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International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group
Coalition pour la surveillance internationale des libertés civiles
November 25, 2023 - 25 novembre 2023
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IJV Canada: A Temporary Pause Is not Enough | |
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Independent Jewish Voices Canada 23/11/2023 - IJV welcomes with relief the announcement of a temporary pause to the devastating violence taking place across the Gaza Strip. The accompanying exchange of hostages for political prisoners is a step in the right direction. However, these measures, which bring some respite to the millions of Palestinians in Gaza and to the families of hostages alike, are not enough.
An enduring ceasefire is the only path towards lasting peace and justice in the region, and as allies, we must continue to advocate for a non-military resolution to the ongoing brutality of Israeli occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid. Pressure from Palestinians and others across the world was undeniably key in bringing about this welcome development, and we can’t stop that advocacy now.
Israel’s ongoing, genocidal siege on Gaza, its military attacks from air, land and sea, must end.
The over 100 remaining Israeli hostages and thousands of Palestinian political prisoners – state hostages, many of whom are children – must be returned to their homes. Additionally, the organized, armed and rampant settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must be stopped. Four days of sorely needed respite are not enough.
As negotiations continue, it’s imperative that supporters of justice for Palestinians continue to fight for an enduring ceasefire, a complete end to the siege of Gaza and for Canada to end its complicity with Israel. Once these four short days are done, Israel has promised to continue its assault on the civilian population in Gaza, so we cannot let this moment pass without continuing to act.
It is imperative that Western, especially Canadian and American, military aid to Israel’s far-right government be stopped immediately in the face of prospective ongoing, escalating violence. IJV calls on our members, supporters and allies to continue putting your bodies in the streets, bringing your voices to elected officials and offering financial support to the Palestinian liberation movement as we move through this critical juncture. Never again means never again for anyone – not just over the next four days, but forever. Source
TODAY NOV 25th: National March on Ottawa
United Nations' Definition of Genocide
Amnesty petition demanding ceasefire to end civilian suffering backed by more than one million signatures
ACTION: Amnesty International to world leaders: call for an immediate ceasefire
MSF open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: Canada must call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza
CJPME responding to myths: Why we need a ceasefire in Gaza
Palestinian Death Toll in Gaza Tops 13,000 as Israel Repeatedly Strikes U.N. Schools Housing Refugees
Gaza Hospitals Fail Under Israeli Bombardment; Doctors Without Borders Describes Horrific Conditions
MSF doctors killed in strike on Al Awda hospital in Northern Gaza
A Grim Milestone: Journalist Death Toll Tops 53 as Israel Kills More Reporters in Gaza and Lebanon
Israeli Drone Strike Kills 3 Palestinians in Occupied West Bank
While a Fire Rages in Gaza, the West Bank Smolders
Thousands of Palestinian prisoners and Israel’s unlawful administrative detention policy
Amnesty International: Deal to release hostages and prisoners must pave way for further releases and a sustained ceasefire
Rabbis for Ceasefire: Jewish Leaders Organize to Halt Israel’s Bombardment of Gaza
NEW ACTION: Urge Governments to Invoke the Genocide Convention to Stop the War on Gaza
NEW ACTION: Phone and email to Demand a Ceasefire Now
NEW ACTION: Municipal Ceasfire Call
Israeli politicians want to empower military tribunals to execute Palestinians: The bill would also mandate the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of terrorism in Israeli courts
How Chinese firm linked to repression of Uyghurs aids Israeli surveillance in West Bank
Claims that NSO’s Pegasus spyware helps Israel find hostages are ‘nonsense,’ experts say
ONLINE EVENT: #NoTechForApartheid, Nov 27 at 2:30 PM ET
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Canadian government issued with notice of intention to seek prosecution of Canadian politicians for complicity in war crimes in Gaza | |
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ICJP 16/11/2023 - The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians’ Legal Working Group for Canadian Accountability (ICJP LWGCA) has issued a notice to the Government of Canada of its intention to prosecute Canadian officials for their role in aiding and abetting Israel’s perpetration of war crimes. The notice was issued to leading members of the Liberal government, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly, Minister of National Revenue Marie-Claude Bibeau, and Minister of Justice (Attorney General) Arif Virani.
The notice included a stark warning that Canadian government officials could be individually liable and face before the International Criminal Court if there is evidence they have aided and abetted Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity (a violation of Article 25(3)(c) and (d) of the Rome Statute).
The initiative has been supported by numerous leading domestic and international organizations dedicated human rights, international law, peace and foreign policy. To date over 11,000 people in Gaza have been killed by Israel’s military. Israel’s alleged international crimes include the withholding of humanitarian aide and safe passage, indiscriminately bombing civilians, and ethnic cleansing through a campaign of forced displacement of 1.5 million people. All of this has occurred while Israel has issued ominous statements indicative of a significant risk of genocide.
Despite this, the Canadian government has continued to pledge its steadfast support for Israel. It has also refused to halt arms exports, refused to take action to prevent the illegal recruitment of Canadian volunteers to assist Israel’s military, and refused to stop millions of dollars from being unlawfully sent by some Canadian organizations with charitable status to benefit Israel’s military. ICJP LWGCA calls on the Government of Canada to end its complicity in war crimes by calling for a ceasefire, canceling all arms exports permits to Israel, prosecute those recruiting Canadian volunteers for Israel’s armed forces, and prevent Canadian charities from using donations to benefit Israel’s armed forces. ICJP LWGCA continues to gather evidence in relation to the conduct of Canadian officials and intends to pursue all appropriate courses of action to ensure that those responsible for aiding and abetting war crimes are held accountable before the International Criminal Court and in other appropriate legal forums. Read more - Lire plus
VIDEO: Press conference: Intention to prosecute Canadian officials for aiding & abetting Israel's war crimes
NEW ACTION: Intention to prosecute Canadian officials for aiding and abetting Israel’s war crimes
VIDEO: The Role of Canadian charities in assisting Israel's military
Canadian individuals and families with relatives in Gaza are serving Canadian government officials with a "notice of intention to prosecute"
300+ lawyers and legal scholars letter send letter to Prime Minister Trudeau on Canada’s ongoing failure to call for a ceasefire in regard to Gaza
Thousands fill the streets of Canadian cities demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza
Four Canadian weapons facilities arming Israel blocked
“Failure to Prevent Genocide”: Biden Sued as U.S. Provides Arms & Support for Israel’s Gaza Assault
ACTION: Canada needs to take immediate action
ACTION: Email your MP to call for a ceasefire
ACTION: Send an urgent message to demand Canada stop arming Israel and push for an immediate ceasefire
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In Toronto: Jews Say No to Genocide Coalition Condemns Arrests In Regards to Indigo Postering, Calls for All Charges to be Dropped | The Jews Say No to Genocide Coalition represents Jewish people from organizations across Toronto including IfNotNow Toronto, Independent Jewish Voices, United Jewish Peoples Order (UJPO), Showing up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Toronto, and World BEYOND War Toronto. | |
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World Beyond War 23/11/2023 - Jews Say No to Genocide oppose in the strongest terms the arrest of Toronto peace activists in relation to posters that were allegedly put up at an Indigo bookstore naming CEO Heather Reisman’s support for Israeli occupation forces. For years, Reisman has made it her mission through her foundation, HESEG, to provide direct financial support to Canadian citizens to join the Israeli military.
These arrests are a clear effort by police to target and repress Palestine solidarity peace activists even as the majority of people in Canada are calling for a ceasefire. The 11 peace activists who have been charged are friends, community organizers, teachers, legal workers, labour activists, and parents. We call for all the charges to be immediately dropped.
We are now aware that 11 peace activists have been charged with allegedly conspiring to put up posters exposing Indigo founder Heather Reisman’s financial support for Israeli war crimes. These actions have been dubbed as “hate-motivated mischief”. We absolutely and unequivocally reject this characterization: denouncing Reisman and her pro-IDF actions is neither anti-semitism nor a hate crime. The real injustice is trying to silence and criminalize any form of solidarity with Palestinians. We will not be silent as a genocide rages on in our name.
The arrests are some of the worst examples of police overreach, intimidation, and waste of community resources. We are aware that:
- Police simultaneously raided seven houses in the middle of the night on November 22nd between 4:30 and 6:00am. At least 8 officers were involved in each of these raids. One peace activist had been arrested at an earlier date.
- Police knocked and then burst through the doors, often without identifying themselves. In some cases, even when the peace activists they were looking for were not at home.
- All residents of the house, including those who were not charged, were handcuffed.
- Elderly family members of peace activists, in some cases who do not speak English as a first language, were handcuffed, sometimes in view of their neighbours.
- Parents were handcuffed in view of their children, causing harm and trauma to the entire family.
- Doors were broken and peace activists were taken away leaving their apartment open to outsiders.
- In all cases, laptops and cellphones, including employer provided cell phones and laptops, have been seized. As a result, the peace activists are unable to complete their employment duties.
- A car was impounded for three days.
- Once arrests were made, peace activists were kept handcuffed for hours, sometimes in the back of police cars with their hands behind their backs.
These arrests are aggressive, unjustified, abusive – and are specifically designed to silence all those who oppose genocide and support a Free Palestine. We will not be silenced; solidarity actions will continue. We reiterate our call for a permanent ceasefire, an end to the occupation and siege of Gaza, and an end to Canada’s government and corporate complicity in Israeli apartheid. Source
Capitol Police Violently Break Up Jewish-Organized DNC Protest Calling for Gaza Ceasefire
A List Of Some People In Canada Fired For Pro-Palestine Views
Palestine Legal Referral Services: Protecting Free Expression at Work
Israel lobby’s war on students won’t end pro-Palestine activism
CTV reports on Gaza with anti-Palestinian double standard, data shows
Bomb threats and gun violence continue to impact Canadian Jewish and Muslim Communities
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Adviser warns UK government against tightening laws on glorifying terrorism | |
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The Guardian 23/11/2023 - No 10 should not implement plans to amend the law on glorifying terrorism after the pro-Palestine marches as it would do “no favours” to police, MI5 or the probation service, a government adviser has said.
In a 15-page report submitted to the Home Office, Jonathan Hall KC, the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said there was no need to respond to the marches with new terrorism legislation, adding that there was “good reason for caution” given both the risk of unintended consequences and the drain on limited state resources.
Ministers have said they want to tighten the law on glorifying terrorism after the conduct of a minority of people on the pro-Palestine demonstrations in recent weeks, including the chanting of the controversial slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, prompted calls for change. Some view the words as antisemitic and as encouraging the destruction of Israel.
In his advice to the home secretary, James Cleverly, Hall wrote that changes to terrorism legislation would not be the right course given the utmost seriousness of the crimes they cover, the need for precision in the law and the risk of inflicting “excessive damage” on the right to free speech.
He said: “My overall conclusion is that there is no need to legislate for any amendments to terrorism legislation now, and good reason for caution. “It is difficult to identify any real situations where a gap in terrorism legislation means that terrorist mischief cannot currently be addressed by arrest and prosecution.
“Given the number of pro-Palestine marchers, there have been plenty of opportunities for gaps to become apparent. There may well be other mischiefs (such as antisemitism), but those are not a subject for terrorism legislation. “There is a general risk of legislating in response to one set of protests because of the risk of unintended consequences when new legislation comes to be applied to other protests.” [...] The glorifying of terrorism is already a criminal offence, but only if people could reasonably infer that there is an encouragement to emulate the conduct. Hall warned that broadening the offence should be immediately ruled out. Read more - Lire plus
IJV: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” Is not Hate Speech
VJI: “Du fleuve à la mer, la Palestine sera libre” n’est pas un discours de haine
Hate crime charge stayed against Calgary man who led, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” chant
Presumptively Antisemitic: Islamophobic Tropes in the Palestine–Israel Discourse
Digital Blackout: Systematic censorship of Palestinian voices
Content governance in times of crisis: how platforms can protect human rights
Second lawsuit filed over Florida efforts to disband pro-Palestinian student groups
Israel’s law prohibiting ‘Consumption of Terrorist Publications’ infringes on rights, freedoms – paper
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Inaction by Design?: The Case of Canadians Trapped In North East Syria | |
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Hameed Law Blog 18/11/2023 - Does Canada have a positive legal obligation to assist its nationals when they are detained abroad in inhumane conditions? This question was recently the subject of the Bring our Loved Ones Home (BOLOH) leave to appeal request to the Supreme Court of Canada for four Canadian men who are currently detained under the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). The request for leave to appeal was denied by the Supreme Court on November 16, 2023, raising renewed concern for ongoing human rights violations faced by the detainees.
The domestic and International Law history of this case highlights the gravity of the situation faced by the detainees. It also raises pragmatic questions about how Canada’s ongoing failure to repatriate the detainees should be assessed. Is the legal impediment created by the recent Supreme Court’s decision an indicator that the situation of the detainees is beyond Canada’s control? Does the danger and risk of travel to the region create an insurmountable obstacle for Canada? Or, is Canada’s inaction by design? [...]
The decision of the Federal Court of Appeal was appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada on behalf of the BOLOH families of the detained men. On November 16, 2023, the Supreme Court of Canada denied the request for leave. No reasons for decision are provided on a leave application, so we are left to speculate as to why the Court decided that the case did not raise an issue of national and public importance.
It is noteworthy that the underlying questions implicated by the case of the BOLOH detainees touch, in part, on the “special circumstances” that could justify a finding that inaction by Canada may amount to a breach of a person’s life, liberty and security protected under section 7 of the Charter. The application of the Charter in such circumstances has not been meaningfully addressed since the Supreme Court’s decision in Gosselin. It is difficult to imagine a more pressing case than the BOLOH matter where state inaction affects Canadian detainees facing inhumane conditions of detention abroad in North East Syrian prison. Despite its inscrutability, the Supreme Court’s decision is the final legal disposition in the BOLOH appeal and is not subject to further appeal. Now that the Supreme Court has foreclosed the avenue of legally mandating Canada to repatriate its citizens, does this mean that Canada has no further responsibility to them? [...]
In June 2023, the delegation, consisting of Senator Kim Pate, former Secretary General of Amnesty International, Alex Neve, human rights lawyer, Hadayt Nazami, and former Canadian diplomat, Scott Heatherington, requested the Government of Canada’s permission to repatriate the Canadians on behalf of Canada. However, Canada rebuffed their request for authorization to act on its behalf. When the delegation appeared undeterred in its resolve to travel to the region, Canada then briefed Senator Pate on the considerable security risk in the region and the logistical problems of securing the cooperation of AANES.
Despite the adverse security briefing, the civil society delegation proceeded with its trip to the region in August 2023. They did so without Canadian funding, without delegated authority and without diplomatic privilege afforded to Canadian officials. The delegation traveled to the region and established constructive communication with AANES. It also succeeded in locating and meeting two of the nine Canadian men still trapped in North East Syria, including Canadian Jack Letts. Had the delegation been afforded delegated authority to act on behalf of Canada, it is plausible that it could have facilitated the release and transfer of the detainees back to Canada. Moreover, the fact that these citizens were able to travel to the region belies the notion that a diplomatic trip would be logistically unfeasible or impossible.
On August 31, 2023, the delegation provided a detailed briefing of its findings to Canadian officials and the Canadian public. However, since that time, there is no public indication that Canada has attempted its own trip to facilitate the release and transfer of the Canadian men. We are now left with a series of questions that demand answers from Canadian officials and citizens who seek to hold them accountable.
If a delegation of Canadian citizens can travel to North East Syria – without the support, funding or authority of Canada - what is stopping Canada from launching its own diplomatic trip to the region? If launching a diplomatic trip would be too onerous, why hasn’t Canada simply authorized the delegation to return to the region on Canada’s behalf now that travel to the region has been determined to be logistically feasible, including the established precedent of face-to-face meetings with detainees? If security logistics are not the operative impediment, what accounts for Canada’s continued paralysis? How should Canadians view Canada’s continued failure to take action? Read more - Lire plus
Matthew Behrens: Supreme Court Abandons Dozens of Detained Canadians in Syria
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15 Years of Injustice: How Much More Must Hassan Diab Endure? | |
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Justice for Hassan Diab 13/11/2023 - November 13 2023, marks 15 years since Dr. Hassan Diab was arrested by the RCMP at the request of France. Since that day, Hassan and his family have yet to experience lasting justice and true freedom.
After his arrest in Canada in 2008, Hassan was jailed in Ottawa, subjected to an extradition hearing, and extradited to France in November 2014, where he spent over three years in near solitary confinement. He was released from prison and returned to Canada in January 2018 after two French investigative judges, who thoroughly investigated the case, dismissed all the allegations against him. However, due to political pressure, the he was subjected him to a sham trial in absentia in April of this year. The politicised French court declared Hassan guilty and issued a warrant for his arrest. Since then, Dr. Diab and his family have lived in fear that he will be extradited once again for a crime he did not commit.
On this shameful 15th anniversary, we ask supporters to urge the government of Canada to DECLARE THAT HASSAN DIAB WILL NOT BE EXTRADITED A SECOND TIME.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Send a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging him to give immediate assurances that Canada will not accept nor accede to a second extradition request and reform Canada’s extradition law.
Letter in English
Lettre en français
(It’s okay to send the letter again even if you’ve done so before).
Thank you for your continued support! Source
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Calling for end to Canada's support for Philippines counter-terrorism campaign | |
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United Church of Canada 23/11/2023 - Hundreds of concerned citizens made their voices heard by writing letters to their Members of Parliament via The United Church of Canada website. They expressed deep concern that the Canadian government may be inadvertently enabling continued attacks on human rights and human rights defenders by providing financial, programmatic, and technical support to the Government of the Philippines.
In partnership with the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP-Canada), these concerns were also brought to Parliament Hill through the speaking tour of Neri Colmenares, Filipino Human Rights Lawyer. An ICHRP-Canada and United Church of Canada delegation accompanied Colmenares in meetings with several Members of Parliament from five political parties and with representatives from Global Affairs Canada. They discussed concerns related to Canada’s pending defense cooperation memorandum of understanding with the Philippine government.
Why were these letters written?
In 2020, the Government of the Philippines passed an Anti-Terrorism Act that allows attacks on the basic rights of those who oppose the government, all in the name of fighting “terrorism.” Since then, the Philippine government has misused the act to attack human rights and human rights defenders through extrajudicial killings, false accusations, arbitrary arrests, detention, and other means. The United Church of Canada, with other denominations and organizations, is very concerned that the Canadian government is inadvertently funding these attacks by providing support to the Government of the Philippines. Source
UN Expert Urges Philippines To Disband Anti-communist Agency
4 Cordillera activists challenge terror-tag, constitutionality of Anti-Terrorism Act
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New Canada PNR Agreement to be adopted today at the EU-Canada Summit | |
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statewatch 24/11/2023 - Six years ago, the Court of Justice of the European Union issued an opinion at the request of the European Parliament striking down the PNR agreement with Canada for its lack of safeguards on data protection, non-discrimination and effective remedy for individuals. In 2019, a new draft agreement was shared by the Commission with the European Parliament but no further amended version was communicated until… yesterday, on the day the negotiations are supposed to be finalised.
The vast amounts of data collected by private companies are of significant interest to policing, security and border agencies, and in the realm of travel, there is one type of information that has been increasingly sought by governments: Passenger Name Record (PNR) data.
PNR data is made up of a wide range of personal information shared with companies during the booking process, including name, address, travel itinerary, ticket information, contact details and means of payment, amongst other things. Where states have a PNR system in place, the data can be checked against lists of wanted or suspected individuals or run through profiling algorithms to detect individuals who may be of interest to the authorities.
The opinion of the Court of Justice in 2017 was hailed by civil society as “good news for EU citizens, as the risks associated with massive and unnecessary databases of sensitive personal data are unacceptable. Blindly collecting data, hoping it will magically protect our society, is bad for security and bad for fundamental rights.” In practice, however, an interim solution for Member States has been to transfer data directly to the Canadian authorities despite the European Council calling it a legal vulnerability. It appears to be common practice for national law enforcement to go rogue (and unsanctioned) on European standards concerning PNR.
The new Agreement:
The first version of the agreement in 2019 was not shared with the European Data Protection Board for an opinion and it does not look like the new version was shared either to consult on potential data protection vulnerability.
We publish the draft PNR agreement between the European Union and Canada here.
Because of the little amount of time given to Statewatch to comment after receiving the draft agreement only some arguments will be touched upon here. Although, on paper, it seems like the reasons for the refusal of the original agreement are addressed in the new version, there are several exceptions in case of emergency that could tumble the legal certainty and the overall safeguards offered to individuals, all the way to the availability of an effective remedy. Read more - Lire plus
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Secret intelligence documents show global reach of India's death squads | |
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The Intercept 21/11/2023 - The Indian government's intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, or RAW, has been planning assassinations targeting Sikh and Kashmiri activists living in foreign countries, according to secret Pakistani intelligence assessments leaked to The Intercept. The intelligence documents identify a series of threats against people living in Pakistan from RAW, which Pakistani security officials believe is working in conjunction with local criminal and dissident networks to carry out assassinations and other attacks.
According to the documents, RAW is targeting individuals and religious institutions alleged to support an armed insurgency in the disputed territory of Kashmir, as well as militant Sikh activists living in Pakistan and wanted by the Indian government. The documents offer compelling substantiation for the sensational claim that India has been carrying out a transnational assassination program against its political enemies. The Canadian government first made headlines in September with the accusation that Indian intelligence agents orchestrated the assassination of Sikh Canadian activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil. Nijjar was gunned down outside a gurdwara — a Sikh temple — this summer in Surrey, British Columbia.
In October in Britain, the family of activist Avtar Singh Khanda called for an inquest into his sudden death, alleging that he had been poisoned by Indian intelligence agents following a series of public threats to his life. In September, The Intercept reported on threats to Sikh activists in the U.S. after the FBI warned a number of Sikh Americans about intelligence showing that their lives were in danger after the killing of Nijjar. In 2022, a 75-year-old Sikh Canadian man named Ripudaman Singh Malik, who had been acquitted of involvement in a deadly bombing of an Air India flight in 1985, was shot to death in front of his family business in Canada under circumstances that remain unclear. Despite these accusations of involvement in international assassinations, which have caused increased friction in India’s foreign relations, so far little intelligence — Canadian, Pakistani, American, or otherwise — has been made publicly available about these killings.
According to a Pakistani intelligence assessment, this summer RAW was also targeting two Sikh activists in Pakistan for assassination in the cities of Lahore and Islamabad. One alleged target in Islamabad is unnamed, while another is Lakhbir Singh Rode, a prominent Sikh separatist leader living in Pakistan since the 1990s who has long been accused of terrorism by India’s government. Rode was involved in a movement that aimed to create an independent nation in the region of Punjab known as Khalistan in the 1980s and ’90s. That campaign was crushed by a brutal counterinsurgency that claimed the lives of thousands of Sikhs, while forcing many more into exile. Rode’s son, a Canadian citizen named Bhagat Singh, is, like his father, prominent in the diaspora movement for Sikh separatism. He told The Intercept that his father has long been living under threat from Indian intelligence. “It is a well-known fact that he has been on the Indian government’s hit list for years,” Singh said, adding that he was also warned by Canadian intelligence about threats to his own life following the assassination of Nijjar this summer, which he presumes are from Indian intelligence. “When [Nijjar] was killed, the response from many of us to our governments was, ‘We told you so,’” added Singh, referring to the community of diaspora Sikh activists. “But there is also a lot of anger that a foreign government could simply come here and murder a Canadian citizen.”
The Pakistani, Indian, and Canadian embassies did not provide comment for this story. The pace of suspected attacks inside Pakistan against individuals wanted by India appears to have accelerated in recent weeks. On November 13, India media reported the killing of another militant connected to an Islamist group in Karachi. The possible assassination followed the killings of two other Islamist militants wanted by India that had taken place recently in Pakistan’s tribal regions and the disputed territory of Kashmir. While covered in great detail by the Indian press, these killings have gone almost unmentioned in Pakistan, where local media and civil society are under de facto military control following the removal of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. The lack of attention to the suspected assassinations of both political dissidents and militants has prompted calls for more pressure on India from some members of its diaspora. “Anyone who speaks out against the Indian government anywhere in the world is under threat,” said Singh. The secret documents, which were produced by Pakistan’s Intelligence Bureau, a civilian-controlled security agency somewhat akin to the FBI, show serious concern that Indian intelligence will carry out more killings on its soil in the future. Read more - Lire plus
Indian Authorities Free Kashmir Journalist After 21 Months
Journalists Honored for Commitment to Press Freedom
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For a century, the American way of war has meant killing civilians | |
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The Intercept 12/11/2023 - Nearly a century ago in Nicaragua, American Marines in an armed propeller plane spotted a group of civilian men chopping weeds and trimming trees far below. Convinced that something nefarious was underway, they opened fire. The U.S. never bothered to count the wounded and dead. Four decades later in Vietnam, American troops hovering above a group of woodcutters grew unnerved when the men, women, and children failed to look up. Without provocation, the Americans unleashed rockets and machine-gun fire. Eight of the nine civilians below were killed. For hours in 2021, Americans peered down at a man driving through the Afghan capital of Kabul and convinced themselves that he was a terrorist. They launched a missile that killed him and nine other civilians, including seven children.
In each instance, Americans displayed clear signs of confirmation bias, in which people seek information that reinforces their preexisting beliefs. The same failings contributed to a 2018 drone strike in Somalia that killed at least three, and possibly five, civilians, including 22-year-old Luul Dahir Mohamed and her 4-year-old daughter Mariam Shilow Muse. Over the last century, the U.S. military has shown a consistent disregard for civilian lives. It has repeatedly cast or misidentified ordinary people as enemies; failed to investigate civilian harm allegations; excused casualties as regrettable but unavoidable; and failed to prevent their recurrence or to hold troops accountable. These long-standing practices stand in stark contrast to the U.S. government’s public campaigns to sell its wars as benign, its air campaigns as precise, its concern for civilians as overriding, and the deaths of innocent people as “tragic” anomalies. Such campaigns have mainly served to obscure the true toll of the American way of war, from the “banana wars” of the 1920s to the “forever wars” a century later. [...]
During the first 20 years of the war on terror, the U.S. conducted more than 91,000 airstrikes across seven major conflict zones — Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen — and killed up to 48,308 civilians, according to a 2021 analysis by Airwars, a U.K.-based airstrike monitoring group.
A 2020 study of post-9/11 civilian casualty incidents found most have gone uninvestigated. When they do come under official scrutiny, American military witnesses are interviewed while civilians — victims, survivors, family members — are almost totally ignored, “severely compromising the effectiveness of investigations,” according to the Center for Civilians in Conflict and Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute. That was the case with the 2018 Somalia strike that killed Luul and her daughter Mariam.
“It is unacceptable that in this strike and so many others, civilian survivors and families continue to struggle to get any kind of acknowledgment from the United States. The Department of Defense should urgently make long-overdue amends in consultation with the family,” said Annie Shiel, CIVIC’s U.S. advocacy director. “The family and the public at large also deserve transparency into the basis for this strike in the first place and how and why it resulted in the horrific deaths of a civilian mother and her young child.” Read more - Lire plus
Civilian Harm: Secret Pentagon Investigation Found No One at Fault in Drone Strike That Killed Woman and 4-Year-Old
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Cop City Protest Tear-Gassed as Activists Face “Unprecedented” RICO & Domestic Terrorism Charges | |
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DemocracyNow! 17/11/2023 - Protesters in Atlanta held a week of action to stop the construction of the massive $90 million police training complex known as “Cop City” in the Weelaunee Forest. This comes as activists have been organizing for a citywide referendum on the project which officials have tied up in court.
Meanwhile, 61 people facing RICO, or racketeering, and domestic terrorism charges appeared in court this month as the state tries to characterize them as “militant anarchists.” We get an update from Kamau Franklin, founder of the Atlanta-based grassroots organizing collective Community Movement Builders, who describes Atlanta’s repression of peaceful civil disobedience as part of an effort “to protect cops and capitalism.”
We also feature excerpts from Al Jazeera’s new Fault Lines documentary on the “Stop Cop City” movement and speak with correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who calls the mass charges against protesters “unprecedented.” Read more - Lire plus
Cop City Protesters Tried to Plant Trees. Atlanta Police Beat Them for It: Organizers swore off violence, but the cops used their garden tools as an excuse to attack them anyway.
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UN Committee against Torture publishes findings on Burundi, Costa Rica, Denmark, Egypt, Kiribati, Slovenia | |
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OHCHR 24/11/2023 - The UN Committee against Torture (CAT) today issued its findings on Burundi, Costa Rica, Denmark, Egypt, Kiribati and Slovenia, after reviewing the six States parties in its latest session.
The findings contain the Committee’s main concerns and recommendations on each country’s implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Key highlights include:
Egypt
In view of the consistent allegations of the systematic use of torture and ill-treatment by police officers, prison guards and other security forces members, as well as the military in police stations, prisons, State security detention centres, military bases and unofficial detention facilities, mainly against political opponents and Government critics, the Committee remained deeply concerned at the lack of accountability, which contributes to a climate of impunity. The Committee urged Egypt to ensure that all complaints are investigated by an independent body, and that the suspected perpetrators and the superior officers ordering or tolerating such acts are duly tried and punished.
The Committee raised the alarm that the country’s counter-terrorism laws contain a definition of terrorism that is vague and overly broad and that they have reportedly been used to silence critics of the Government. It also expressed its concern about allegations that people accused of terrorism are often subjected to arbitrary arrest, unlawful detention, torture, ill-treatment and enforced disappearance, and that court proceedings in terrorism cases often lack fundamental procedural safeguards to ensure fair trials. The Committee called on Egypt to review the definition of terrorism in its counter-terrorism legislation to ensure that it aligns with the Convention and international standards. It also asked the State party to investigate all cases of torture, ill-treatment and other violations committed by public officials against individuals accused of involvement in terrorist acts, to prosecute and duly punish those responsible, and to provide redress to the victims. Read more - Lire plus
Calling it what it is: Torture in Egypt as a crime against humanity
My brother - Alaa Abd El-Fattah - the political prisoner, by Sanaa Seif
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Tunisia: Reject Bill Dismantling Civil Society | |
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Euromed Rights 07/11/2023 - The draft law on associations submitted by 10 parliamentarians to the Tunisian Parliament on 10 October 2023 would violate the right to freedom of association and endanger civic space in Tunisia if adopted as currently formulated, 8 rights groups said today.
The draft law, if passed, would replace Decree-Law 2011-88 on associations, which enabled the emergence of a diverse civil society in the aftermath of Tunisia’s 2011 revolution. As presently drafted, it threatens to end more than a decade of work by independent groups. According to official data, over 24,000 civil society organizations are currently registered with the Tunisian authorities, although it remains unclear how many are active today. If adopted in its current form, the draft law would grant the government pervasive control and oversight over the establishment, activities, operations and funding of independent groups, which are one of the last remaining counterweights to President Kais Saied’s autocratic rule.
While the text claims to maintain a notification system for establishing new associations, it would actually introduce a thinly disguised registration system, granting a department under the Prime Minister’s Office the authority to deny a group the right to operate within a month after of registering (article 9.2). Without being required to provide any reasons, the government would also be able to petition the judiciary at any time requesting the cancellation of an association’s registration (article 9.3). In addition, new organizations would not be allowed to operate until a government-headed “administration of associations” publishes a notice in the Official Gazette, leaving open the possibility of denying a group’s registration. At present, under Decree-Law 2011-88 on associations, an association may begin operating once the representative of the association has notified its registration to the Official Gazette.
Under the draft law, international organizations would be required to obtain prior authorization to register from the Foreign Affairs Ministry (articles 8 and 19). Without setting conditions or deadlines for any such a process, the draft law empowers the Ministry to issue temporary authorizations and to revoke and suspend them at its own discretion (article 20). As a result, international organizations may be arbitrarily denied registration for any reason and without due process, the groups said.
In 2012, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association’s report on best practices related to the right to freedom of association recommended a “notification procedure”, rather than a “prior authorization procedure” requesting the authorities’ approval to establish an association as a legal entity. The 2017 Guidelines on Freedom of Association and Assembly in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights stipulate that “registration shall be governed by a notification rather than an authorization regime, such that legal status is presumed upon receipt of notification” and that the administrative body overseeing registration should carry out its functions “impartially and fairly.”
The draft law’s preamble states that associations must operate in accordance with the “principles of national orientation,” and must not “violate laws related to good morals,” “disturb public security,” “undermine the unity of the national territory and the republican system,” or “violate national sovereignty.” Such terms are vague, imprecise, arbitrary and overly broad and, as such, do not comply with the principle of legality. As a result, these concepts are open to broad interpretations and the authorities could use them to justify arbitrarily restricting or closing associations that displease them, the groups said.
The draft law places national organizations under “the supervision and control” of the Ministry relevant to their main area of work and international organizations under Prime Minister Office’s supervision (article 6). The current draft law does not specify what such “supervision and control” entail. It also requires associations to inform the pertinent Ministry of any planned activities (article 13). The draft law also gives rise to concern about surveillance as it empowers the authorities to establish a digital database of associations and volunteers (article 14).
If the draft law is adopted in its current form, then the authorities may interpret its many vague provisions to ban or dissolve associations. The establishment of associations on religious or ethnic grounds is forbidden in the draft law. In addition, the qualification that a group’s work must be “voluntary” may be interpreted as a ban on paid labour by non-profit groups (article 2). The draft text further provides that the Prime Minister’s Office can “automatically” dissolve any group “suspected of terrorism” or that has a “terrorist background” (article 24), without judicial review. Read more - Lire plus
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Revealed: plan to brand anyone ‘undermining’ UK as extremist | |
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The Guardian 04/11/2023 - Government officials have drawn up deeply controversial proposals to broaden the definition of extremism to include anyone who “undermines” the country’s institutions and its values, according to documents seen by the Observer. The new definition, prepared by civil servants working for cabinet minister Michael Gove, is fiercely opposed by a cohort of officials who fear legitimate groups and individuals will be branded extremists.
The proposals have provoked a furious response from civil rights groups with some warning it risks “criminalising dissent”, and would significantly suppress freedom of expression. One Whitehall official said: “The concern is that this is a crackdown on freedom of speech. The definition is too broad and will capture legitimate organisations and individuals.” [...] The documents state: “Extremism is the promotion or advancement of any ideology which aims to overturn or undermine the UK’s system of parliamentary democracy, its institutions and values.” [...]
Civil rights groups said introducing a wider definition of extremism would threaten freedom of speech. There has been no public consultation on the new definition. [...] Ilyas Nagdee, Amnesty International UK’s racial justice director, said: “This definition must not be accepted or implemented. “The definition of extremism and its usage in counter-terrorism policies like [counter-terrorism strategy] Prevent is already being applied so broadly it seeks to effectively hinder people from organising and mobilising. The proposed definition takes this even further and could criminalise any dissent.” Read more - Lire plus
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Europol deletes NoBorder initiatives from terror report, Dutch police doesn't see them as "extremists" | |
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nd 22/11/2023 - Europol has deleted the Abolish Frontex campaign and the international “No Border Movement” from its current EU situation report on terrorism. This was confirmed by the police agency at the request of “nd”. The changes had been requested from Europol by EU member states and an updated report was then published online by the agency on 26 October. The spokeswoman did not say which countries had requested the deletion.
Europol has been publishing the “EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report” (TE-SAT) since 2017. It summarises terrorist incidents from the 27 member states. It also includes incidents of “violent extremism” from various political directions. In the version of the “Trend Report” at the time, the anti-racist movements appeared under the heading “Left-wing and anarchist terrorist attacks, arrests, convictions and penalties” and the sub-heading “Activities and topics”. One of the reasons given was that the “No Border Movement” advocates the abolition of borders and worldwide freedom of movement “within the left-wing extremist and anarchist spectrum”. In this context, the EU border agency Frontex is also “seen as a stark enemy”.
In the original report, Europol also included a “No Border Camp” from August 2022 in Rotterdam among the networks that favoured “left-wing terrorism”. However, the Dutch police were not responsible for the deletion request, a spokeswoman told “nd”. But Europol had approached the authority with the question of whether the border camp could be delisted. They agreed “that this does not belong in the TE-SAT because it concerns activists and not extremists”. The Dutch police have also already made “adjustments and comments” to the first draft of the report, the spokesperson emphasised.
At the most recent meeting of Europol’s Parliamentary Scrutiny Board, Belgian Green MEP Saskia Bricmont asked Europol Director Catherine De Bolle about the methodology for the TE-SAT reports. De Bolle gave an evasive answer and referred to different interpretations of the 2017’s directive of “terrorism” in the member states, which are responsible for the national submissions for the annual EU report. According to De Bolle, there is also an Advisory Board to review the content of each edition.
This TE-SAT Advisory Board is made up of representatives of the past, present and future Presidencies of the Council of the EU, explains Europol to “nd”, along with permanent members. These are accordingly representatives from France and Spain, the EU Intelligence and Situation Centre (EU INTCEN), the EU Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust), the office of the EU Counter Terrorism Coordinator (EU CTC), and Europol. The EU Commission acts as an “observer”. But it still remains unclear, if this TE-SAT Advisory Board was responsible for the mention of the NoBorder initiatives in the report – or for their deletion.
“Every year, the TE-SAT report proves how member states misuse the definition of terrorism and label activists as a threat to national security,” says Romain Lanneau from Statewatch on what he considers to be a unique process of a deletion. The British civil rights organisation is one of the initiators of a campaign to request personal information from Europol. Those presumably affected should ask the police agency what data is stored about them and report results back to the organisers. Source
Frontex illegally processing migrants’ data, EU watchdog says
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LexisNexis sold powerful spy tools to U.S. Customs and Border Protection | |
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The Intercept 16/11/2023 - The popular data broker LexisNexis began selling face recognition services and personal location data to U.S. Customs and Border Protection late last year, according to contract documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. According to the documents, obtained by the advocacy group Just Futures Law and shared with The Intercept, LexisNexis Risk Solutions began selling surveillance tools to the border enforcement agency in December 2022. The $15.9 million contract includes a broad menu of powerful tools for locating individuals throughout the United States using a vast array of personal data, much of it obtained and used without judicial oversight.
Through LexisNexis, CBP investigators gained a convenient place to centralize, analyze, and search various databases containing enormous volumes of intimate personal information, both public and proprietary. “This contract is mass surveillance in hyperdrive,” Julie Mao, an attorney and co-founder of Just Futures Law, told The Intercept. “It’s frightening that a rogue agency such as CBP has access to so many powerful technologies at the click of the button. Unfortunately, this is what LexisNexis appears now to be selling to thousands of police forces across the country. It’s now become a one-stop shop for accessing a range of invasive surveillance tools.” A variety of CBP offices would make use of the surveillance tools, according to the documents. Among them is the U.S. Border Patrol, which would use LexisNexis to “help examine individuals and entities to determine their admissibility to the US. and their proclivity to violate U.S. laws and regulations.”
Among other tools, the contract shows LexisNexis is providing CBP with social media surveillance, access to jail booking data, face recognition and “geolocation analysis & geographic mapping” of cellphones. All this data can be queried in “large volume online batching,” allowing CBP investigators to target broad groups of people and discern “connections among individuals, incidents, activities, and locations,” handily visualized through Google Maps. CBP declined to comment for this story, and LexisNexis did not respond to an inquiry. Despite the explicit reference to providing “LexisNexis Facial Recognition” in the contract, a fact sheet published by the company online says, “LexisNexis Risk Solutions does not provide the Department of Homeland Security” — CBP’s parent agency — “or US Immigration and Customs Enforcement with license plate images or facial recognition capabilities.”
The contract includes a variety of means for CBP to exploit the cellphones of those it targets. Accurint, a police and counterterror surveillance tool LexisNexis acquired in 2004, allows the agency to do analysis of real-time phone call records and phone geolocation through its “TraX” software. While it’s unclear how exactly TraX pinpoints its targets, LexisNexis marketing materials cite “cellular providers live pings for geolocation tracking.” These materials also note that TraX incorporates both “call detail records obtained through legal process (i.e. search warrant or court order) and third-party device geolocation information.” A 2023 LexisNexis promotional brochure says, “The LexisNexis Risk Solutions Geolocation Investigative Team offers geolocation analysis and investigative case assistance to law enforcement and public safety customers.” Any CBP use of geolocational data is controversial, given the agency’s recent history. Prior reporting found that, rather than request phone location data through a search warrant, CBP simply purchased such data from unregulated brokers — a practice that critics say allows the government to sidestep Fourth Amendment protections against police searches. Read more - Lire plus
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Police Use of Face Recognition Is Sweeping the UK
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AI in Border Control and Surveillance in Europe
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UnitedHealth uses AI model with 90% error rate to deny care, lawsuit alleges
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US Congress Report Calls for Privacy Reforms After FBI Surveillance ‘Abuses’ | |
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Wired 16/11/2023 - A report compiled by the Republican majority members of the US House Intelligence Committee says that agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation should be required under the law to obtain a “probable cause warrant” before scouring the database of a controversial foreign intelligence surveillance program for information related to domestic crimes.
The Section 702 program, authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), has a history of being abused by the FBI, the Intelligence Committee says, necessitating a “complete review” of the program and “the enactment of meaningful reforms.” The program, which targets the communications of foreigners overseas with the compulsory assistance of US telecom providers, has been the target of significant scrutiny on Capitol Hill, with federal lawmakers frequently airing concerns about its capacity to be turned against the American public, whose texts, emails, and internet calls are collaterally intercepted by the US National Security Agency in unknown quantities each year. [...]
The FBI and the Biden administration at large have lobbied Congress to reauthorize the 702 program as is, ignoring calls for reform that have grown louder since the beginning of the year, manifesting this month in the form of a comprehensive privacy bill—the Government Surveillance Reform Act—legislation that likewise seeks to impose warrant requirements on the FBI, which at present can conduct searches of 702 data without a judge's consent, so long as it's “reasonably likely” to find evidence of a crime. [...]
The report goes on to detail “significant” violations at the FBI, most previously reported to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) in 2022, before they were made known to the public in May. The majority of the incidents—including one in which an FBI analyst conducted “batch queries of over 19,000 donors to a congressional campaign”—took place prior to a package of “corrective reforms” that the FBI is crediting with practically curing its compliance issues.
The report attributes “most” misuses of 702 data to “a culture at the FBI” wherein access was granted to many “poorly trained” agents and analysts with few internal safeguards. As one example, it states that FBI systems for storing 702 data had not been designed to make employees “affirmatively opt-in” before conducting a query, “leading to many inadvertent, noncompliant” issues of the system. “It also seems that FBI management failed to take query compliance incidents seriously,” the report says, “and were slow to implement reforms that would have addressed many of the problems.” [...]
The committee, nonetheless, notes that the FISC—albeit somewhat “encouraged” by recent improvements—has found the bureau's noncompliance with 702 procedures “persistent and widespread,” warning that it may become necessary to significantly curtail its employees' access to raw foreign intelligence in the future. “The FBI has a history of abuse regarding the querying of Section 702 information,” the report says, adding that reforms soon to be advanced by the intel committee would see the number of FBI employees with access to the data cut by as much as 90 percent.
Citing “insufficient oversight and supervision” at the FBI, the committee says it should be prepared to audit every query targeting a US person “within 6 months” of the search, and House and Senate leaders should be notified at once when and if an FBI analyst queries a term that might "identify a member of Congress.” Read more - Lire plus
US intelligence community wants new legislation that allows all foreigners applying for a visa, immigration, or asylum, to be vetted using Section 702 queries
Coalition warns Congress: don’t use legislative tricks to reauthorize surveillance abuse
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Trump Wants to Use the Military Against His Enemies. Congress Must Act. | |
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Slate 17/11/2023 - As recent reports have revealed, former President Donald Trump and his allies are making plans for how a second Trump administration would use the powers of the federal government to punish Trump’s critics and political opponents. Among other things, Trump would reportedly invoke the Insurrection Act—a law that gives the president nearly unchecked powers to use the military as a domestic police force—on his first day in office so that he could quash any public protests against him.
Unless Congress acts now to reform this dangerous and antiquated law, there’s little anyone could do to stop him. Federal military forces are usually barred from enforcing civilian laws by the Posse Comitatus Act. This prohibition reflects a tradition in American law and political thought that views an army turned inward as an inherent threat to democracy and individual liberty. But the Posse Comitatus Act is not an absolute rule. It allows federal troops to participate in law enforcement when doing so has been expressly authorized by Congress.
The Insurrection Act provides that authorization. The intent behind the act is to allow the president to use the military to assist civilian authorities when they are overwhelmed by an insurrection, rebellion, or other civil unrest, or to enforce civil rights laws when state or local governments can’t or won’t enforce them. In such cases, a narrow exception to the general rule against using the military for law enforcement makes good sense. The problem is that the Insurrection Act creates a giant loophole in the Posse Comitatus Act rather than a limited exception to it.
The Insurrection Act’s central failing is that it grants virtually limitless discretion to the president. Its vague and archaic language—it was first enacted in 1792, and last updated in 1874—provides little meaningful guidance as to what situations do or do not warrant deployment. One provision, for example, empowers the president to use the military or “any other means” to “take such measures as he considers necessary” to suppress any “unlawful combination … or conspiracy” that “opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.”
Compounding the problem, the Supreme Court ruled in 1827 that the president alone decides whether invoking the Insurrection Act is justified; the courts may not review or second-guess that determination. As for Congress, if it disapproves of a president’s use of the act, its only recourse is to pass a law ending the deployment. The president would likely refuse to sign such a law, and Congress would then have to muster a two-thirds supermajority to override the president’s veto. [...]
The law’s anachronisms leave it ripe for abuse. During the Civil Rights era, presidents properly invoked the Insurrection Act to enforce desegregation in the South against local and state opposition. But several presidents have also used it to suppress labor movements and to quell so-called “race riots” that were often triggered by state violence against people of color. As president, Trump reportedly displayed keen interest in using the Insurrection Act to suppress Black Lives Matter protesters in the summer of 2020. Even more ominously, several Trump allies urged him to invoke the Insurrection Act in an effort to stay in power after losing the 2020 presidential election.
The Brennan Center has proposed reforms to prevent abuse of the Insurrection Act. They include clarifying and narrowing the criteria for military deployments, specifying what actions are and are not authorized when the law is invoked, and empowering both Congress and the courts to serve as checks against abuse or overreach. Crucially, they would preserve the president’s flexibility to respond quickly and decisively to a true crisis that civilian authorities are unable to handle. In other words, they would amend the language of the law to conform to its underlying intent, rather than providing a blank check to the president. Congress should take up these or similar reforms without delay. Our nation is faced with the prospect of a president willing to use the United States military as his own personal domestic police force. Read more - Lire plus
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Australian military whistleblower pleads guilty over Afghan Files leak | |
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The Guardian 17/11/23 - An Australian military whistleblower who leaked classified material detailing alleged war crimes committed by special forces soldiers has pleaded guilty to stealing and sharing secret information. David McBride gave a trove of military documents to journalists at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) because, prosecutors said, he was concerned about what he believed was the “over-investigation” of troops over alleged war crimes. McBride, a former lawyer in the Australian army, said he felt a moral duty to speak out after attempts to raise his concerns within the military were ignored.
The information he provided was the basis for a series of 2017 ABC reports, the Afghan Files, which alleged widespread malfeasance by Australian special forces troops in Afghanistan, including the commission of multiple war crimes. Oxford-educated McBride, also a former British army major, originally intended to contest five charges at trial, and attempted to argue that his role in the military, and the oath he had sworn, established a duty for him to act in the public interest. His lawyers said that duty to the public interest overrode any duty to comply with general orders against disclosing military information.
After the court ruled against the admissibility of his arguments and of documents on which he sought to rely, McBride pleaded guilty to three charges. He is expected to be sentenced in the new year and could face imprisonment. On Friday afternoon at the Australian Capital Territory supreme court in Canberra, Justice David Mossop upheld the government’s claim that certain documents, if released, had the potential to jeopardise “the security and defence of Australia” and could not be used. McBride’s lawyer, Mark Davis, said the ruling was a “fatal blow” to his case and said his legal team would investigate an appeal.
McBride told reporters outside court: “I stand tall, and I believe I did my duty. I see this as the beginning of a better Australia.” Standing beside him, his ex-wife Sarah said it had been a long and difficult battle for their family, especially their two daughters. “I’m not giving up hope. He’s done the right thing – I’ve said that from the beginning,” she said. “Truth and justice will prevail and I’m incredibly proud of him, as are his two girls. Please don’t give up on him now.” McBride’s case has attracted intense public and political interest. After several unsuccessful attempts to convince Australia’s attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, to intervene to discontinue the prosecution – as Dreyfus has done on other whistleblower cases – McBride sought to argue that he had a duty to leak the documents because their public disclosure was in the public interest.
After McBride’s guilty plea, the Greens senator David Shoebridge reiterated calls on Dreyfus to intervene and to pardon McBride after sentencing. “The … government has now gotten its pound of flesh from David McBride,” Shoebridge said. “What possible benefit is there from taking steps and trying to put him in jail? I again call on the attorney general to intervene and end this prosecution.” Kieran Pender, a senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre in Australia, said there was no public interest in jailing whistleblowers. “This development must be a warning sign to the government that reform to federal whistleblowing law and the establishment of a whistleblower protection authority is urgent and long overdue,” he said.
Allegations that special forces troops committed war crimes remain an acutely sensitive issue in Australia. A four-year inquiry by the inspector general of the Australian Defence Force, completed in 2020, found “credible information” of 39 murders of civilians and prisoners by 25 members of the Australian special forces in Afghanistan, described the killings as a “disgraceful and a profound betrayal” of the Australian military, and said they could not be attributed to the “fog of war”. One former trooper, Oliver Schulz, has been charged with the war crime of murder, over allegations he shot an unarmed villager in southern Afghanistan. His case is before a court in New South Wales.
Australia’s most decorated Afghanistan veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith, a recipient of the Victoria Cross, lost a defamation case earlier this year over a series of newspaper reports accusing him of war crimes and that he said portrayed him as having “disgraced his country”. After a year-long trial, a judge found that the three newspapers had proved to the civil standard of the balance of probabilities that Roberts-Smith was complicit in the murder of four Afghan civilians, including kicking a handcuffed, unarmed prisoner off a cliff and ordering a subordinate to shoot him dead. Roberts-Smith is appealing against that judgment. Roberts-Smith has not been criminally charged but remains under investigation by the government’s Office of the Special Investigator, established to investigate war crimes allegations against Australians. That body is investigating more than 40 allegations. Source
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The State of Human Security in the UK | |
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Rethinking Security 16/11/2023 - Rethinking Security hosted a series of roundtable discussions with civil society groups throughout 2022. We shared some reflections on the blog during the discussions and we are now publishing the full report. Here, Joanna Frew explains why these discussions were so vital and shares a summary of their findings.
The aim of the roundtables, which were part of the Alternative Security Review, was to understand insecurities people in the UK experience, what civil society organisations are doing to address these insecurities and what they would recommend for a Human Security Strategy for the UK. These consultations were in some ways comparable to those that UK governments have carried out for security and other reviews. However, our aim was to invite representatives of groups that experience insecurity or that are unlikely to have access to policy-making spaces, in order to develop an understanding of the insecurities faced by people in the UK that often go unheard in elite circles.
The overwhelming conclusion was that, despite the UK’s position as the sixth richest country in the world, and its long history of parliamentary "democracy" and human rights, there are deep insecurities faced by numerous sections of society, which will take more than sticking plasters or funding to solve. A whole new way of conceiving of security at the national level is necessary.
Key Findings
Even in a democratic society, foreign and security policy can feel like particularly closed and exclusive worlds. That same elitism also damages wider participation and inclusion in politics and decision-making. [...]
‘National security’ concerns have crept in to many public bodies and imposed duties on public sector workers that undermine cohesion and damage human security. At the same time, the use of the word security to define positive rights has been withdrawn. [...]
The profit motive undermines progress towards environmental security, particularly in key sectors such as food and energy. [...]
The Collective Message
The collective message from these roundtable discussions is that, across all sectors, human and environmental security is not prioritised by government. Instead, traditional ideas about ‘national security’ prevail alongside the profit motive. Economic sufficiency, health, access to food and the certainty of a flourishing environment are increasingly not a given for many more millions of people in the UK. New laws and policy on policing, ‘domestic security’ and democratic participation have curtailed community, personal and political security.
What Now?
These roundtable discussions emphasised the connected nature of peace and justice. While traditional approaches to ‘national security’ such as militarism and counter terrorism are prioritised by government and absorb a large share of the budget, human and environmental security suffer within the UK and globally. With this information and the results of surveys, focus groups and interviews carried out by the ASR’s research team at Coventry University, Rethinking Security is preparing to launch its Human Security Strategy for the UK in the New Year.
Amidst the violence and humanitarian disaster in the Middle East, ongoing war in Ukraine, Yemen and elsewhere, the space to put forward more just, peaceful and sustainable alternatives seems to shrink. However, with an evidence-based strategy that centres the concerns of ordinary people and civil society in the UK, we hope to bring a challenge to the government’s ‘national security’ priorities and its methodology for deciding them.
Use the roundtable reports to learn more about the connections between peace and justice issues, and to find out what groups are doing to work for human security across the UK. Our Human Security Strategy will be out in the New Year with specific recommendations on doing security policy differently.
In the meantime, to be part of the discussion, you can also join our webinars, Reclaiming Security, over the next few months as we explore what it means to put human security at the centre of understanding global, community and individual security. Read more - Lire plus
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Canada: Remove the national security exemptions from Bill C-27! | |
Bill C-27, the Digital Charter Implementation Act, has been introduced by the federal government with the promise that it would enhance privacy protections, adequately regulate artificial intelligence (AI) and protect human rights. The bill, however, is not up to the task. Please join us in denouncing the dangerous national security related exemptions in the bill. | |
Canada: Do not purchase armed drones | |
The ICLMG is a member of the No Armed Drones campaign | |
In the government's proposal seeking bids for its drone program it laid out disturbing scenarios for Canadian military drone use: One scenario described drones being used to surveil activists protesting a (theoretical) G20 Summit in Quebec, helping the security team intercept and identify the occupants of a vehicle, who are “anti-capitalist radicals” intending to “hang a banner concerning global warming.” Another scenario modeled after US drone strike programs features a drone bombing “Fighting Age Males” in the Middle East after spotting one of them “holding a small radio or cell phone." The initial cost estimate is $5 billion with billions more to operate the drones over their 25-year lifespan. | |
CSIS isn't above the law! | |
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In recent years, at least three court decisions revealed the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) engaged in potentially illegal activities and lied to the courts. This is utterly 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 Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino demanding that he take immediate action to put an end to this abuse of power and hold those CSIS officers involved accountable, and for parliament to support Bill C-331, An Act to amend the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act (duty of candour). Your message will also be sent to your MP and to Minister of Justice David Lametti.
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Canada must protect Hassan Diab! | |
Canada must repatriate all Canadians detained in NE Syria now! | |
On January 20, 2023, Federal Court Justice Henry Brown ruled that Canada must repatriate Canadians illegally and arbitrarily detained in northeast Syria. On February 6, 2023, the Canadian government filed an appeal and asked that the Brown ruling be set aside and placed on hold while the appeal plays out. This is unacceptable.
Every day the government fails to bring these Canadians home, it places their lives at risk from disease, malnutrition, violence, and ongoing military conflicts, including bombing by Turkey’s military. United Nations officials have even found that the conditions faced by Canadians in prison are akin to torture. Please click below to urge the federal government to repatriate all Canadians illegally & arbitrarily detained in northeast Syria without delay.
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20 years of fighting deportation to torture: Justice for Mohamed Harkat Now! | |
Canada must protect encryption! | |
Canada’s extradition system is broken. One leading legal expert calls it “the least fair law in Canada.” It has led to grave harms and rights violations, as we’ve seen in the case of Canadian citizen Dr Hassan Diab. It needs to be reformed now.
Click below to send a message to urge Prime Minister Trudeau, the Minister of Justice and your Member of Parliament to reform the extradition system before it makes more victims. And share on Facebook + Twitter + Instagram. Thank you!
Regardez la vidéo avec les sous-titres en français + Agir
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Protect our rights from facial recognition! | 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. | |
OTHER NEWS - AUTRES NOUVELLES | |
January to June 2023 - Janvier à juin 2023 | |
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Here is what we worked on so far this year thanks to the support of our members and donors:
- Bill C-20, Public Complaints and Review Commission Act
- Bill C-26, An Act respecting cyber security and amending the Telecommunications Act
- Bill C-27, Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022
- Bill C-41: International assistance and anti-terrorism laws
- Canadians detained in Northeastern Syria
- Justice for Dr Hassan Diab & reform of the Extradition Act
- Combatting Islamophobia
- Countering terrorist financing & prejudiced audits of Muslim charities
- National Security and Intelligence Review Agency
- CSIS accountability and duty of candour
- CSE, surveillance and cyberwarfare
- Facial Recognition Technology (FRT)
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“Online harms” proposal
- Canada’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR)
- Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Counter-terrorism
- UN Counterterrorism Executive Directorate Canada assessment
- UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights global survey on counterterrorism and civic space
For more details on each item and to see all the media articles we were mentioned in or were interviewed for, click here.
What we have planned for the rest of 2023!
- Ensuring that the Canadian government’s proposals on “online harms” do not violate fundamental freedoms, or exacerbate the silencing of racialized and marginalized voices
- Protecting our privacy from government surveillance, including facial recognition, and from attempts to weaken encryption, along with advocating for good privacy law reform
- Addressing the lack of regulation on the use of AI in national security, including proposed exemptions for national security agencies
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Fighting for Justice for Mohamed Harkat, an end to security certificates, and addressing problems in security inadmissibility
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Ensuring Justice for Hassan Diab and reforming Canada’s extradition law
- The return of the rest of the Canadian citizens and the non-Canadian mothers of Canadian children indefinitely detained in Syrian camps
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The end to the CRA’s prejudiced audits of Muslim-led charities
- Greater accountability and transparency for the Canada Border Services Agency
- Greater transparency and accountability for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service
- Advocating for the repeal of the Canadian No Fly List, and for putting a stop to the use of the US No Fly List by air carriers in Canada
- Pressuring lawmakers to protect our civil liberties from the negative impact of national security and the “war on terror”, as well as keeping you and our member organizations informed via the News Digest
- Publishing a collection of essays written by amazing partners on the work of the ICLMG for our 20th anniversary
- And much more!
Version française: Ce que nous avons fait jusqu'à présent en 2023
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Les opinions exprimées ne reflètent pas nécessairement les positions de la CSILC - The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the positions of ICLMG. | |
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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 $10 or more per month (and wanted to be listed) directly in the News Digest. Without all of you, our work wouldn't be possible!
James Deutsch
Bill Ewanick
Kevin Malseed
Brian Murphy
Colin Stuart
Bob Thomson
James Turk
John & Rosemary Williams
Jo Wood
The late Bob Stevenson
Nous tenons à remercier nos organisations membres ainsi que les centaines de personnes qui ont soutenu notre travail à travers les années, y compris sur Patreon! En récompense, nous nommons ci-dessus nos mécènes qui donnent 10$ 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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