February 27, 2008

Chief Justice Allan Lutfy,
Federal Court of Canada
Ottawa, ON

Dear Chief Justice Lutfy,

We are writing with the profoundest of concerns about the unprecedented placement on the front page of the Federal Court website of the public summaries of the security intelligence reports with respect to the five men subject to security certificate.

MEDIA ADVISORY

Press Conference
Thursday, 28 February, 4:30pm
Aide juridique de Montréal, 800 de Maisonneuve Blvd., East, 9th floor

In the presence of his lawyers, Me. Johanne Doyon and Me. Dominique Larochelle, Adil Charkaoui will respond to the new security certificate law and the new certificate that has been issued against him.

Background

Mr. Charkaoui has lived in Montreal since 1995, when he arrived in Canada with his mother, father and sister as a permanent resident. Charkaoui is married, with three young children, and teaches French in a primary school.

Montreal, 22 February 2008 -- Mr. Charkaoui categorically denies the allegations made against him in the context of the new security certificate that was issued against him today. As he has consistently requested for the past five years, Charkaoui asks for a meaningful opportunity to clear his name of precise and defined charges in the context of a fair and open trial.

Press Conference, 21 February 2008: Mostafa Henaway, Immigrant Workers' Centre (l); Gaétan Chateauneuf, President Conseil centrale de Montréal (CSN); Me. Johanne Doyon; Marie-Ève Lamy; Adil Charkaoui. Absent from photo: Salam Elmenyawi, President, Muslim Council of Montreal; Warren Allmand, International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group.

Listen to audio from the press conference.

Press Conference
Thursday, 21 February, 9:30am
1710 Beaudry, room 3.5 (metro Beaudry), Montreal

Speakers:

10 February -- The list of organizations applying to testify before the Senate committee reviewing the new 'security certificate' legislation continues to grow, throwing into question the Senate's plan to push the much-criticized bill through by the end of the week, when the Senate goes on a break.

Since the bill passed at second reading in the Senate late Thursday afternoon, over 90 witnesses have applied to be heard by the committee. Applicants include major unions such as the Canadian Labour Congress, migrant justice organizations and community associations. Dozens of individuals have also applied, including family members of the detainees such as Ahmad Jaballah, whose father has already fought three security certificates and would face going through the process for a fourth time if the bill passes. (Full list.)

Thursday, 31 January 2008
Supreme Court, 301 Wellington Street, Ottawa
 
* 9:00am, throughout day
Supreme Court Hearing, Charkaoui contests the destruction of evidence in his case
 
* 12:15pm to 1:30pm
Public Rally: End CSIS impunity, No to security certificates, No to C-3!
End the criminalization, profiling and harassment of refugees and immigrants!
 
* Lunch break (Court will determine time)
Press scrum with Adil Charkaoui and intervenors in case

 
On Thursday, 31 January, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear a bid by Adil Charkaoui to have the ‘security certificate’ against him quashed on the grounds that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) destroyed sources of secret evidence.
 

Press Conference
Wednesday, 30 January 2008, 3:45pm
Charles Lynch Room, Centre Block, Parliament, Ottawa

With:
- Ms. Mona El Fouli, wife of Mohamed Mahjoub
- Ms. Latifa Charkaoui, mother of Adil Charkaoui
- Mr. Ahmad Jaballah, son of Mahmoud Jaballah
- Mr. Christian Legeais, friend of Sophie Lamarche and Mohamed Harkat

Family members of security certificate detainees, joined by community leaders and members of Parliament,  will appeal to Parliamentarians and Senators to bring an end to their long years of uncertainty and suffering and oppose the new security certificate legislation, Bill C-3.

Montreal, 23 January 2008 -- The Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui
deplores the attack on Mr. Charkaoui's reputation in an article by Graeme
Hamilton which appeared in the National Post today under a sensationalist
headline. This attack follows the publication of other defamatory
allegations against Mr. Charkaoui this past June in the Montreal newspaper
La Presse, after the criminal leak of a secret, CSIS-sourced document. The
Coalition repeats its call for a government inquiry into the actions of CSIS
in Charkaoui's case.

The National Post article is based on a public summary of an alleged
interview with Mr. Charkaoui in 2001 which was disclosed earlier this month to the
Federal Court in a secret hearing. The interview was not provided to the
Ministers who signed Mr. Charkaoui's certificate, nor previously to the

Montreal, 10 December - The new security certificate law, Bill C-3 is expected to reach final vote in Parliament as early as tomorrow, Tuesday 11 December. The bill has been forced through parliament at record speed, with no time for debate, despite widespread public opposition. The Canadian Bar Association has stated that the draft law will not even pass a constitutional test. The new law will continue to rely on secret hearings, broad and undefined allegations, a low standard of proof, and hearsay and other unreliable information. In brief, it will maintain a two-tiered system of justice in which certain people in Canada can be locked up indefinitely on the basis of secret suspicions and under threat of deportation to torture.