International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group
October 26, 2018
Media Advisory: French Court of Appeal to render decision on Hassan Diab’s Case Today
What: Press conference on the French Court of Appeal decision in Dr. Hassan Diab’s case
Where: Charles-Lynch Room (Centre Block), Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario
When: Friday October 26, 2018, 11AM (ET)
The ICLMG will be livestreaming the press conference on our Facebook page - like it to get a notification or go to the page at 11am.

Hassan Diab Support Committee - On Friday 26 October 2018, the French Court of Appeal will announce whether it will uphold the decision by the investigating judges (juges d’instruction) in January of this year to drop the case against Dr. Hassan Diab. The investigating judges have found that there is consistent evidence that Diab was in Lebanon at the time of the 1980 bombing that tragically killed four people and injured dozens. They also notably underlined the numerous contradictions and misstatements contained in the anonymous intelligence, and cast serious doubts about its reliability. The investigating judges also stressed that all fingerprint and palm print analysis excluded Diab. However, despite conceding that there is credible evidence excluding Diab, the French prosecutor appealed the dismissal decision and asked the Court of Appeal to put Diab on trial. Following the decision by the French Court of Appeal on Friday October 26, the Hassan Diab Support Committee will hold a press conference to comment on the decision and respond to questions from the media. Don Bayne (Diab’s Canadian lawyer), Alex Neve (Secretary General of Amnesty International, Canada), and Hassan Diab will speak at the press conference. Read more - Lire plus
The Ottawa Raging Grannies speak out against Bill C-59, the National Security Act of 2017!
ICLMG 25/10/2018 - The Ottawa Raging Grannies were speaking out today about surveillance, spies and civil liberties at the Rideau Centre. Watch the live video. The Ottawa Raging Grannies then moved to CTV in the Byward Market and chanted: "No to the criminalization of dissent! Yes to free expression and civil liberties! The government must fix Bill C-59!" Watch the live video . We  ❤️ the  Ottawa Raging Grannies ! You can join them in taking a stand against surveillance, criminalization of protest and attacks on civil liberties at  iclmg.ca/fix-c59 . Share on Facebook
Lawyers raise concerns over Ontario MPP’s private member’s bill
Canadian Lawyer 22/10/2018 - Ontario human rights lawyers are expressing concerns over the introduction of a bill that would stop those who are convicted of terrorist-related offences abroad from receiving provincial health coverage or holding a driver’s licence. Today, the government of Ontario released a copy of the  bill , which is being sponsored by MPP Dave Smith, called the Terrorist Activities Sanctions Act. [...] Abby Deshman, a lawyer who is director of the criminal justice program for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association in Toronto, says news about the proposed bill is “concerning.” “We have a criminal justice system that is charged with providing independent, fair assessments of whether people committed crimes and also the appropriate punishment for those crimes,” says Deshman. “And we give that job to independent judges and not politicians for a good reason.” If passed, the bill would reportedly remove access to those convicted for terrorism-related offences to supports such as loans and grants for post-secondary education, housing support and disability income, the  Toronto Sun  reported last week, as well as hunting and fishing licences or assistance through WSIB. But Deshman says that is unjust. “If someone has completed their sentence — a fair sentence, a fair punishment for whatever criminal offence they’ve committed — we expect them to return to society and to lead law-abiding lives as contributing members of the community,” says Deshman. “It’s very hard to see how stopping somebody from having a driver’s licence, health-care coverage or any other number of really essential public services is going to help make that happen.” [...] Hassan Ahmad, a human rights lawyer in Toronto, says the bill could be challenged under s. 15 of the Charter for discriminating on religious and cultural grounds. He also says it could be challenged under the Constitution for being ultra vires, because an argument could be made that it falls under the federal government’s mandate, not the province’s. Read more - Lire plus
Mother accused of violating injunction tells court she was supporting son’s wish to resist Muskrat Falls
APTN 29/10/2018 - A Métis woman who lives in Labrador told a judge Thursday that when she went through the gates and briefly joined the occupation of the Muskrat Falls site in October 2016, she was doing it for her 12-year-old son. Annette Hollett, who moved to Labrador from Alberta 15 years ago, is one of more than a dozen land protectors in provincial Supreme Court in Happy Valley-Goose Bay this week defending themselves against charges of violating a court injunction in the course of resisting the controversial hydroelectric project in Central Labrador. Despite living with post traumatic stress disorder and social anxiety, she recalled in her testimony, Hollett took her son, who is Inuit, to the peace camp across the Trans Labrador Highway from the main entrance to the Muskrat Falls site, where upward of 200 people were gathered that day. “My son asked to go to stand up for his beliefs,” Hollett told ATPN in an interview following her testimony, referring to the Oct. 22, 2016 Indigenous-led protest outside the Muskrat Falls site, which led to an occupation of the project’s accommodations complex. “He was born here so he wanted to fight for what he thought was his rights. And I’m his parent, so I supported him.” With just one day left in the scheduled week-long hearings only three land protectors have testified, while a dozen remain. Earlier in the week APTN reported that 17 land protectors were pleading not guilty but learned today that two changed their pleas and won’t appear in court this week. Nalcor Energy, the provincial crown energy corporation building the dam, was granted an injunction on Oct. 16, 2016 amid an ongoing blockade of the Muskrat Falls site by land protectors. The following day RCMP arrested several land protectors and ended the blockade. But a few days later, amid growing resistance to the project ahead of anticipated reservoir flooding and projected methylmercury contamination of traditional foods, dozens of people reinstated the blockade. Days later, on Oct. 22, about 50 land protectors went through the project’s main access gate and occupied the worker’s accommodations complex for four days. Read more - Lire plus
Ottawa eyes freezing permits for armoured vehicle sales to Saudis as it re-examines contract
The Globe and Mail 24/10/2018 - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government is looking at suspending the federal permits that allow the export of a massive sale of armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia. He made the comments on Wednesday while reiterating that Canadians are going to expect Ottawa to take action over the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. His remarks come as the Liberal government faces mounting pressure from rights groups for Canada to curb business ties with Saudi Arabia over Mr. Khashoggi’s suspicious death. Saudi Arabia’s ruling monarchy originally denied any wrongdoing but later conceded the journalist had died in a fistfight with government officials. On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman vowed that Mr. Khashoggi’s killers would be brought to justice. Mr. Trudeau has balked at outright cancelling a $15-billion deal to sell weaponized light armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia, arguing on Tuesday it could cost Canadians as much as $1-billion in charges if Ottawa abrogated the contract. He blamed former prime minister Stephen Harper for signing an agreement with Riyadh that included such restrictions. The 14-year deal was signed in 2014 under Mr. Harper, but it was the Liberal government in 2016 that approved exports to the Saudis under Canada’s arms export-control rules. Amnesty International on Wednesday harshly criticized Mr. Trudeau for his hesitation in cancelling the deal, noting that the Saudi monarchy has also spearheaded a war in Yemen that has left thousands dead and wounded. Read more - Lire plus 





Saudi airstrike kills 19 civilians, including children, near Yemeni city of Hodeida
Independent 25/10/2018 - An airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition fighting in  Yemen  killed 19 civilians on Wednesday, including two children, according to medical workers. The strike hit a busy vegetable market in the town of Bayt el-Faqih, south of the port city of Hodeida, which coalition forces have been battling to capture from Houthi rebels since June. Abdullah Shahawi, the director of the hospital that received casualties, told the Associated Press that all the victims were civilians. News of the strike came as a number of UK rights groups announced a new legal challenge over the British government’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The  Saudi -led coalition intervened in Yemen three years ago after Houthi rebels took over much of the country and forced out the internationally recognised government of President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. During that time at least 6,660 civilians have been killed, according to the United Nations, most of whom were victims of coalition airstrikes. The Houthis have also targeted civilians throughout the conflict, the UN says. Coalition jets, backed by US logistical support and using weapons made in the US and the UK, have repeatedly hit targets where no militants were present. Read more - Lire plus 
CounterPunch 23/10/2018 - Let’s be clear about it. When a national cannot enter an embassy without having a fistfight to obtain a marriage license (or passport or redeeming stolen travelers checks) without having to lose his or her life, an embassy has become a “safe” place for terrorizing its citizens. Saudis who are dissidents around the world know better than to go the Saudi embassy (a safe place in international law for several hundreds of years) because they fear for their lives. There is a thin line between terrorism and unjust wars. There is brazenness on the part of terrorist nations who declare their wars are against terrorists and then visit their destruction on civilians as the Saudis using arms from the United States and the UK have done in Yemen. The last count is that millions of Yemenis are facing displacement and lack of food. And, there is a total fiction on the part of those assistant powers who remotely frame their participation in terms of some strategic concept and jobs. Read more - Lire plus 
Governments are starving Yemenis, fuelling black markets through anti-terror legislation
Thomson Reuters Foundation News 24/10/2018 - The  news  coming out of Yemen these days paints a bleak picture – more than 10,000 conflict-related deaths, an ongoing cholera epidemic and now the risk of famine for 14 million people. Even more shocking is the fact this has been caused in part by a deliberate economic blockade in a country dependent on imports for 90 percent of its food, and from targeted airstrikes on local farms and fisheries. What is little discussed, however, is the degree to which many -- mostly Western -- governments around the world are complicit in the Yemen's people starvation, using far-reaching counter-terrorism laws which directly block the delivery of aid, including food aid, and prevent humanitarian organisations from doing their work. While these laws are ostensibly aimed at reducing the chances of aid money ending up in the hands of terrorists, the reality is they make it extremely difficult for aid organisations to carry out their life-saving work in regions where they are often needed most and cut off besieged populations from key supplies, such as food. Though similar measures had been in place in many countries since the 1970’s, these laws were expanded after 9/11 to apply to any group or individual perceived as being associated with terrorism. This means that organisations working in ‘high risk’ places like Yemen must guarantee that neither they, nor any of the people they work with, are in some way benefiting terrorist groups - a level of compliance that most aid organisations find difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. Banks and other financial institutions have also followed suit, using this legislation to block, delay or freeze funds to organisations working in conflict zones. [...] Governments must rethink current counter-terrorism legislation now ensure that aid gets through. The clearest way of doing this would be to exempt humanitarian action in counter-terrorism legislation, or frame counter-terrorism offences more narrowly to avoid conflict with humanitarian operations. If what happened in Somalia in 2011 is any indication, large-scale famine in Yemen is almost assured if Yemenis' access to food and other forms of humanitarian assistance isn’t unlocked. Read more - Lire plus 
The U.N. Security Council’s Outsized Role in Shaping Counter Terrorism Regulation and Its Impact on Human Rights
Just Security 19/10/2018 - This week, as U.N. Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, I submitted my  annual report  to the U.N. General Assembly. In the report, I  highlighted  my deep concerns about how terrorism is being regulated globally, including democratic, transparency and accountability deficits. I particularly chart the rise of a new form of “super legislative” Security Council resolution being deployed in the counterterrorism arena, which has sizable sovereignty and rule of law consequences. I also make a number of recommendations to address the deficits and challenges such new forms of global counterterrorism regulations have for States and individuals. My report charts a distinct and particular shift in Security Council regulation in the decade following 9/11. There is a clear move away from treaty-making as the dominant mode of legal regulation in the counterterrorism space. This shift is important not least because forum changes and form changes have reshaped the capacity of many States to craft the content of global security regulation, and have created a virtually exclusive role for the Security Council in this space. As a result, we see assertive and broadly crafted regulatory Security Council resolutions having a primary role in shaping the legal obligations of all States in respect to countering terrorism and violent extremism. Taking a macro view of Security Council resolutions, it is clear that they have broadly urged, and sometimes required, States to implement inter alia sanctions regimes and counterterrorism measures at the expense of the protection of fundamental rights and liberties. Read more - Lire plus
Mexico: Honduran caravan is not a security threat but a group of people with human rights
Amnesty International 18/10/2018 - The Mexican government must listen to the individual stories of those fleeing Honduras and inform them of their right to seek asylum, said Amnesty International today in response to news that the Mexican government deployed its federal police chief to its southern border to await the arrival of a caravan of over 1,600 people from Honduras, including dozens of families and children. “Mexican authorities should not take a Trump approach treating people like a security threat. These families deserve dignity and respect to ensure that no one is illegally returned to situations where they could risk serious harm due to violence,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International. Amnesty International recently published a  report  that demonstrates that the Mexican government is failing to meet its treaty obligations under international law to respect the rights of those in need of international protection. The report found that 75% of a group of people surveyed by Amnesty International detained by Mexican migrations authorities were not informed of their right to seek asylum in Mexico. “Mexican authorities must respect their obligations under international law and identify the needs of each individual member of the caravan, avoiding the detention of migrants at all costs, and prohibiting the detention of children.” Migrating without papers is not a crime, and many of these individuals could be fleeing violence in their home country with the intention of seeking asylum in Mexico. Prohibiting the entry of these people into Mexico and returning them to Honduras would be a breach of international law. Read more - Lire plus

Swedish student who stopped deportation flight of Afghan asylum seeker to be prosecuted
Independent 19/10/2018 - Authorities in  Sweden  are set to prosecute a 21-year-old student who refused to sit down on a passenger plane in protest against the deportation of an Afghan  asylum seeker  who was also on board. Elin Ersson single-handedly  managed to stop the deportation  on the 23 July flight from  Gothenburg  to Istanbul, due to take the 52-year-old man out of the country. Footage of her defiant stand in defence of the Afghan man has notched up 13 million views online and earned her international praise. But the Swedish prosecutor’s office announced on Friday that the activist will be charged with “violations of aviation law,” according to  Swedish media . Ms Ersson is accused of repeatedly refusing to obey orders from the pilot and aircraft crew. Police have previously said passengers who do not obey a pilot’s commands while onboard a plane can face up to six months in jail and a fine. She will be tried at Gothenburg district court, but no court date has yet been set.
Ms Ersson’s live-streamed video of the July incident showed her demanding the pilot exercise his right to refuse to take off while a deportee is on board. Read more - Lire plus

The shrinking space for solidarity with migrants and refugees
Transnational Institute 02 /10/2018 - How the European Union and Member States target and criminalize defenders of the rights of people on the move. Europe’s “refugee crisis” triggered a wave of solidarity actions by both civil society organisations and ordinary citizens. Their efforts were part of a wave of compassion, as people organised convoys to refugee reception centers, warmly greeted arrivals at train stations and lined highways to provide food and water to those making the journey from Syria and elsewhere. Just a few years later those same activists are treated as criminals and humanitarian search and rescue missions are criminalised. The current onslaught originated in the intensification of the EU’s restrictive approach to immigration policy from late 2014 and the EU’s treatment of Italy and Greece, front-line states on the EU’s migration routes. Today in Europe, solidarity with migrants and refugees can lead to arrest, legal troubles, or harassment. The actions of national police, judiciaries, political powers and far-right militants have created and compounded hostility to solidarity with refugees and migrants. This report looks at how EU policy has played out and offers a glimpse into the ways citizens and movements are resisting xenophobic and securitarian policies. Read more - Lire plus


MI5 can authorise agents to commit crimes, tribunal told
The Irish Times 04/10/2018 - MI5 officers can authorise agents to commit criminal acts under a secret policy dating back decades that operated without oversight until 2012, an investigative powers tribunal in London has heard. The policy, known as the Third Direction, has no legal basis and its existence has been secret until now. In November 2012, former prime minister David Cameron wrote to Mark Waller, the intelligence services commissioner, asking him to keep the policy under review. “In the discharge of their function to protect national security, the Security Service has a long standing policy for their agent handlers to agree to agents participating in crime, in circumstances where it is considered such involvement is necessary and proportionate in providing or maintaining access to intelligence that would allow the disruption of more serious crimes or threats to national security,” Mr Cameron said. But the letter makes clear that Sir Mark, a former judge, should not determine if such an authorisation of criminality is legal or to alert police or the Crown Prosecution Service. The letter was sent two weeks before the publication of an independent report into the 1989 murder of solicitor Pat Finucane. Mr Cameron said there were “shocking levels state collusion” in the murder and that agents “in the pay of the state” were involved. The Pat Finucane Centre is among the claimants, along with Reprieve, Privacy International and the Committee on the Administration of Justice. They want the three-judge tribunal to order MI5 to release information about how the Third Direction policy has operated, if it has a legal basis and if it can ever be lawful to authorise agents to carry out crimes such as torture, in view of human rights legislation. Read more - Lire plus 
Counter-terror bill is a threat to press freedom, say campaigners
The Guardian 25/10/2018 - New counter-terror powers designed to tackle the “vaguely defined” crime of hostile state activity threaten the protection of journalistic sources, campaigners for freedom of expression and the press have warned. In a joint statement, nine organisations including Index on Censorship and Reporters Without Borders have called on the House of Lords to recommend significant amendments to the bill as it reaches the closing stages of its passage through parliament. Unveiled by ministers in the summer, the counter-terrorism and border security bill proposes broad powers for border guards to stop and search individuals without suspicion on the grounds of tackling “hostile state” activity, and would criminalise travel to terrorist hotspots and the viewing of terrorist-linked material online. It has received  significant criticism from the cross-party joint committee on human rights, which warned that the legislation crossed the line on human rights and could restrict free speech and curb access to information. Read more - Lire plus
Australia: UN human rights expert warns proposed cybersecurity bill is too extreme
OHCHR 18/10/2018 - The Australian Government should drop its "fatally flawed" proposed legislation that forces tech companies to help spy on citizens in various ways, including granting access to phones and other devices, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy said today. Joseph Cannataci said that the Government’s Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018 was "a poorly conceived national security measure equally as likely to endanger security as not". "It is difficult to see how the Australian Government can achieve its aims without weakening encryption and thereby Australia’s cybersecurity. The legislation established in Australia is important internationally due to the risk of malware introduced into one device, spreading laterally throughout IT environments – a risk that is growing with the convergence of cyber and electronics and of major concern to technical and cyber security communities." The Special Rapporteur said it was "technologically questionable" whether the legislation could achieve its aims and avoid introducing vulnerabilities to the cybersecurity of devices, whether mobiles, tablets, watches, or cars, for example. "And it unduly undermines human rights," he said. "It is out of step with international rulings, raising the related issue of how the Australian government would enforce this law on transnational technology companies." 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.

Share on Facebook & Twitter .
Partagez sur Facebook & Twitter .
Stop Mohamed Harkat's Deportation to Torture
No one should be deported to torture. Ever. If sent back to Algeria, Mohamed Harkat faces detention, torture and even death. Send a message to PM Trudeau and the Ministers of Public Safety, Justice and Immigration to urge them to stop the deportation of Moe Harkat and to not make themselves, and Canada, complicit in torture once more.
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.
NEW 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.
NEXT WEEK Muskrat Falls Parliament Hill Direct Action: See Their Faces
Monday, October 29, 2018, 12 Noon, Parliament Hill
Meet at 11 am at the Human Rights Monument, Elgin and Lisgar

Help bring the Faces and Voices of those most at risk from poisoning and drowning downstream of the Muskrat Falls megadam to the desks of each MP inside the House of Commons.
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.
NEW Remember January 29th!
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.
Have your say: Canada's data and digital strategy
The government wants to hear what people in Canada think about crucial digital data and privacy issues. And what they hear back from the public will inform new policies around things like privacy laws, big data, digital access, and control over data.

The consultation was supposed to run until the end of September but it is still open. Make sure to send your submissions as soon as possible.
MORE NEWS - AUTRES NOUVELLES
Access to information
Accès à l'information

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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