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International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group May 22, 2021

ICLMG: Trudeau must protect Hassan Diab's rights following French Court's shocking decision ICLMG 19/05/2020 - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau must immediately, and in the strongest and clearest terms, speak up for the rights of Canadian Hassan Diab and promise to refuse any potential extradition request from France, says the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG). “Today’s decision from the Cour de Cassation in France, upholding the decision to send Dr. Diab to trial, is utterly shocking and unexplainable. It is clear the court is putting politics above justice,” said Tim McSorley, national coordinator of the ICLMG, a coalition of 45 Canadian civil society groups. The original order on Jan. 27, 2021, by the French Court of Appeal that Dr. Diab must stand trial has been denounced as misrepresenting evidence, misstating facts, relying on discredited evidence and engaging in contradictory reasoning. These issues have been clearly documented Don Bayne, Dr. Diab’s lawyer. Even the French government’s avocate générale advised against the Cour de Cassation upholding the Court of Appeal’s decision, due to its contradictory reasoning and failure to address important issues raised by the defense. “With so many troubling issues in the French courts regarding Hassan Diab’s case, it is impossible to trust that he will receive a fair trial. What Canadians do have control over, though, is what happens in Canada. That is why we are calling on Prime Minister Trudeau today to state in the strongest possible terms to his French counterparts that the persecution of Hassan Diab must end. We are also calling on Prime Minister Trudeau to commit to no future extradition of Hassan Diab to France,” said McSorley. In 2014, the judge presiding over Hassan’s extradition stated that the evidence against him was “illogical”, “very problematic,” and “convoluted,” and that the case presented little chance of conviction, but that the judge’s hands were tied by Canada’s permissive extradition laws. Then in 2018, Prime Minister Trudeau stated that “what happened to [Hassan Diab] never should have happened” and that his government would “make sure that it never happens again.” It is time that Prime Minister Trudeau lives up to those words, and closes the door on any future requests from the French government in this case. Read more Version française: Trudeau doit protéger les droits d'Hassan Diab suite à la décision choquante du tribunal français TAKE ACTION Canada must act to end the injustice against Dr Hassan Diab Please share on Facebook + Twitter + Instagram AGISSEZ Le Canada doit mettre fin à l'injuste contre le Dr Hassan Diab SVP partagez sur Facebook + Twitter + Instagram

Our extradition system is broken, and Hassan Diab is paying with his life Ricochet 19/05/2020 - An Ottawa professor caught in a 13-year legal battle that saw him under house arrest and then in a French prison now faces the possibility of a second extradition to France, despite recognition from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that “what happened to him never should have happened.” Today France’s Supreme Court ordered that Hassan Diab must stand trial for the 1980 bombing of the rue Copernic synagogue in France, going against four anti-terrorism judges and even the country’s Advocate General, who had argued for Diab’s release given the insufficient evidence in the case. Diab, a Canadian citizen, has been at the mercy of French counterterrorism laws and procedures since being accused of the bombing. He was arrested by Canadian authorities in 2008 in response to an extradition request by France and remained under house arrest while fiercely fighting the order for six years. He then spent three years in prison after being sent to France in 2014 before being released after rulings that the evidence against him was too weak to take to trial. From the beginning, shaky evidence and procedural irregularities have plagued the case, and no physical evidence links Diab to the bombing. Charges were not laid until this past January. Don Bayne, Diab’s lawyer, has called on the federal government to offer its assurances that Diab will not be extradited to France again. When Minister of Justice David Lametti was asked last week if he would provide assurances that Diab would not be extradited again, a spokesperson replied via email that “it would not be appropriate to provide further comment as the domestic proceedings in France remain ongoing.” The Canadian government — which has been complicit in Diab’s arbitrary arrest and detention — has a responsibility to ensure he does not continue to face persecution, and to reject any pending extradition order from France. Canada’s extradition treaty with France operates on the premise that France will uphold human rights. But France has demonstrated that in politically charged counterterrorism proceedings, it is willing to hold a man in solitary confinement for three years without charge or trial. Canada should not be extraditing individuals in cases where there is insufficient evidence for conviction, and doing so only emphasizes how broken our extradition system is. Read more - Lire plus CBC: Canadian academic Hassan Diab ordered to stand trial in French terrorism case Hassan Diab Support Committee: Politics Trumps Justice: In a shocking decision, France’s Court of Cassation upholds Court of Appeal decision ordering Dr. Diab to stand trial Lisez la décision de la Cour de Cassation de France dans le cas de l'Attentat de la rue Copernic May 12 Press conference on Hassan Diab's case featuring ICLMG's Tim McSorley Hassan Diab supporters call on government to reject any new extradition request Opinion: M. Trudeau, mettez fin à la persécution de Hassan Diab European Group for the Study of Social Control calls on Canada to refuse to extradite Hassan Diab again and to reform the extradition law

Video: Challenging Security Inadmissibility in Canada's Immigration System

In this event, our three resource persons discussed how Canada labels non-citizens as security threats based on broad and vague grounds, the severe impacts that this has on individuals, and ways we can challenge the provisions and fix the system through the courts and through public advocacy.  Resource persons: Sharry Aiken, Associate Professor at Queen’s Law and former CCR President, Warda Shazadi Meighen, refugee, immigration and human rights lawyer, and partner at Landings Law, and Washim Ahmed, refugee and immigration lawyer and co-founder of OWS Law. As mentioned during the webinar, the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) will be moving forward with efforts to raise awareness about these situations of injustice, and to press for systemic change. If you would like to be part of ongoing discussions on how to advance advocacy, or know of affected people whose profiles could be shared, or just have some suggestions to share, please email my colleague Olivia at okostin-cohen@ccrweb.ca. Co-presented by the Canadian Council for Refugees, the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group and the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers. More details - Plus de détails TAKE ACTION to stop the deportation of Abdelrahman El Mady

Canadian Civil Society Letter to the Prime Minister: Issue a statement calling for Israel to stop the violence NCCM 20/05/2021 - As Canada’s leading civil society organizations, we are collectively writing to you regarding the recent reprehensible attacks and escalation of violence perpetrated by Israeli authorities on Palestinian civilians.  Prime Minister, you have spoken clearly about your concerns about the settlements and the evictions of Palestinians. You noted that we need to see an end to the violence, including to the violence at the Al Aqsa Mosque, which you described accurately as heart wrenching. We encourage you to continue to condemn, and for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to stand unequivocally for human rights and acknowledge the realities on the ground. Canada must adhere to its longstanding foreign policy principle of an unwavering respect for human dignity, human rights and the rule of law.  We are writing today to urge you to clearly and unequivocally condemn Israel’s actions in relation to:  Israeli air raid bombings that have attacked civilian targets in Gaza, including a building that housed Associated Press and Al-Jazeera offices in addition to residential apartments. This attack on journalists and their ability to report on what is happening on the ground in Gaza is extremely concerning as the attacks on Palestinian civilians, including children, continue to escalate.   Israeli security forces attacked worshipers at the Al-Aqsa mosque with complete disregard to the sanctity of one of the holiest mosques in Islam and have done so on one of the holiest days of Ramadan. This is problematic to Muslims around the world including over one million Muslims in Canada.  Israel’s campaign to forcefully evict Palestinian families from the homes that they have lived in for decades to make room for Israeli settlers in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan in East Jerusalem has been condemned by the United Nations and many world leaders. East Jerusalem remains an occupied territory and the actions of the Israeli government amount to continued violations of international law.  The acts of the Israeli government are continuations of Israel’s settlement policy which is not only rooted in a flagrant violation of basic human rights, but also a violation of international law and all associated norms and protocols accepted by the world. Israel’s actions continue to demonstrate not only a complete disregard for the lives and well-being of Palestinians, but also an unwillingness to allow for a lasting solution. These actions demonstrate that Israel is committed to destroying the prospects for a Palestinian state permanently. This is contrary to longstanding Canadian and allies’ foreign policy.  We are asking Canada to now issue a formal statement calling for Israel to immediately and unconditionally stop the violence, to stop the targeting of Palestinian civilians and end the expulsion of Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan.    Sincerely,     National Council of Canadian Muslims  Amnesty International Canada, English Section  British Columbia Civil Liberties Association  International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group  The Ontario Federation of Labour  Fédération nationale des enseignantes et enseignants du Québec (FNEEQ-CSN)  Urban Alliance on Race Relations  Law Union of British Columbia Source TAKE ACTION: Send a letter to all federal leaders to call for a stronger response from Canada on the crisis in Palestine Jeremy Scahill: But What About Hamas’s Rockets? We must be clear: What started this immediate horror was the intensification of Israel’s ethnic-cleansing campaign against Palestinians in East Jerusalem Israeli Human Rights Group B’Tselem: Israel Is Committing War Crimes by Killing Civilians in Gaza

Canadian military intelligence monitored Black Lives Matter movement, claiming pandemic justified such actions The Tyee 28/04/2021 - Canadian Forces intelligence officers compiled data on the Black Lives Matter movement in Ontario as part of the military’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to documents obtained by this newspaper. But a co-founder of Black Lives Matter in Canada says there is no reason for such scrutiny of the organization’s peaceful efforts to raise awareness about racial injustice, raising the question about whether the military’s activities were even legal. The initiative was overseen by the Canadian Joint Operations Command, which directs missions in Canada and around the world. The report on BLM was included among the information collected as the military worked in long-term care homes in Ontario during the pandemic. The team examined social media accounts to understand how BLM organized its protests as well as to identify the “major actors” supporting the organization. “Protests for social reform after police-involved deaths of George Floyd in Minnesota and Regis Korchinski-Paquet in Toronto continue to gain traction in Ontario,” noted the intelligence report from June, 2020. The intelligence officers noted there were BLM chapters in Toronto and Waterloo, and produced a timeline of some of the 25 demonstrations in the province. One section in the BLM report titled “Hostile Foreign Actors” is completely censored for national security reasons. Sandy Hudson, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter organization in Canada, said she found the military’s activities very concerning. “I’m not surprised, but I’m deeply disappointed that the Canadian military is spying on people who are simply engaging in the civic process,” she said. “I don’t buy that this has anything to do with COVID.” She also noted that pandemic safety was one of the hallmarks of the BLM protests, with individuals making sure they wore masks and were physically distancing. As for claims that hostile foreign nations were somehow behind BLM, Hudson responded that the protests were “not caused by (foreign actors) trying to stir up racial strife. It was caused by the very public execution of a number of Black people.” Hudson questioned whether the actions of the Canadian Forces were legal. “This says something about how (Canada) views Black people advocating on behalf of their community; that this is something that is suspicious and something to be tracked by the military.” Two months before the BLM report was completed, Lt.-Gen. Mike Rouleau, head of the Canadian Joint Operations Command, had issued a plan outlining the use of propaganda techniques against Canadians during the pandemic. That plan was later rescinded because of concerns it had gone too far. In addition, this newspaper also reported last year that a Canadian military intelligence unit monitored and collected information from people’s social media accounts in Ontario, claiming such data-mining was needed to help troops working in LTC homes during the pandemic. Negative comments made by the public about Premier Doug Ford’s government were collected by the military. Read more - Lire plus

Clear safeguards needed around technology planned for border checkpoints CBC Opinions 05/05/2021 - As the European Union lays out its long-awaited proposal for regulating the use of artificial intelligence (AI), Canada is signalling a very different approach when it comes to potentially high-risk uses of AI-driven technologies. As part of the newly released 2021 budget, the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) is receiving $656 million to be spent in part on technology such as facial recognition systems at the border. According to the 2021 budget, the significant cash influx will allow the CBSA to, "utilize new technologies, like facial recognition and fingerprint verification," and "develop strategies to ensure the equitable application across differences in gender, age, mobility, and race, to promote the security of all travellers." However, it is unclear what if any safeguards exist when it comes to this type of technological experimentation at the border, or what "equitable application" means when we know that AI-based technologies are anything but neutral. Facial recognition encompasses a class of automated technologies that verify or identify people and analyze behaviour based on the biometrics of their faces. As shown by recent reports and studies — as well as submissions by the Canadian Bar Association to the federal government and a recent report to the UN General Assembly by the Special Rapporteur on Discrimination — intrusive technology like facial recognition and other automated AI systems can exacerbate systemic racism and oppression, dehumanize people, and contravene various domestic and internationally protected human rights. These technologies can make racist and sexist inferences that have far-reaching impacts in immigration settings, for example. This was demonstrated by the European Union's recently shelved pilot project iBorderCRTL. The AI-powered lie detector deployed at the border was widely criticized for discriminating against people of colour, women, children, and people with disabilities, resulting in a court challenge. A similar lie detection system called AVATAR has been tested at the CBSA science laboratory in Ottawa. A CBSA spokesperson said the agency "is not considering using AVATAR on real travellers in the future." Meanwhile, in February Canada's Office of the Privacy Commissioner deemed unlawful the mass surveillance perpetuated by the private company Clearview AI, which enabled law enforcement and commercial organizations to match billions of images of faces across its databases. It said, "Commissioners found that this creates the risk of significant harm to individuals, the vast majority of whom have never been and will never be implicated in a crime ... These potential harms include the risk of misidentification and exposure to potential data breaches." Why is this type of technology being celebrated and rolled out at Canadian borders? Canada's techno-solutionist approach is in stark contrast to the EU's proposed regulation, which while far from perfect, sets out various bans and parameters around high-risk uses of AI, including at the border and in immigration decision-making. Meanwhile, the CBSA operates with little transparency under the cover of national security and border control rationales, and without meaningful mechanisms of oversight. The establishment of a watchdog is in the 2021 mandate letter from the federal government. Read more - Lire plus TAKE ACTION: Protect our rights from facial recognition! Privacy Commissioner of Canada: Remarks on Facial Recognition Technology before the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI)

Civil liberties group suing RCMP commissioner over delays in responding to civilian complaints CBC 19/05/2021 - A civil liberties group is taking the RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki to court, arguing the time it takes her to respond to public complaints is undermining police accountability. In court documents filed Friday, the federal government argues the RCMP has gotten better at responding to complaints — and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association's case should be thrown out. The Attorney General of Canada, on behalf of the RCMP, is also pushing against the idea of setting strict timelines for the commissioner's response to complaints — despite repeated promises by Public Safety Minister Bill Blair to introduce legislated deadlines. The case started back in early 2014 when the B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) first lodged a complaint with the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) — the independent watchdog agency tasked with reviewing public complaints against the RCMP — alleging Mounties were spying on Indigenous and environmental protesters opposed to the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline. The CRCC's findings, which pointed to gaps in the RCMP's surveillance policies, were only released in late 2020. This spring, the BCCLA filed a lawsuit in Federal Court arguing that Lucki's failure to respond in a timely manner denied the organization its constitutional rights and undermined public confidence in the complaint process. "We believe that that shows disrespect for the process and really undermines the confidence Canadians should have in the RCMP performing their duties properly," BCCLA's lawyer Paul Champ told CBC News. Whenever CRCC investigators are unsatisfied with the RCMP's handling of a civilian complaint, or disagree with the force's initial take on it, they send what they call an "interim report" to the RCMP commissioner for review. Only after the commissioner responds can the watchdog release its findings and recommendations. So bottlenecks in the commissioner's office can delay the release of interim reports. Some of those reports deal with serious criminal complaints. The BCCLA's lawsuit cites other still-unreleased CRCC interim reports — one of which covers an investigation of the alleged sexual assault of a minor. "In another disturbing case, the RCMP took nearly four years to respond to a CRCC interim report about an incident where a woman was left alone, topless and with a broken arm in an RCMP cell without medical attention because officers believed she was 'faking' the injury," says the BCCLA's lawsuit. There is no statutory timeline the RCMP must follow in responding to CRCC interim reports. The RCMP Act simply says the commissioner should respond "as soon as feasible." In 2019, the force signed an memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the CRCC — which is acting as an intervenor in the case — to respond to public complaints filed with the watchdog agency within six months. That agreement is non-binding. The lawsuit will look at what "as soon as feasible" actually means. "It is completely contrary to the statute to say that 'as soon as feasible' means whenever you want to. It doesn't mean anything goes," said Champ. "Commissioner Lucki is actually the third RCMP commissioner we've had since we filed this complaint. Surely it could not have been the intention of Parliament when they introduced that section in the RCMP Act that 'as soon as feasible' means whenever you want to get around to it, even if that means years later." Kai Nagata is communications director at the Dogwood Initiative, one of the community groups protesting the pipeline. He said he hopes the case can help other community groups in the future. "It seems like an obvious delay strategy by the RCMP commissioner to simply sit on a report that prevents any bad news headlines, that prevents any kind of resolution or closure for the people who were spied on," he said. "I think that fixing the complaints process is one small step towards creating an environment where police are accountable for their actions and where the public, who pays for their toys and pays for their tools, has a window into how those tools are used against peaceful, law-abiding citizens across the country. " Champ said he hopes to request a hearing date sometime this week. Read more - Lire plus Information watchdog investigates handling of archival spy files amid chronic delays

UN dubs PhD student's petition for release 'urgent,' seeks Turkey's defense Cihan was in court on May 20 and 21st. Trial is now adjourned to June 14. Turkey still refuses to release Cihan and others. DuvarEnglish 23/04/2021 - The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions accepted a petition from PhD student Cihan Erdal as "urgent" and asked Turkey for its defense about Erdal's detention for the past seven months. A student at Canadian Carleton University, Erdal was detained on Sep. 25, 2020 because of two social media posts which the prosecutors claimed were instrumental in fueling the Kobane protests of 2014. The indictment accused Erdal of inciting violence through his social media posts. The PhD student is facing charges for sharing a news article about former Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş with the hashtag of "Kobane resists," and also sharing a small anecdote about a man who had lost his son in Turkey's mandatory military service. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions has the mandate to investigate cases of deprivation of liberty imposed arbitrarily or inconsistently with the international standards set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, or the international legal instruments accepted by the States concerned. Read more - Lire plus TAKE ACTION: Let Turkish officials know the world is watching

Ken Rubin: A Little-Known Trans-Canada Digital Identity Regime in the Works; In Whose Interest? Hill Times 03/05/2021 - Are Canadians being gamed by certain government and corporate interests into believing a brighter post-pandemic future is coming if we all have digital ID's? They say it means more effective government services and a better data-driven economy. It is not an effort to establish a central data bank for a national ID card or for state and market surveillance, they claim. Governments already have multi-personal data sharing agreements in place and driver licences, health cards, SIN cards and passports that can be linked, some with biometric features. This is dramatically changing as an August, 2020 Treasury Board note indicates in their “working with other departments and jurisdictions to develop a pan-Canadian approach to digital identity”. [...] However, there has been little public consultations or adequate public information on going ahead with such a digital ID regime. Federally, the privacy commissioner has had “some conversations with federal government departments about various targeted initiatives, for example the Traveller Digital Identity service. But, its “office has not been consulted on a national digital ID by the federal government”. Back in 2018-19, the Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Committee held hearings examining the shift towards digital services. Their review included the Estonia model, where digital government services means everyone has to have an electronic ID as a starting point to get government services, and for voting online. The hearings were not directly on adapting or approving a Canada-wide digital identity scheme. Yet the federal government at that time was already laying the groundwork for going towards digital ID services. It set up a low-profile Digital Ministry and Canadian Digital Service and the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Ministry adopted a pro-business Digital Charter on advancing to a digital-based economy. Millions are and continue to be spent on putting a digital ID regime in place. Some of the biggest beneficiaries are the IT and AI industries, and given privacy and cyber security concerns, so are state security agencies and their security industry contractors. [...] Now, the April 2021 federal budget provided for a data commissioner office with a five-year $17.6 million budget. That office's mandate is to encourage new digital data initiatives and corporate competition and data sharing. The Privacy Commissioner Office confirms that it was not consulted about establishing a data commissioner whose office could well serve as a counterweight to any objections and actions the privacy commissioner may suggest and undertake. Economic-driven digitization and digital ID schemes pose new privacy risks, taking away more control Canadians could have over their personal data, and potentially allowing much quicker means for monitoring, tracking and profiling citizens. Just turn to the current concerns over government-sponsored COVID-19 tracking apps and the discussions about how vaccine passports would work. Yet big government, big tech, security interests are getting special kid-glove treatment. Protection of personal data seems to be secondary to building a data economy. In past schemes, governments wanted an all-powerful social insurance card ID or an universal smart biometric identity card but neither materialized despite efforts. The digital ID system is being built and governments are counting on Canadians trusting its intent and wanting online services. But Canadian governments need to hit pause, and rethink their digital identity scheme and digital legislation that's pushing sufficient and secure privacy protection largely aside. Read more - Lire plus Privacy Commissioner of Canada: Reform bill C-11 “a step back overall” for privacy

Daphne Eviatar, Amnesty International: Closing of Guantánamo Must be a Priority for President Biden NYT 21/05/2021 - Responding to the Biden administration approving three more detainees at Guantánamo Bay for release, Daphne Eviatar, the director of the Security With Human Rights program said: It is not enough for the Biden administration to announce that more detainees are cleared for release when the government has not made any plans for how it will let cleared detainees finally experience freedom. Nine people are currently cleared for release at Guantánamo and some have been cleared for more than a decade, yet they are still stuck. This is an outrageous and shameful violation of human rights. President Biden cannot have true credibility advocating for other countries to respect human rights if he does not prioritize closing Guantánamo. Amnesty International USA is calling on President Biden immediately to appoint a high-level official in his administration to take charge of closing Guantánamo and arranging the transfers of all detainees who are not charged with crimes, a critical first step to ending the indefinite detention of the detainees there. Read more - Lire plus Biden Administration Clears 3 Guantánamo Detainees for Release U.S. Defends Detention of Afghan at Guantánamo Despite Pullout Guantánamo Detainee Agrees to Drop Call for C.I.A. Testimony Former Guantanamo Special Envoy Advocates For Prison's Closure

U.S. government removed Ahmad Chebli from the No-Fly List ten days after the ACLU filed a lawsuit Detroit News 12/05/2021 - The ACLU has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Dearborn man who says he was wrongly put on the federal government's "No Fly" list, the group said Wednesday. The U.S. government removed Ahmad Chebli from the list after the ACLU filed the lawsuit on Chebli's behalf in federal court. Chebli was put on the No Fly List in 2018 after he refused to become an FBI informant despite agents’ repeated coercive threats against him and his family, according to the ACLU. “I’m relieved to be off the No Fly List, but still reeling from the government’s abusive use of the list against me and its violations of my constitutional rights,” Chebli said in a statement Wednesday. “For over two years, I sought a fair process to clear my name, and the government failed to provide me with one," he said. "As a Muslim in this country, it can be easy to feel like a second-class citizen and be afraid to stand up for your rights because of the way our own government treats us.” Chebli, U.S. citizen of Lebanese descent, was unable to fulfill his religious pilgrimage obligations, in violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the lawsuit states. The lawsuit was filed April 6 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., by the ACLU's national office, the ACLU of Michigan and the ACLU in the District of Columbia. The U.S. government responded to the lawsuit 10 days later, saying Chebli has “been removed from the No Fly List, and will not be placed back on the No Fly List based on currently available information.” “Ahmad Chebli should have never been put on the No Fly List, and although we are now happy for him and his family, it shouldn’t have taken an ACLU lawsuit to get him removed,” said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project. Shamsi added: "The federal agencies responsible for the No Fly List have done nothing to end or overhaul a system that the government can easily abuse while failing to provide a fair, meaningful, and timely process to challenge wrongful placement.” Read more - Lire plus

Pentagon list of extremism experts includes anti-Muslim and conservative Christian groups The Intercept 12/05/2021 - A Pentagon working group established in the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot to root out domestic extremists has circulated a list of prospective partners that includes representatives of a conservative Christian group and an anti-Muslim extremism group, according to an internal Defense Department document obtained exclusively by The Intercept. In several cases, these potential partners were themselves involved in the misidentification of Muslims as terrorists. On April 9, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the establishment of the Countering Extremism Working Group, which would “receive information from both internal and external Subject Matter Experts,” who would serve as consultants. The document shows that those experts could include representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union, anti-hate groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, as well as the conservative First Liberty Institute and the anti-Muslim Middle East Media Research Institute. The document, which was provided to The Intercept by a Pentagon source on condition of anonymity to avoid professional reprisal, is not dated, but the source said that it was disseminated late last month. The document states, “The Countering Extremism Working Group (CEWG) would like to partner with experts on counter extremism and counter terrorism to better understand the scope of the problem and inform the 90-day report for the Secretary of Defense. These experts may come from advocacy groups, academia, and other areas that contribute the to the fight against terrorism.” Read more - Lire plus The US Needs to Stop Treating Ramadan Like a National Security Issue

ACTIONS & EVENTS

NEW Canada must take action to end the injustice against Dr Hassan Diab

Despite no new evidence, strong exculpatory evidence, and contradictory reasoning, France's highest court, the Cour de Cassation, has upheld the French Court of Appeal's shocking order that Hassan must stand trial. Send the message below to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and your MP: The Canadian government must take immediate action to put an end to Dr. Diab's long odyssey of injustice! Please share on Facebook + Twitter + Instagram. Thank you!

ACTION

Version française: Le Canada doit mettre fin à l'injuste contre le Dr Hassan Diab Partagez sur Facebook + Twitter + Instagram Want to do more? Take these actions as well: NEW Parliamentary Petition in support of Hassan Diab Independent Jewish Voices: Send an Email to Justin Trudeau: No Second Extradition for Hassan Diab! Hassan Diab Support Committee: Urge PM Trudeau to end Hassan’s nightmare of injustice!

NEW Tell Trudeau to sanction Israel Right now, Gaza is under attack, and Jerusalem is being ethnically cleansed right before our eyes. Help us ramp up the pressure on the Trudeau government to stop Israeli aggression and war crimes. Send an email to Trudeau now demanding that the Canadian government forcefully condemn Israel’s actions and follow its words up with consequences, including sanctions. ACTION New action to help free Cihan Erdal CUPE member Cihan Erdal has been unjustly jailed for six months in Turkey. CUPE National has sent a letter to Canadian foreign affairs minister with three specific demands for action and reiterating CUPE’s call last fall for Canada to work on Cihan’s behalf. You can help by reminding the Ankara Prosecutor, Turkish Minister of Justice and the President of Turkey of their country's human rights obligations and encourage them to release Cihan and to allow him to return home. Click here to take more actions ACTION

Save Abdo from deportation Abdelrahman El Mady is a father, a husband, a human rights activist and a refugee. He escaped persecution in his home country of Egypt, hoping to find safety in Canada. Instead he faced profiling and Islamophobia at the hands of the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA). The CBSA has deemed him inadmissible and is now trying to deport him to Egypt. The Canadian government must hold the CBSA accountable, offer Abdo protection from the risks of detention and torture in Egypt, and reunite him with his wife and children in Canada. ACTION Tell PM Trudeau: No New Fighter Jets! The Canadian government has launched a competition for 88 new fighter jets, for a starting price of $19 billion (and a cost of at least $77B over the lifespan of the jets). This is the second most expensive procurement in Canadian history. This purchase is planned for early 2022. It's crucial that the government hears from all of us, now! Send a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau, National Defence Minister Sajjan, Foreign Affairs Minister Champagne, and all Members of Parliament. ACTION

Protect our rights from facial recognition! ICLMG - Facial recognition surveillance is invasive and inaccurate. This unregulated tech poses a threat to the fundamental rights of people across Canada. Federal intelligence agencies refuse to disclose whether they use facial recognition technology. The RCMP has admitted (after lying about it) to using facial recognition for 18 years without regulation, let alone a public debate regarding whether it should have been allowed in the first place. Send a message to Prime Minister Trudeau and Public Safety Minister Bill Blair calling for a ban now. ACTION CSIS is NOT above the law! Two recent court decisions revealed the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) engaged in potentially illegal activities and lied to the courts. This is unacceptable, especially given that this is not the first time these serious problems have been raised. CSIS cannot be allowed to act as though they are above the law. Send a message to the Public Safety Minister demanding that he take action to put an end to this abuse of power and hold those CSIS officers involved accountable. Your message will also be sent to your MP and to Minister of Justice David Lametti. ACTION

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. 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. ACTION Tell Transport Minister to cancel Canada's drone contract now! Canada’s Transportation Ministry recently approved a $36M contract for drone technology from Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons company. The money will purchase a “civilian” version of Elbit’s lethal military drone, the same one which was used to kill civilians during Israel’s assault on Gaza in 2014. Click below to message the Transport Minister, the Prime Minister, federal political leaders, and your MP. ACTION

Stop CSIS from targeting everyday citizens & community groups A recent report revealed that CSIS, Canada’s spy agency, collected over 8,000 pages of documents, spying on citizens like you, people who exercise their democratic rights by attending a community meeting at a local church or taking peaceful action for what they believe in. And CSIS shared this info with Big Oil corporations. Sign this petition to tell the govt to stop using taxpayer money to unconstitutionally spy on Canadians part of peaceful community groups. ACTION All-in-one action page: Stop Mohamed Harkat's Deportation to Torture Call PM Trudeau, write a letter to Public Safety Minister & your MP, and sign Sophie Harkat's petition to stop the deportation of Moe Harkat.  If sent back to Algeria, Moe faces detention, torture and death. No one should be deported to torture. Ever. ACTION

Reunite Ayub, Khalil, and Salahidin with their families Ayub Mohammed, Salahidin Abdulahad, and Khalil Mamut are 3 Uyghur men who fled China's persecution. They were sold by bounty hunters to the US military in 2001 and taken with 19 other Uyghurs to Guantanamo. Despite being exonerated in 2003, they were kept in Guantanamo for years. Now in forced exile, their families are here in Canada, and their kids growing up without their fathers. Despite posing no threat to Canadian national security, these men have been waiting over 5 years to reunite with their families. Take action to reunite them! ACTION Call on China to allow reunion of Uyghur families Many Uyghur parents overseas have had to leave one or more children in the care of family members in Xinjiang. Some parents have since learned their children were taken to state-run “orphan camps” or boarding schools after the relatives taking care of them had been detained. The mass detention campaign in Xinjiang has prevented Uyghur parents from returning to China to take care of their children themselves. Sign the petition and call on China's President to ensure that children are allowed to leave China to be reunited as promptly as possible with their parents and siblings already living abroad, if that is preferred by them. ACTION

China: Free Canadian Huseyin Celil The Chinese authorities accused Huseyin of offences related to his activities in support of Uighur rights. They held Huseyin in a secret place. They gave him no access to a lawyer, to his family, or to Canadian officials. They threatened him and forced him to sign a confession. They refused to recognize Huseyin’s status as a Canadian citizen, and they did not allow Canadian officials to attend his trial. It was not conducted fairly, and resulted in a sentence of life in prison in China. His life sentence was reduced to 20 years in February 2016. Huseyin has spent much of his time in solitary confinement. He lacks healthy food and is in poor health. Kamila needs her husband, and the boys need their father back. ACTION Canada must act to end Islamophobia in Xinjiang, China There is credible evidence that up to one million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other mainly Muslim groups in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region are being detained in secret internment camps. Detainees are brainwashed, tortured and are forced to renounce their religion and culture. Tell China to close its secret ‘re-education’ camps for ethnic minorities And send a message to Chrystia Freeland demanding that Canada actively support an independent and unrestricted international fact-finding initiative to Xinjiang. Tell China to stop targeting Uyghurs ACTION

Protect Encryption in Canada Our ability to use the Internet safely, securely and privately is under threat. Canada wants to create 'back doors' into encryption like some of our partner countries in the Five Eyes Alliance have already done. This weakens Internet safety for all of us. If we don’t act, Canada could be next. We need a policy that explicitly protects our right to encryption now. ACTION Environmental defenders are not terrorists! We, the undersigned environmental and climate activists from the Philippines and the international community, urge Filipino public authorities to undertake preventive interventions against the continued red-tagging and the possible escalation of reprisals against environmental defenders. We urge legislators to declare red-tagging as a crime punishable by law for curtailing constitutionally-guaranteed free speech and other civil liberties. ACTION

Defund the police & the RCMP More and more people are calling on their city councils to reduce and eliminate budgets for policing. We are no longer going to pay for police to harm our communities. These funds can be re-directed to support the recovery and provide much need improvements to public housing, transit, and food security programs among other basic needs. Please use this e-mail tool to tell your City Councillor to act now to defund the police in your communities. Together we keep each other safe. Abolish the RCMP now Fire RCMP Commissioner ACTION Your phone is not safe at the border Canada’s border agents can search your phone and laptop at borders and airports, including looking through your private photos, personal messages, and call history. These ‘digital strip searches’ are allowed because our laws are incredibly out of date. But politicians are refusing to update them for our digital age. Fight back with us: demand updated laws, learn more about your rights, and make a complaint if your privacy has been violated at the border. ACTION

MORE NEWS - AUTRES NOUVELLES

Anti-terror and national security laws Lois antiterroristes et sur la sécurité nationale UN, Amnesty sound alarm over Switzerland's new anti-terror law Finland - Terror laws may be expanded to include incitement, pro-terrorist religious or ideological education Philippines - 3-day detention limit under Constitution not applicable to Anti-Terrorism Act – gov’t lawyers

Attacks on dissent Attaques contre la dissidence Hong Kong labor chief vows action against unions over national security Human rights lawyer barred from leaving China on national security grounds Sri Lanka Charges Tamils who Remembered their War Dead under Draconian Anti-Terror Law Briton arrested in France is aid worker, not terrorist: Advocacy group

Facial recognition Reconnaissance faciale Amazon extends moratorium on police use of facial recognition software MediaJustice Demands Amazon Permanently End Sale of Surveillance Tech to Police and Federal Agents

Freedom of speech, press & academia Liberté d'expression, de presse et académique Amnesty International suspends ties with University of Toronto law program over its decision not to appoint Valentina Azarova as the program’s director Poet Mohammed El-Kurd Detained in Sheikh Jarrah After Condemning Israeli Apartheid on U.S. TV Emmanuel Macron’s Government Has Banned Palestine Solidarity Demonstrations Social networks accused of censoring Palestinian content Hong Kong pulls more democracy books from library shelves citing security law concerns

Privacy and surveillance Vie privée et surveillance The Pentagon is tracking US citizens without a warrant, Senator says Snowden sonne l’alarme sur la collecte de données lors d'une présentation à l'Université Concordia

Terror List Liste terroriste Philippines - ATC ‘terror list’ poses greater danger, chilling effect on critics

From July to December 2020

ICLMG - 2020 has been BUSY! Click below to see what we’ve accomplished in the second half of 2020, but first here is our plan for the next year. In 2021, we will continue fighting: against facial recognition technology, governments' attacks on encryption, and online mass surveillance for a review mechanism for the Canada Border Services Agency to abolish security certificates and end deportation to torture to repeal of the Canadian No Fly List for justice for Hassan Diab & the reform of the Extradition Act and much more! Find out how you can help here and see what we did in 2020 below: What we've been up to in 2020 + Share on Facebook + Twitter + Instagram Ce que nous avons fait en 2020 + Partagez sur Facebook + Twitter + Instagram

Les opinions exprimées ne reflètent pas nécessairement les positions de la CSILC - The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the positions of ICLMG.

THANK YOU to our amazing supporters! We would like to thank all our member organizations, and the hundreds of people who have supported us over the years, including on Patreon! As a reward, we are listing below our patrons who give $10 or more per month (and wanted to be listed) directly in the News Digest. Without all of you, our work wouldn't be possible! Mary Ann Higgs Kevin Malseed Brian Murphy Colin Stuart Bob Thomson James Turk John & Rosemary Williams Jo Wood The late Bob Stevenson Nous tenons à remercier nos organisations membres ainsi que les centaines de personnes qui ont soutenu notre travail à travers les années, y compris sur Patreon! En récompense, nous nommons ci-dessus nos mécènes qui donnent 10$ ou plus par mois et voulaient être mentionné.es directement dans la Revue de l'actualité. Sans vous tous et toutes, notre travail ne serait pas possible! Merci!

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