Lawyers allege terror suspects 'tortured'
Lawyers for some of the accused terror suspects are alleging that "cruel and unusual punishment" their clients have faced in custody amounts to "torture."
Fourteen of the 17 accused terror suspects appeared in a Brampton, Ont., courthouse Monday to set bail hearings, which will be held for them between June 16 and July 5.
Information from those hearings will be under a publication ban that the Crown won Monday, which was opposed by the defence earlier in the day.
"After they've had 10 days with the media, feeding the media whatever they want to feed the media, denying us disclosure of any evidence and doing what they need to do to conduct a trial in this parking lot of this courthouse, they now have the audacity to request a blanket publication ban of all proceedings from today's date," said Rocco Galati, who is representing Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, Monday morning before the ban was imposed.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Galati argued that political pronouncements by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, other politicians and Muslim leaders as well as media attention surrounding the arrests have made it impossible for those accused to receive a fair trial.
"There's no way as a lawyer, in my professional view, that these accused can have a fair trial," he said. "Much of this effect has been born out by the fact that within mere days of the arrests, the Prime Minister of Canada, and the mayor of Toronto publicly declared the guilt of the accused."
Mr. Galati had been seeking a live television feed from the courtroom earlier in the day so that information from the bail hearings could reach the media unfiltered.
Further allegations also surfaced Monday about the treatment of the suspects while in custody.
David Kolinsky, who is representing Zakaria Amara, said his client has been locked in a small concrete cell without windows, where meals are slipped to him under a small slit in the door and the lights are left on 24 hours a day.
"This type of treatment is known to cause depression and suicide. ... This type of treatment is, in fact, cruel and unusual punishment contrary to the Bill of Rights," Mr. Kolinsky said.
Mr. Kolinsky also alleges that his client has faced at least some sort of physical abuse from guards.
"As he was being searched, the guard touched his ribs and he's ticklish. He giggled a bit. And the guard drilled his finger in to his cheek and said, 'Is this funny?'"
He said he has also not been able to meet with his client without guards watching over.
"There was no privacy at all in that respect," he said.
Mr. Galati said the treatment of the detainees amounts to torture.
"Clearly, leaving the light on 24 hours a day and waking them up every half hour for the last 10 days constitutes torture," he said. "No lawyer is willing to prepare for a bail hearing or a picnic with a client unless they're not overheard when they have a conversation with their client."
Amnesty International Canada has also voiced its concerns about how the suspects have been treated while in custody and their lack of private access to their lawyers.
"Leaving lights on 24-hours a day can quite clearly be the kinds of circumstances that make it impossible to sleep. Sleep deprivation has frequently been criticized by ourselves, UN human rights experts, by psychologist, as being a cruel form of treatment that if it goes for an extended period of time can be tantamount to torture" said Alex Neve, secretary general Amnesty International Canada.
The accused have been charged with a series of terrorism-related offences in what authorities have alleged is a far-reaching bomb plot aimed at targets around southern Ontario. At least one of the accused is being held under allegations of plotting to storm Parliament and planning to behead Mr. Harper if Canadian troops did not withdraw from Afghanistan, according to his lawyer.
Several sites in Southern Ontario have been suggested as bombing sites, including the Toronto Stock Exchange, CSIS headquarters and some of the Parliament buildings.
Mr. Galati was also critical of the highly visible police and tactical squad presence at previous court appearances and restrictions placed on lawyers when they meet with their clients, saying that also interferes with the course of justice in the case.
He suggested that at least some of the furor around the case is aimed at influencing voting in the House of Commons on terrorism-related legislation and affecting the Supreme Court of Canada in upcoming constitutional challenges to laws aimed at rooting out terrorists.
Beginning Tuesday, a three-day appeal begins before the country's highest court on the issue of rights. At the heart of the challenge are national-security certificates, which have been used to detain five suspected terrorists for several years. A protest was held Tuesday in Ottawa outside the Prime Minister's office to protest their detention.
A lawyer for the first person in Canada to be charged under the Anti-terrorism Act two years ago, Momin Khawaja, announced last week that his client plans to contest the act's validity under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms before his scheduled trial next January. He expects to mount the constitutional challenge this fall.
Ahead of Monday's hearing, Mr. Rocco ? when asked if the terrorism element doesn't make the current case different from other criminal matters ? responded that the charges are covered under the Criminal Code and are not unlike other serious offences handled by the courts every day.
"Alleged terrorists are not aliens from another planet," he said. "These accused are Canadian citizens who have been accused of a criminal act under the Criminal Code. No more, no less. Why should an allegation of terrorism be different from an allegation, let's say, in a biker trial or organized crime trial."
The 17 suspects face a variety of charges including knowingly participating in or contributing to terrorist activity, providing or receiving training for terrorist purposes and providing or making available property for a terrorist activity. Weapons and explosives charges include committing indictable offences, in this case planning to cause an explosion and importing firearms and ammunition, to benefit a terrorist group.
The maximum sentences for participating in terrorism, training and making property available are 10 years in prison.
The weapons and explosives offences would be crimes in any case, but proof that they were linked to a terrorist objective would raise the maximum sentence to life in prison
