Globe and Mail – Bill Curry – 10 June 2006
OTTAWA — The flood of newspaper headlines and TV reports detailing the alleged terrorist plots to attack Parliament Hill and other key buildings has some lawyers and human-rights advocates urging the public to think skeptically in light of recent history.
Twice since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Canada’s security forces have claimed to have busted domestic terror cells that were aiming to destroy some of these same high-profile targets — only to have the cases fall apart without any charges laid.
Three years ago, the arrests of 19 Pakistani men in Toronto in an investigation known as Project Thread provoked similar headlines to those of recent days.
Federal lawyers suggested the men were a sleeper cell for al-Qaeda that had taken an interest in the Pickering nuclear facility and the measurements of the CN Tower. Yet an immigration adjudicator dismissed the case against them within days.
“I think it’s important for us to learn from the past and be wary,” said Amina Sherazee, who represented three of the Project Thread targets.
Last year, testimony at the public inquiry into Maher Arar’s deportation to Syria, where he and other Canadian targets say they were tortured, exposed problems with a CSIS and RCMP investigation of an alleged Ottawa-based terrorist cell.
Anonymous leaks to U.S. and Canadian media originally suggested the men were planning to attack the U.S. embassy and other key Ottawa sites such as the Parliament Buildings.
Two other men with links to Mr. Arar were also targets of the investigation. Abdullah Almalki and Ahmad El Maati ended up in the same Syrian jail, and no charges have ever been laid against them.
During the inquiry, Mr. Arar’s lawyers said the leaked allegations were based on confessions made under torture in Syria.
Meanwhile, the case against Mr. El Maati, according to anonymous reports repeated around the world, was largely based on a “terrorist map” found in a truck he was driving across the Canada-U.S. border that showed places in Ottawa such as the Parliament Buildings and the U.S. embassy.
But The Globe and Mail reported last fall that the map with numbered buildings on it was a common federal government handout to assist delivery truck drivers.
Mr. El Maati’s lawyer, Barbara Jackman, says it appears Canada’s security forces targeted him and others based on their skin colour and filled in the blanks to build a case.
“I think what led to Mr. El Maati being tortured was that map,” said Ms. Jackman, who will be before the Supreme Court this month fighting the legality of the government’s use of security certificates to detain terror suspects without charges.
“If that map had been found in the truck of an Italian-Canadian driver, there wouldn’t have been a plot developed out of it.”
Alex Neve, the secretary-general of Amnesty International Canada, followed the Arar hearings closely and said the example of the map is the most obvious reason to be skeptical of terror accusations.
“On the face of it, there’s the possibility of some pretty shocking shortcomings in how police interpreted and dealt with the famous mimeographed map that served as the basis for the allegations that he was the mastermind of plans to mount a bombing campaign of key targets in Ottawa,” he said.
“There certainly have been concerns about the quality of investigations.”
Ziyaad Mia of the Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association said rumours circulating about the 17 recently arrested males in Toronto put their right to a fair trial at risk. He also expressed concern that individuals who are freed after facing accusations of terrorism, such as the Project Thread men and Mr. Arar, will forever be ostracized both socially and professionally.
“The government needs to be very careful and very precise when it charges people under these very serious charges,” Mr. Mia said. “Certainly with national security, you could have a huge disaster on your hands and I appreciate that, but the other side is the human consequence is devastating.”
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