EXCLUSIVE:
After being held without charge for five years, terrorism suspect Mahmoud
Jaballah speaks out from the special, high-security facility built just
for him and two others near Kingston
January
06, 2007
michelle
shephard
Staff
Reporter
Toronto
Star
BATH,
Ont.In neat handwriting that fills three pages are Mahmoud Jaballah's
complaints about daily life inside this $3.2 million portable surrounded by
barbed wire that was built for him and two other Toronto terrorism suspects.
He
fidgets with the paper on the desk in front of him while he speaks quickly
during an interview this week inside the holding centre west of Kingston,
dubbed "Guantanamo North" by its critics. A guard sits beside him,
staring straight ahead.
"There's
no privacy here," says Jaballah, giving a nod to the guard with the
unwavering deadpan stare.
But beyond his list of grievances about the daily conditions of his detention on the grounds of the Millhaven federal penitentiary looms the larger issue of the detention itself.
Jaballah
and two other detainees held here stand accused by Canada's spy service
of belonging to organizations with connections to Al Qaeda claims they deny.
They have been held for more than five years. None have been charged criminally
but remain detained here in legal limbo.
The government has ordered them deported to their birth
countries of Egypt and Syria, but the men say they will be tortured if they
return and, so far, the lower courts here have agreed it's not an option.
They
were moved last April to this holding centre in response to previous complaints
about their detention in a Toronto jail. The permanency of this costly facility
also sent the signal that the government doesn't expect their release anytime
soon.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule as early as next week on the constitutionality of the immigration legislation that put these men behind bars. One argument before the court questions the lawfulness of a process that allows the government to provide secret evidence to the federal court justice reviewing the case keeping the detainee from viewing or attempting to refute the private allegations.
The
Supreme Court's ruling will add to international case law now building from
high courts in the U.K., Australia and U.S., as the West grapples with
restrictions on civil rights in the name of national security.
"It
will be a significant watershed in where we're going in Canada and what type of
legal system we're going to have," says long-time civil rights lawyer Paul
Copeland, who argued before the Supreme Court that Parliament should be forced
to re-draft the legislation.
"Canada is one of the leaders generally on justice issues so it's critically important not only to Canada, but the world is watching, too."
There
are five cases pending against Muslim men ordered deported due to national
security certificates a provision of the immigration act that has been in
effect for more than a decade but has come under heavy criticism only since
9/11. The two other men from Ottawa and Montreal have been granted bail under
strict conditions.
Another
case against Sri Lankan refugee Manickavasagam Suresh, alleged to be a
fundraiser for the Tamil Tigers, has been ongoing for more than a decade. But
the case appears inactive since the Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that Suresh
could not be deported due to the risk he faced back home. For now, Suresh is
required to report to a government official once a week, but is otherwise free
to live without restrictions in his home north of Toronto.
Those
who support national security certificates argue that evidence must in certain
cases be presented in secret to protect sources. Sometimes, in the murky world
of terrorism and espionage, criminal trials are not an option for security
threats, government lawyers have argued in support of the legislation.
They
point to last month's deportation of an alleged Russian spy on a national
security certificate as proof that the immigration legislation is effective.
The unnamed man agreed to return to Russia after he was detained and accused of
spying in Canada for the last 10 years, and was quickly flown out of the
country.
But Jaballah says that's not an option for him and although he's also allowed to leave Canada for a third country, it's unlikely any country would accept someone accused of terrorist connections.
"If
I didn't have any problem in my country I would not stay here in the jail for
one minute. I would take my kids and I'd leave. Why would I keep myself here in
jail for five years?" he says as he again tugs at his list of complaints.
Known
officially as the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre, the
new detention centre where Jaballah is held with Hassan Almrei and Mohamed
Mahjoub is a two-hour drive from Toronto and sits on an expansive property
overlooking Lake Ontario.
Visitors
must pass through a series of gates to get to the facility, similar to the
procedure at its neighbouring maximum-security penitentiary.
The
holding centre consists of one portable, housing a common area and six cells
equipped with televisions. Outside is a strip of asphalt with a picnic bench
that the detainees use when allowed outdoors, and a ramp that leads to another
building with a gym, medical room and visiting area stocked with board games
and Lego.
The
facility allows him to visit with his family without a Plexiglas partition.
Every couple of weeks his wife, Husnah al-Mashtouli, and children come to sit
with him. It was in this room he recently met his eldest daughter's new baby,
his first grandchild. His second youngest son, 10-year-old Ali, says this is
the only vacation he wants to take.
"Without my dad we do not go on any vacations. My dad plays with us and he helps us with lots of stuff and it's like something's missing in the family, which is him," says Ali during an interview with his family in their Scarborough home as the family's pet budgies chirp noisily in the background.
But
Jaballah complains that while the accommodations are now better than those in
Toronto's West Detention Centre, there are restrictions here, and he claims he
has had problems with some of the guards. This is what troubles him the most
these days, he says, as he begins to read out his list again.
It's not the first time that claims about the conditions of their detention have been fought publicly. Almrei even waged a lengthy federal court case three years ago to win the right to wear a pair of shoes during the winter at the Toronto detention centre.
Jaballah
says he is now on a hunger strike with the two other detainees that has lasted
more than a month in an effort to bring attention to their complaints.
The Canada Border Services Agency (the government department responsible for their detention) disputes their claim, saying since they still consume more than just water, they are instead on a "voluntary fast." The agency also disputes many of the individual allegations made by the detainees.
Jaballah
says he'll continue protesting until the conditions of his detention change or
he is released.
But
the upcoming Supreme Court decision won't lead to Jaballah going home this
month. Even if the court rules the process that brought him here is
unconstitutional, the government contends that Jaballah still poses a security
risk if released.
The federal court judge that reviewed the certificate and the secret evidence found it "reasonable" to conclude that Jaballah was connected with the Egyptian Al Jihad and was a "communications link" for the 1998 bombing attacks on U.S. embassies in East Africa that killed more than 200.
A
Canadian Security Intelligence Service agent, identified in court only as J.P.,
testified earlier in his bail hearing that Jaballah would be a threat to
national security even if he were under constant supervision. CSIS
alleges Jaballah believes he is on a "God-ordained mission" to commit
terrorist acts and "there is no reason to believe he would abandon the
cause."
Jaballah
will go back to court in February to continue a bail hearing and try to convince
a federal court justice he would not pose a risk if released. His
lawyer, Barbara Jackman, says she'll argue that after five years in jail, and
with the precedent now of two other terrorism suspects released on bail without
incident, Jaballah should be granted release with conditions.