their Islamic faith and ethnic heritage is deeply inculcated into their education. At these orphanages, disguised as  schools , China is converting future generations of Uighur Muslim children into loyal subjects who embrace atheism and Han customs, pushing them to turn their backs on their families and towards Beijing's vision of destroying the Uighur Muslim people. Three months have passed since the UN broke the news of China's network of concentration camps and the ancillary programmes designed to purge Islam and destroy the Uighur people who cling so tightly to it. Yet, global outrage and political pressure are slow to match the velocity and ferocity of China's designs to cleanse itself of a population it deems inimical to and inassimilable with its national identity. Why? Answers can be traced to prevailing economic and geopolitical pressures, namely, nations fearing the economic hit they would foreseeably take if they challenged or sanctioned China for its ethnic cleansing of the Uighur people. China is an economic superpower, and nations across the world rely on it heavily for imports, trade, and more. The economic factors deterring humanitarian intervention are accompanied by a global so-called "war on terror" landscape that opened the door for Beijing, after 9/11, to violently rev up its persecution of Uighur Muslims behind the veneer of countering terrorism. A campaign spearheaded by the Bush administration and the United States, encouraging other nations - including China - to join in and crack down on their Muslim populations. Read more - Lire plus 

Top court gives Israel even broader powers to use torture
+972 Magazine 02/12/2018 - I srael’s High Court of Justice last week ruled that Israeli authorities’ torture of a Hamas suspect was not illegal and that the Shin Bet interrogators do not need to be prosecuted. The ruling also broadened and effectively removed the strict limitations imposed by a landmark decision by the same court nearly two decades ago, which carved out a “ticking bomb” exception to the prohibition on torture. “The ruling shows that in the eyes of the High Court, physical abuse is a legitimate and perhaps even the preferable way of carrying out an interrogation in cases of national security,” said Itamar Mann, a law lecturer at Haifa University. Shin Bet agents have for decades used torture, including moderate and severe physical and psychological abuse, to extract information from Palestinian suspects. The methods have ranged from violent shaking, beatings, sleep deprivation, long exposure to loud music, exposure to the elements, restraining suspects in painful positions for long periods, and covering suspects’ heads in foul-smelling sacks. Israel ratified the  UN Convention Against Torture  in 1986, but never took the next step of actually outlawing the practice in Israeli law. In September 1999, however, the High Court unanimously banned the use of physically abusive interrogation tactics. The ruling was widely viewed as a bold prohibition on torture and has been lauded and taught around the world. But in their historic decision, the justices also created a significant loop-hole to the prohibition: in the case of a “ticking bomb,” interrogators could avoid prosecution by invoking a necessity defense. Read more - Lire plus 


Matthew Behrens on the terror of violence against women
Facebook 06/12/2018 - One of the worst mass terrorist attacks ever committed in this land – 29 years ago on December 6, 1989 – was carried out by a man who targeted women. What he did that night is replicated night after night and day after day in this country, where a woman is murdered every other day by a man. While we remember the 14 women murdered that horrible night, we – and by we I address myself to my fellow men – must commit ourselves to ending this culture of terror, violence and cruel, cruel power that we benefit from.
Geneviève Bergeron (born 1968), mechanical engineering student
Hélène Colgan (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
Nathalie Croteau (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
Barbara Daigneault (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
Anne-Marie Edward (born 1968), chemical engineering student
Maud Haviernick (born 1960), materials engineering student
Maryse Laganière (born 1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique's finance dept
Maryse Leclair (born 1966), materials engineering student
Anne-Marie Lemay (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
Sonia Pelletier (born 1961), mechanical engineering student
Michèle Richard (born 1968), materials engineering student
Annie St-Arneault (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
Annie Turcotte (born 1969), materials engineering student
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (born 1958), nursing student" Source
Manifestation du G7: Les arrêtés poursuivent la police et la Ville
Journal de Montréal 06/12/2018 - Lors des manifestations en marge du G7 de Charlevoix, ce printemps, six personnes ont été arrêtées et principalement accusées de manifestation illégale. Bien que leur procès criminel soit prévu pour le mois de mars, au moins cinq d’entre eux contre-attaquent avec une poursuite de 15 000 $ à la Chambre des petites créances. Parmi eux, Lynda Forgues, accusée d’attroupement illégal, méfait et de gêner l’emploi d’un bien, ainsi que Marc-André Chapados, accusé d’avoir proféré des menaces, ont déposé une poursuite mercredi au palais de justice. Lynda Forgues s’était fait arrêter le samedi matin lorsque les policiers et les manifestants jouaient au jeu du chat et de la souris dans le Faubourg Saint-Jean-Baptiste. Elle déplore également avoir été incarcérée jusqu’au lundi matin, alors que ce type d’arrestation « mène d’ordinaire à des promesses de comparaître ». Elle affirme que les accusations auxquelles elle fait face « sont injustifiées et outrancières ». Pour sa part, Marc-André Chapados a été arrêté lors de la marche du vendredi alors qu’il filmait des policiers. Il a été accusé de menace pour une « publication qui ne se voulait pas du tout une menace envers qui que ce soit », indique-t-il dans sa requête de 15 000 $. Deux poursuites ont aussi été déposées au palais de justice de Montréal ainsi que de Thetford Mines, selon les manifestants. Read more - Lire plus

Le Canada soupçonné d’être responsable de la migration forcée des Honduriens
Journal Métro 28/11/2018 - Depuis le 12 octobre dernier, des milliers de Honduriens marchent vers les États-Unis. Ils fuient la violence et la misère de leur pays. Pourquoi sont-ils partis? Pourquoi sont-ils si nombreux? Des voix s’élèvent et accusent les entreprises minières, majoritairement canadiennes et soutenues par le gouvernement fédéral, de déstabiliser des régions entières. [...] En 2014, le Tribunal permanent des peuples (TPP), une vaste initiative citoyenne, avait statué sur la responsabilité du Canada, des entreprises minières et des États d’Amérique latine, dans la violation des droits humains, du droit à la vie et du droit à un environnement sain. «Peu de temps après le coup d’État au Honduras [en 2009], il y a eu des rencontres entre les gens de l’ambassade canadienne et des investisseurs canadiens de toutes les industries, avec le nouveau gouvernement [hondurien] pour négocier des accords de libre-échange et une reforme minière», a précisé Marie Bordeleau, du Comité pour les droits humains en Amérique latine (CDHAL) . Après une vaste enquête, ils ont révélé les liens entre l’industrie minière et la contamination de sols et la déforestation. Ces phénomènes ont entraîné des mouvements sociaux et des déplacements de populations. Enfin, le TPP a mis en lumière les politiques répressives des États d’Amérique latine visant à empêcher les populations locales de s’opposer à ces projets. Des recherches ont démontré qu’au moins 20 assassinats et 25 attentats ont été organisés contre des opposants aux projets miniers d’entreprises canadiennes. Pour Mme Bordeleau, il est indéniable que le flux migratoire actuel en direction des États-Unis est lié à l’industrie minière canadienne. «Le mot caravane a beaucoup été utilisé, ce n’est pas notre mot préféré. Il ne faut pas occulter qu’il y a un aspect politique à cette situation. C’est vraiment un mouvement de masse de migration forcée .  On parle d’exode», a-t-elle nuancé. Read more - Lire plus
Why this billboard in rural Ontario is calling for the release of a Honduran prisoner
CBC News 01/12/2018 - Driving along Highway 90 near Barrie, Ont., you may notice a billboard that's unusual for the area where many of the advertisements are put up by local realtors. It calls for political prisoners in Honduras to be freed, including Edwin Espinal, the man pictured on the sign, who it refers to as "Elmvale's Edwin Espinal." But Espinal has never set foot in Elmvale, population 2,069, according to the 2011 census, nor has he been anywhere in Canada. Still, some people in the community, and the larger area of Simcoe County, have taken him in as one of their own and are rallying behind him. Espinal, 43, is the long-time partner of a Canadian originally from Elmvale, Karen Spring, 34. The two recently married behind prison walls. Her mother, Janet Spring, says she's been on her computer every day since his arrest in January, trying to put on pressure to secure his release. "It's very upsetting," said Spring in an interview at her farmhouse. "We worry about it all the time and it's constantly on our minds." Espinal is a human rights activist in Honduras, one of a number of people arrested following anti-government protests, when thousands of people headed to the streets, angry with the presidential election results, which they viewed as fraudulent. Human rights workers argue the arrests are connected to the same culture of fear and impunity that has sent thousands of migrants fleeing the country in a caravan, attempting to enter the United States. Read more - Lire plus
Video: How Encryption Saves Lives and Fuels our Economy
New America 27/11/2018 - Crypto Wars 2.0 has gone global. For five years, advocates for strong encryption have been locked in a debate with U.S. law enforcement officials over their demands that companies build encryption backdoors into their products. Yet both here and abroad, in countries like the U.K., France, and Australia, the focus has primarily been on whether it is feasible to build a secure backdoor. But what about the potential human costs of an encryption backdoor? After all, encryption safeguards far more than data. Encryption saves the lives of activists living in repressive countries and of individuals in abusive relationships. It ensures that journalists can investigate and report on issues of public importance while protecting the confidentiality of their sources, and that people in over-surveilled communities can live, learn, and socialize freely, without the fear of being watched. Encryption ensures that our economy will continue to grow by helping to foster innovation, build consumers’ trust and confidence, and protect users’ personal data. Read more - Lire plus

ACTIONS & EVENTS
Tell the Senate to Fix Bill C-59 before it's too late!
From mass surveillance to the No Fly List, the new National Security Act fails to undo past problems and brings in new powers that threaten our rights & freedoms. Send a message to the Senate that they need to fix Bill C-59.

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NEW Call-in to Stop Mohamed Harkat's Deportation to Torture
Write a letter to PM Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Goodale & your MP 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.
NEW ACTION: Call the PMO on Monday Dec 10 for International Human Rights Day. Details in the event - share and invite your friends!

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. There were lengthy periods when he had no family or consular visits. 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. Those actions prolonged his detention, with no concern for the obvious risk of mistreatment he was facing.
Don’t invest my CPP contributions in Trump’s racist agenda
An investigation by the Guardian just revealed that the  Canada Pension Plan (CPP), is pouring millions of your pension dollars into the US private prison corporations that are executing Trump’s cruel and inhumane anti-immigration agenda. That’s your money.  If you’ve ever worked in Canada, you’ve paid contributions to the CPP fund. We can’t let our CPP contributions flow to corporations that are profiting from Trump’s cruel immigration policies.

Tell the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB): Stop investing our savings in private US prison corporations that are executing Trump’s cruel and inhumane anti-immigration agenda.
Parliamentary Petition: Release Edwin Espinal!
We call upon MPs to: 

- Urgently intervene in the case of Edwin Espinal, spouse of Karen Spring of Elmvale, arrested January 19, 2018, on trumped-up charges in the wake of popular protests; and

- Immediately ensure that Honduras release Espinal and four other political prisoners still held in inhumane maximum-security military prisons, and drop all charges against 22 political prisoners.
Remember January 29
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.  We, 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  as per the report from Parliament's Heritage Committee.
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.
Iran: Release Saeed Malekpour!
Saeed Malekpour, an Iranian national with permanent residency in Canada, has been imprisoned in Iran since his arrest on 4 October 2008. In late 2010, he was initially sentenced to death for “spreading corruption on earth” in relation to a web programme he created for uploading photos which the Iranian authorities said was used on pornographic websites. This was an open source programme and Saeed Malekpour has maintained that the use of this web programme on other websites was without his knowledge. His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 2012.
MORE NEWS - AUTRES NOUVELLES
Exit data collection
Collecte des données de sortie

Right to dissent
Droit à la dissidence









Les opinions exprimées ne reflètent pas nécessairement les positions de la CSILC - The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the positions of ICLMG.
THANK YOU
to our amazing supporters!
We would like to thank all our member organizations, and our patrons who are supporting ICLMG on Patreon ! As a reward, we are listing our patrons who give $10 or more per month (and wanted to be listed) directly in the News Digest. Without you, our work wouldn't be possible!

Kathryn Dingle
Kevin Malseed
Brian Murphy
Bob Stevenson
Chantal Vallerand

Nous tenons à remercier nos organisations membres et toutes les personnes qui soutiennent la CSILC sur Patreon ! En récompense, nous nommons ci-dessus nos mécènes qui donnent 10$ ou plus par mois directement dans le News Digest. Sans vous, notre travail ne serait pas possible!
 
Merci!