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International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group

Coalition pour la surveillance internationale des libertés civiles

June 24, 2023 - 24 juin 2023

Bill C-41: Changes to anti-terror laws a step forward on humanitarian aid, but leave other forms of vital international assistance behind

ICLMG 23/06/23 - On June 21, 2023, the federal government’s legislative solution to allow Canadian organizations to carry out their vital international assistance work in Afghanistan and other regions under de facto control of an entity deemed by the government to be a terrorist group, Bill C-41, received royal assent. The version of the bill which passed into law was significantly different from the one introduced in March 2023 in the House of Commons. This includes key improvements based on recommendations from the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG) and other civil society organizations. Despite these changes, the ICLMG still maintains deep concerns about aspects of the bill that undermine the provision of important forms of international assistance.

The most significant improvement was an amendment to create, for the first time, an exemption in Canada’s laws on countering terrorist financing for the provision of humanitarian assistance. This change came thanks to concerted pressure from civil society groups, and gives greater certainty to humanitarian organizations in carrying out their work; however, the government must still provide clarification on how this exemption will play out in practice. At the same time, this exemption does not apply to many Canadian international assistance organizations that carry out vital activities, but which are not exclusively humanitarian in nature, including in regards to provision of health services, defense of human rights, efforts towards peacebuilding and support towards earning a livelihood. These organizations are now required to proceed through an unclear, burdensome and invasive authorization process. 

Among other concerns, this new regime places the onus on these groups to prove they do not violate vaguely defined security assessment rules. These rules allow the Minister of Public Safety to deny an authorization based solely on whether any individual involved in a project, including international partners, has undefined “links” to terrorism or has ever been simply investigated on terrorism grounds. The ICLMG has documented time and again how such vague rules result in harmful impacts, including: “guilt by association” based only on unsupported allegations; political interference or ministerial discretion based on political expediency; and the promulgation of both systemic and individual bias and racism. For example, Canadian Muslim charities are disproportionately and unjustifiably investigated for links to terrorist financing, despite the lack of credible evidence and based largely on systemic Islamophobia. Any of the many people who have carried out valuable, selfless work with these charities who may wish to apply for an authorization could now face disqualification simply because of these baseless racial and religiously-motivated investigations.

There is nothing limiting the examination of “links” or “investigations” to within Canada either, meaning that designations or investigations by foreign governments and agencies, including those who more readily deem human rights defenders or political opponents as “terrorists,” could be considered in these assessments. Examples of this abound, including Israel’s designation of six well-respected Palestinian civil society organizations as “terrorist organizations” without any evidence, or the Indian and Egyptian governments’ jailing of human rights activists as “terrorists.”

Other concerns include: 

• Minimal restrictions around the use of information shared between the Minister of Public Safety and nine other Canadian agencies involved in national security, including CSIS, the RCMP, the CRA and the CSE. The government can also add any other organization to the list of approved entities, including foreign security and intelligence agencies;
• Overly-broad secrecy rules for any judicial review of a rejected application, denying applicants access to the information being used to deny their application.

The ICLMG is grateful to opposition critics who raised these concerns at committee, but disappointed that they were not corrected before the bill’s adoption. The coalition will continue its work to address these problems, and calls on the government to take action to address them through regulation. The ICLMG will also be closely monitoring the implementation of the regime in order to bring concerns to the mandated one-year review of Bill C-41.

Finally, the ICLMG reiterates its concern that an exemption regime does not address the central problem at the heart of this issue: that Canada’s overly-broad counter-terrorism laws allowed for this situation to occur in the first place. The ICLMG, among others, has long raised concerns that the inherent vagueness and political nature of the word “terrorism” will continue to have unintended consequences, including on Canada’s international human rights and humanitarian obligations, evidenced by the current restrictions on the provision of aid. While an exemption regime may provide a route forward, it avoids how counter-terrorism laws create areas and entities that are considered ‘no-go,’ and continue to primarily and unjustly impact majority-Muslim countries and regions. We renew our call for the government to fundamentally revisit its approach on counter-terrorism laws and their enforcement. Source

Children are dying because companies are too scared to sell medicine to Iran

Civil Society Statement on Bill C-20

ICLMG 13/06/23 - While Bill C-20 is a crucial measure to ensure greater accountability of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the undersigned organizations are deeply troubled by the federal government’s lack of consultation or engagement with key civil society stakeholders in the development of this important piece of legislation both before this bill was tabled, and as it has moved through the legislature.

Bill C-20: An Act establishing the Public Complaints and Review Commission and amending certain Acts and statutory instruments is an overdue bill that attempts to respond to the longstanding call to create a dedicated independent review and complaints process for the activities of the CBSA and make changes to the RCMP review process – amalgamating both under a Public Complaints and Review Commission (PCRC).

The signatories of this statement are established and well-regarded groups. They are led by and represent individuals and communities most impacted by the CBSA and the RCMP, including Indigenous, Black and other racialized people. We have decades of expertise in the areas of immigration and refugee law, criminal law, human rights, international law, civil liberties, and national security, to name a few.

The collective expertise of our groups can help the federal government fulfill the mandate of this Bill, expressed by the Minister of Public Safety in November 2022, to strengthen independent accountability and combat systemic racism and discrimination. Despite its stated objective of fostering accountability, the government is instead dodging it by failing to properly consult the communities we represent and include them in the democratic process of lawmaking.

There are many shortcomings to the proposed Bill C-20. Aspects that should be addressed include:

• the need to ensure the independence of the PCRC’s operations;
• the PCRC’s independent access to information;
• ensuring there is a mechanism for complaints on systemic issues;
• third-party complaints; and
• broadening the PCRC’s redress and recourse powers.

Attached to this statement is a summary of key recommendations from our briefs submitted to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, indicating how Bill C-20 can be revised in order to meet its intended purpose and mandate.

Whether our briefs and the issues we raise are considered is outside of our hands. Though we are hopeful, it is clear from the sheer lack of engagement on this issue that the government risks creating the PCRC as a shell of accountability that replicates or even exacerbates existing problems with the CBSA and RCMP.

We urge the Standing Committee to consider the recommendations described in the various submissions our groups have made and to integrate the amendments we propose. We welcome the opportunity to speak to members of the Standing Committee and answer any questions.

Signed by:

Amnesty International Canada (english-speaking)

Amnistie internationale Canada (francophone)

British Columbia Civil Liberties Association

Canadian Civil Liberties Association

Canadian Council for Refugees

Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association

Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association

Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council

International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group Read more

Version française: Déclaration de la société civile sur le projet de loi C-20

Civil liberties groups recommend fixes for controversial cybersecurity legislation ahead of detailed Commons scrutiny

OpenMedia 20/06/23 - We can address Canada’s cybersecurity needs, while upholding our rights and freedoms. That’s the message to MPs from Canadian civil society organizations and experts, who are today publishing detailed recommendations for fixing the federal government’s controversial cybersecurity legislation, Bill C-26. 

Last fall, the same groups published a joint letter warning that Bill C-26 was “deeply problematic and must be fixed,” highlighting the risk it posed to privacy rights, accountable governance and judicial due process. The recommendations in the package published today tackle these concerns, while ensuring Canada’s cybersecurity defences get a much-needed upgrade.

Bill C-26 recently passed 2nd Reading in the House of Commons, following a robust debate in which MPs from across the political spectrum expressed concern about its impact on civil liberties. It now passes to the Commons Public Safety & National Security Committee for detailed scrutiny.

“We were encouraged to hear our concerns reflected by MPs from across the political spectrum throughout Bill C-26’s 2nd Reading debate,” states the introduction to the group’s package of recommended remedies, noting that the ideas put forth by group members are designed to “ensure Bill C-26 delivers strong cybersecurity for everyone in Canada, while ensuring accountability and upholding our rights.”

Many of the recommended remedies reflect the findings of Dr. Christopher Parsons’ report Cybersecurity Will Not Thrive in Darkness, published by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto in October 2022. The recommended remedies address civil liberties concerns by:

1. Restraining Ministerial Powers
2. Protecting Confidential Personal & Business Information
3. Maximizing Transparency
4. Allowing Special Advocates to Protect the Public Interest
5. Enhancing accountability for the Communications Security Establishment

The groups and individuals endorsing this remedy package are: the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Constitution Foundation, the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, Ligue des Droits et Libertés, the National Council of Canadian Muslims, OpenMedia, the Privacy and Access Council of Canada, Professor Andrew Clement, and Dr Brenda McPhail. Read more

Version française: Des organisations de défense des libertés civiles recommandent l’apport d’amendements au projet de loi controversé sur la cybersécurité avant son examen approfondi à la Chambre des communes

Joint Letter of Concern: In reply to the ETHI Committee’s FRT & AI Report and the Government’s Response

Right 2 Your Face 21/06/23 - Dear Ministers, We are writing to express our concerns with the government’s response to the recent publication of the Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI) report, “Facial Recognition Technology and the Growing Power of Artificial Intelligence.” After careful review, we find that it fails to address the severity of the challenges caused by facial recognition technology (FRT) and artificial intelligence (AI). Canada needs to take action now.

The ETHI Committee’s study confirmed that Canada’s current legislation does not adequately regulate facial recognition technology and artificial intelligence. While discussions concerning FRT often focus on security and surveillance, the report demonstrates how FRT and AI systems are increasingly being adopted across many Canadian sectors, including retail, e-commerce, and healthcare – quickly becoming ubiquitous in daily life.

Critically, these technologies threaten many human rights, equity principles, and fundamental freedoms, including the right to privacy, freedom of association, freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and right to non-discrimination. These harms are not only caused by the real-time use of FRT, but by FRT’s connection to broader surveillance and AI driven systems, such as its use in populating biometric databases and training of AI algorithms. Without adopting a robust legislative framework to govern this invasive technology, there is a pervasive and increasing risk of individual, collective, and social harm.

The ETHI Committee’s recommendations are generally strong and represent a meaningful step towards the responsible governance of FRT and AI in Canada. Through a participatory approach, the Committee listened to feedback and advice from a range of witnesses, whose recommendations were reflected in the report.

Significantly, the ETHI Committee acknowledges the disproportionate implications FRT has for historically racialized and marginalized communities, particularly because of biased and inaccurate algorithms. Consequently, the Committee calls on the government to invest in studying and disclosing such impacts. This is an important recommendation. However, even if increased accuracy is achieved within FRT applications, and technical bias is resolved, we note that the technology still raises serious concerns. If left unregulated, the use of more accurate facial recognition technologies will become even more detrimental to groups that already experience systemic discrimination. The use of FRT would further exacerbate inequalities through more perfect targeting of those who are already disproportionately surveilled such as unhoused communities, sex workers, individuals who receive income assistance, among others.

The ETHI Committee’s report also considers some of the ways in which FRT could benefit society. This Coalition is of the view that even if there are positive uses for this technology, proper regulatory safeguards are necessary to ensure that any potentially socially beneficial purposes are fulfilled, and harmful uses are prohibited.

This Coalition would like to highlight what we believe are the key recommendations for government action proposed by the ETHI Committee:

• Imposing a federal moratorium on the use of facial recognition technology by federal policing services and Canadian industries until a robust regulatory framework is developed and implemented.
• Developing a regulatory framework that defines acceptable and unacceptable uses of facial recognition technology with a view to protect individuals and communities against mass surveillance, with clear penalties for violations by police.
• Increasing transparency mechanisms for the disclosure of racial, age, or other biases that exist in FRT and policy measures with participation frameworks for these marginalized groups to address such issues.
• Restricting private sector entities from requiring biometric information as a condition of service.
• Amending the Privacy Act and PIPEDA to prohibit entities from capturing images of Canadians from the internet or public spaces for the purpose of populating FRT databases or AI algorithms.
• Strengthening the ability of the Privacy Commissioner to impose meaningful penalties on entities that break the law and to be engaged in regulatory reform concerning FRT.
• Increasing transparency and oversight mechanisms for the use of FRT in the context of national security and procurement.

In its reply, the government failed to address many of the key recommendations made by the ETHI Committee. The government instead relied upon nascent or outdated pieces of privacy legislation that, in their current form, are unable to address the serious risks and challenges caused by the adoption and deployment of facial recognition technologies. This Coalition would like to highlight some of the crucial areas where the government reply was inadequate:

• Lack of Engagement with the Calls for a Federal Moratorium on the Use of FRT
• The Federal Government Should Assume a Leadership Role in Responsible Tech Policy
• The Treasury Board Directive is Limited in Scope and Lacks Transparency Mechanisms
• Bill C-27 Will Not Protect Individuals’ Privacy Rights and Leaves Stakeholders Behind

Signed by:

Canadian Civil Liberties Association

BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Commission

The Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy

Criminalization and Punishment Education Project

The Dais at Toronto Metropolitan University

Digital Democracies Institute

Digital Public

International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group

Privacy & Access Council of Canada

Refugee Law Lab

Tech Reset Canada

Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund Read more - Lire plus

CCLA Demands Action on Facial Recognition Technology and the Growing Power of Artificial Intelligence

Canada is failing to regulate AI amid fear and hype

Historic vote in the European Parliament: dangerous AI surveillance banned, but not for migrant people at the borders

OpenAI Lobbied the E.U. to Water Down AI Regulation

Human Rights Advocates Discuss Upcoming Trip to Syrian Detention Camps

CPAC 22/06/23 - Senator Kim Pate and human rights advocates speak with reporters about a delegation's plan to travel to northeastern Syria this summer to visit camps and detention centres in the region.

The delegation hopes to receive access to Canadians currently detained in the camps and will also meet with local officials. Parliamentarians, former diplomats, human rights experts, and lawyers will be part of the delegation.

Joining Senator Pate at the news conference in Ottawa are Sally Lane (mother of detainee Jack Letts), Alex Neve (senior fellow at the University of Ottawa and former secretary general of Amnesty International Canada) and Matthew Behrens (Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture). Four Canadian women and ten Canadian children were repatriated from northeastern Syria in April 2023. Source

Version française: Des activistes pour les droits de la personne : visite prévue en Syrie

Gillian Anderson and Stanley Tucci back calls to rescue British families in Syria

ACTION: Canada must repatriate all Canadians detained in NE Syria now!

Prime Minister Trudeau: Say “No” to a second extradition for Hassan Diab!

The following letter was signed by 116 academics, lawyers, faith leaders, journalists and activists, and 24 organizations.

Just Peace Advocates 15/06/23 - Dear Prime Minister Trudeau, A second extradition request from France may or may not be forthcoming for Hassan Diab. If and when that request arrives on Canada’s shores, it will be in the form of a Record of the Case based on a guilty verdict arising from a sham trial, one held in a French court of no record.

A trial that lasts 3 weeks, and for which the verdict and its lengthy (31-page) justification are presented after a mere 24 hours, cannot be a deliberative process, but a “confirmatory hearing.” Clearly, the guilty verdict was predetermined. France’s 2023 Copernic trial was a travesty of justice.

Driven by political pressure to scapegoat an innocent man, the Copernic trial was bereft of official transcripts. Digital recording of the event was strictly forbidden. Whether testifying under oath or not, witnesses could lie with impunity since perjury in France is practically never punished. The civil parties and the prosecutors were allowed to vilify the accused, filibuster, and steal the defense’s speaking time. The presiding judge ignored the alibi and prosecutors suppressed vital exculpatory evidence. The entire process was beyond scandalous. 

The incriminating story, which French prosecutors touted throughout the trial, was a variation on a narrative France presented in 2008 to Canadian extradition authorities when Dr. Diab was first sought. In 2011, extradition judge Robert Maranger deemed France’s story indefensible. Teeming with contradictions, errors, and conjectures, France’s submission was not only confounding, it rested on unsourced and unsworn intelligence, unfit in a Canadian court. Working in collaboration with France, Canada’s extradition team, known as the International Assistance Group (IAG), was compelled to cast it aside, such was its shoddiness and illegitimacy.

But in 2023, French prosecutors brazenly resurrected the very tale they had presented to Canada in 2008 and which Justice Robert Maranger had repudiated in 2011. In short, that which Canada rejected more than a decade ago became France’s basis for sentencing Hassan Diab to life in prison in 2023. With the aid of foreign intelligence, French authorities scripted a fictional scenario, wrought of unsubstantiated incriminatory claims, and a spurious theory of a “smoking gun” (a faded facsimile of a likely doctored-up passport, and for which there is no original) in order to deal the harshest blow to our most innocent fellow citizen.

But not all in France have stooped so low. Two honourable French investigative magistrates spoke truth to power. Steadfastly, courageously, and against external pressure, they declared (both in 2018 and in 2023), after more than three years of scrupulous inquiry, that there was no evidence to bring Dr. Diab to trial, leave alone convict him. A powerful alibi and exculpatory fingerprint proof had rendered void all allegations against this long-suffering man.

Mr. Trudeau, your remarks regarding the case of Hassan Diab – that Canada will always stand up for its citizens – yields hope, and the possibility that your words signal a salutary change in the Extradition Act—a defective law that is largely responsible for Dr. Diab’s disgraceful extradition to France in 2014. Such a change in the Act would, among other things, guarantee transparency, by prohibiting the suppression of exculpatory material and by disqualifying, from the start, extradition requests that submit unsourced and unsworn intelligence as evidence. This would save innocent lives from the torment of wrongful surrender to a foreign state and wrongful conviction in a foreign court. This would mean that Hassan Diab’s horrific ordeal would never, as you put it, happen again.

But for the 1999 Extradition Act to be truly transformed, this unjust Canadian law will require a powerful catalyst: it will need your intervention in the Diab Affair. You must set the precedent and say NO to a second extradition for this innocent Canadian citizen who has already paid heavily for a crime he did not commit. Canadians from coast to coast are urging you to do the right thing and to do it now! Should you fail to act forthwith to save Dr. Diab from the ultimate nightmare, your unconscionable lapse will be burned in the memory of countless voters. Source

Version française: PM Trudeau: Dites non à une seconde extradition

Adam: France demands Canada extradite Hassan Diab — but it won't extradite accused priest

CALL Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Urging Him to Protect Hassan Diab

LETTER: Canada must protect Hassan Diab!

Lettre: Le Canada doit protéger Hassan Diab!

Take Action to Prevent Another Wrongful Extradition of Hassan Diab! (all actions, one link)

MPs call for reform of Canada's extradition system to avoid 'further injustices'

The Canadian Press 19/06/23 - The Liberal government should undertake a “comprehensive reform” of Canada’s extradition law as soon as possible to prevent “further injustices” due to shortcomings, a House of Commons committee recommends.

In addition to calling for an overhaul of the Extradition Act, a report from the justice and human rights committee urges the government to make administrative changes to the process for sending people to face prosecution and incarceration abroad. During hearings earlier this year, MPs heard about cases “cited as evidence of real harms resulting from flaws in our existing legislation and process and as examples of injustices that will likely continue to occur in the absence of reform,” the committee’s recent report says. Dalhousie University law professor Rob Currie, one of the longtime critics of the extradition system who appeared before the committee, welcomed the committee’s findings. “They really heard us,” he said in an interview. “It shows great understanding of the problems that we were pointing out.”

Advocates of reform have long highlighted the case of Ottawa sociologist Hassan Diab, a Canadian citizen who was extradited to France and imprisoned for over three years, only to be released without even being committed to trial for a 1980 attack on a Paris synagogue. A French investigative judge found Hassan Diab was in Beirut writing university exams — not Paris — when the synagogue attack took place and he returned to Canada in 2018. But he was later tried in absentia in Paris for the bombing that killed four and wounded 46. A French court sentenced him to life in prison in April and issued an arrest warrant, meaning he could once again face extradition. Under the first step in the Canadian extradition process, Justice Department officials decide whether or not to issue what is known as an “authority to proceed” to the next step, a hearing in court.

If the case proceeds, a court then decides whether there is sufficient evidence, or other applicable grounds, to justify a person’s committal for extradition.

When someone is committed to be extradited, the justice minister must then personally decide whether to order the individual’s surrender to the foreign state.

Critics say the committal process compromises the ability of the person sought to meaningfully challenge the foreign case against them, reducing Canadian judges to rubber stamps and permitting use of unreliable material. They also say the surrender decision made by the justice minister is a discretionary and political process, unfairly weighted toward extradition.

The MPs heard testimony from witnesses including Diab’s wife Rania Tfaily, civil society voices, law professors and Justice Department officials.

Among the committee’s recommendations:

• Modernize outdated treaties and withdraw from ones with partners that seriously contravene international human rights standards;
• lower the required threshold to rebut the presumption of reliability of the extradition partner’s record of the case at the committal hearing;
• enshrine an obligation for a partner state to hold the trial of a person sought for extradition within a year of the surrender to the foreign state;
• add a legal obligation for the Department of Justice to disclose to the person sought for extradition any exculpatory evidence in its possession, or that it knows of, that could compromise or weaken the request of the partner state;
• give the extradition judge a greater role relative to that of the justice minister, particularly by granting Canadian courts the power to rule on the fairness of the extradition order, taking into account the situation of the person sought and the extradition partner’s respect for human rights.

Currie said a better balance between the role of the judge and that of the minister is important because the law currently gives judges very little power in the extradition process. “Most of the major, important questions of law are actually allocated to the minister,” he said. The office of Justice Minister David Lametti had no immediate comment on the committee report. The committee has asked the government to make a detailed written response. Read more - Lire plus

News Release: The Justice and Human Rights Committee Presents Its Unanimous Report Entitled Reforming Canada’s Extradition System

Report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights: Reforming Canada's Extradition System

More than 130 civil society organizations send an open letter to the Prime Minister on STCA

CCR 20/06/23 - Dear Prime Minister and leaders of the opposition parties, We are writing to demand that Canada withdraw from the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) with the United States to ensure that individuals seeking refuge can do so without risking their lives. We call on you to demonstrate leadership and withdraw our country from the STCA, to allow individuals to make a refugee claim by presenting themselves in a regular way at a Port of Entry. The STCA and its recent expansion has effectively closed Canada's borders to refugees, forcing them to take dangerous and difficult journeys to reach safety. This puts them at extreme risk of abuse, exploitation, and even violence by smugglers. We must recognize the human rights of all individuals seeking safety and the dignity they deserve. We must also acknowledge the racism inherent in policies that restrict access to safety by specifically targeting people fleeing from the Global South.

In light of the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision, which acknowledges that refugees sent back to the US face real risks of rights violations, and which has directed the Federal court to determine whether the Agreement breaches gender equality rights under the Charter as a matter of profound seriousness, we call on our political leaders to suspend Canada’s participation in the STCA without delay, in line with the fundamental principles of dignity, fairness, and inclusivity that define our nation. Our country takes great pride in a tradition of providing refuge to those fleeing persecution and violence. By dismantling the barriers imposed by the STCA and allowing individuals to make refugee claims at regular ports of entry, you can uphold our identity as a compassionate and welcoming nation that recognizes the inherent worth and potential of all individuals. Read more

Version française: Plus de 130 organismes de la société civile adressent une lettre ouverte au Premier ministre sur l'ETPS

Amnesty International Canada: Supreme Court decision on Safe Third Country Agreement ultimately fails refugees

‘Hamoudi’s gone’: Palestinian village reels after Israeli soldiers kill toddler

+972 Magazine 07/06/23 - “I heard shooting, I went out and saw that my husband’s whole shirt was covered in blood. He didn’t notice that he was wounded because he was focused on Hamoudi, who had been shot in the head. When I saw him, I said: ‘Hamoudi’s gone.’”

These were the words of Marwa Tamimi, the mother of 2-year-old Mohammed Tamimi, nicknamed Hamoudi, who was fatally wounded last Thursday by Israeli sniper fire while he was in the car with his father, Haitham, at the entrance to their family home in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. The toddler died from his wounds on Monday, and on Tuesday hundreds took part in his funeral. According to the human rights group B’Tselem, Tamimi is the 150th Palestinian to have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers since the start of this year.

Immediately after the shooting, Israeli military sources claimed that the boy and his father were hit by Palestinian gunfire aimed at a nearby army guard tower. Shortly after, however, the IDF Spokesperson admitted that the two were hit by shots fired by Israeli soldiers, who were allegedly responding to shooting at the guard tower. After this admission, the army stated that it “regrets harming those not involved and works to prevent incidents of this type,” and that it was a case of “misidentification” after “two terrorists fired for several minutes in the direction of the Neve Tzuf [Halamish] settlement.”

The residents of Nabi Saleh rejected the army’s version of events, with eyewitnesses telling +972 that the shooting at the Tamimi family was not preceded by any shooting from Palestinians. Mohammed’s body was brought from the hospital in Ramallah to the family’s home in Nabi Saleh on Tuesday morning, and the funeral procession began from there to the village’s mosque and cemetery. “I demand justice,” said a tearful Marwa. “Human rights and children’s rights organizations must deal with this case. The crime of killing Palestinian children must be stopped. We will go all the way to the International Court of Justice.” The mother held the body of her son for a long time, struggling to be separated from him. The father, Haitham, arrived at the funeral with his hand still bandaged, after being released from the hospital in Ramallah.

The family’s home stands on open land at the entrance to the village. Two hundred meters away is an Israeli military guard post and an iron gate, which the army often uses when it wants to block Palestinians from entering or leaving Nabi Saleh, or when checking vehicles as they exit. According to Marwa, this is not the first time her house has come under fire from soldiers, because of its location at the village entrance.

Marwa explained that on the day of the shooting, she and her husband had been preparing to go to her sister’s birthday celebrations in the neighboring village. “I went into the house for a moment, while he [Haitham] started the engine to move the car,” she said. Then, she heard the shots that hit her husband and son. Read more - Lire plus

Israel drone attack kills 3 in occupied West Bank car attack

From Drone Strikes to Settler Attacks, Israel Intensifies Effort to “Completely Take Over Palestine”

Calls for solidarity, as Turkish drones assassinate members of the Kurdish women’s movement

The Canary 22/06/2023 - The Turkish military assassinated Yusra Darwish, the co-chair of Qamişlo canton council in Northeast Syria, on 20th June. Missiles fired from a Turkish drone killed Yusra, who was also a prominent member of the Kurdish women’s movement. A revolution has been underway in Rojava, Northeast Syria since 2012, based on the ideas of women’s freedom, grassroots democracy, and an ecological society. The Turkish state is opposed to this revolution, and has been trying to destroy it since it began. The drone strike also killed Leyman Shiweish, Yusra’s deputy co-chair, and the driver of the car, Farat Touma. Thousands of people attended their funeral in Qamişlo.

This is by no means the first time the Turkish state has used assassination attacks against the Kurdish women’s movement. Zehra Berkel, Hebûn Mele Xelîl, and Emina Weysi were members of the Kongra Star women’s federation. The Turkish military murdered them in another drone attack in 2020. Last year Nagîhan Akarsel, co-editor of Jineoloji magazine, was assassinated in an attack on her house in Suleimaniye in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Jineoloji is the decolonial social science of women created by the Kurdish Freedom Movement. The Jineoloji publication carries out dissemination of knowledge of, by, and for women within Jineoloji’s radical framework. Kongra Star wrote at the time:

the Turkish state has persistently tried to weaken the struggle. But the persistence, will and strength of the freedom-loving women will not be weakened or broken. Our answer will be the victory of the women’s revolution all over the world.

The Turkish state’s attacks on the revolutionary women of the Kurdish Freedom Movement are systematic and long-established. The killings of Yusra, Leyman and Farat are part of a Turkish military campaign of drone strikes and shelling. Turkish drones have killed at least 21 people over the past weeks. The European Kurdish Democratic Societies Congress (KCDK-E) have called for international solidarity against Turkish aggression. They said that the Turkish state wants to occupy and ethnically cleanse more of Northeast Syria. Read more - Lire plus

The limits of human rights law in an authoritarian context: Torture and impunity in Turkey

Turkey won't back Swedish NATO bid unless it stops anti-Turkish protests, Erdogan says

Turkey Demands Sweden Expel Kurd Suspects Before NATO Entry

New and emerging technologies need urgent oversight and robust transparency: UN experts

UN 02/06/2023 - UN experts* today called for greater transparency, oversight, and regulation to address the negative impacts of new and emerging digital tools and online spaces on human rights.

“New and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence-based biometric surveillance systems, are increasingly being used in sensitive contexts, without the knowledge or consent of individuals,” the experts said ahead of the RightsCon summit in Costa Rica from 5 to 8 June 2023.

“Urgent and strict regulatory red lines are needed for technologies that claim to perform emotion or gender recognition,” they said. The experts expressed concern about the proliferation of invasive spyware and a growing array of targeted surveillance technologies used to unlawfully target human rights defenders, activists, journalists, and civil society in all regions. “We condemn the alarming use of spyware and surveillance technologies in violation of human rights and the broader chilling effect of such unlawful measures on the legitimate work of human rights defenders and on civic space worldwide, often under the guise of national security and counter-terrorism measures,” they said.

The experts stressed the need to ensure that these systems do not further expose people and communities to human rights violations, including through the expansion and abuse of invasive surveillance practices that infringe on the right to privacy, facilitate the commission of gross human rights violations, including enforced disappearances, and discrimination. They expressed concern about respect for freedoms of expression, thought, peaceful protest, and for access to essential economic, social and cultural rights, and humanitarian services.

“Specific technologies and applications should be avoided altogether where the regulation of human rights complaints is not possible,” the experts said. They underlined the need to ensure technical solutions – including strong end-to-end encryption and unfettered access to virtual private networks – and secure and protect digital communications. The experts reminded States and businesses of their respective duties and responsibilities, including human rights due diligence requirements when it comes to the development, use, vetting and procuring of digital technologies. “Both industry and States must be held accountable, including for their economic, social, environmental, and human rights impacts,” they said. “The next generation of technologies must not reproduce or reinforce systems of exclusion, discrimination and patterns of oppression.” Read more - Lire plus

Amnesty International: All states must immediately ban highly invasive spyware

Open letter: The Council of European Union must protect journalists against spyware and surveillance in the European Media Freedom Act

IPI condemns use of Pegasus spyware against journalists amidst Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict

Khashoggi's widow sues Israeli spyware company NSO over phone hacking

New UN Security Council Resolution on “Human Fraternity” Raises Human Rights Concerns

Just Security 23/06/2023 - On June 14, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2686 on “Tolerance and International Peace and Security,” sponsored by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United Kingdom. The resolution, brought forward under the rubric of emerging threats to international peace and security, centers on combating intolerance, hate speech, racism, and other forms of extremism as threat multipliers in situations of conflict.

Yet despite its emphasis on nonviolence, tolerance, and international cooperation, the language of the resolution itself raises human rights concerns. Broad and vaguely defined references to fighting “extremism” risk playing into the hands of repressive regimes, who often frame domestic critics and rights defenders as “extremist” threats to national security. Moreover, in its emphasis on “human fraternity,” the resolution is emblematic of a broader push among some autocratic states to reframe universal human rights frameworks in ways that place greater emphasis on state sovereignty and cultural and religious traditions. The adoption of Resolution 2686 followed a high-level briefing “The Value of Human Fraternity in Promoting and Sustaining Peace,” one of the signature events of the UAE’s June presidency of the Security Council. [...]

In its final version, Resolution 2686 recognizes that hate speech, racism, and related forms of intolerance and “acts of extremism” can contribute to the “outbreak, escalation and recurrence of conflict,” and urges states and international and regional organizations to publicly condemn violence, hate speech and extremism motivated by discrimination.

Negotiations in the weeks leading up to June 14 were marked by significant disagreement among member states of the Security Council, with several members criticizing the resolution’s lack of emphasis on human rights protections. In response to those concerns, earlier drafts were revised to add more references to international human rights norms, including a direct mention of the right to freedom of expression. An earlier requirement for an annual report on the resolution’s implementation by the U.N. Secretary-General was also ultimately scrapped. Yet despite these revisions, the final text of the resolution leaves room for concern.

For one, the resolution repeatedly uses the word “extremism” without any further qualifier—not even the common reference to “violent extremism.” Proponents of the text argued that states need to address extremism before it becomes violent. Yet human rights experts have long pushed back against overly broad language about extremism and terrorism in multilateral statements and resolutions as well as domestic legislation, noting that such language is easily abused by repressive regimes to target domestic critics and restrict citizens’ freedom of expression, association, and assembly. Observing this global pattern, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism Fionnuala Ní Aoláin has repeatedly deplored the lack of comprehensive definition of terrorism and of violent extremism in Security Council resolutions and the consequent “hard-wiring of misuse into counter-terrorism measures taken by States around the globe.”

Rights advocates have criticized the UAE’s own counterterrorism law for precisely this same reason. The law defines “terrorist outcomes” so broadly that even peaceful dissent could potentially be labeled terrorism. For instance, the country continues to detain at least 60 rights defenders and dissidents arrested for their pro-democratic activism, many of which have already completed their sentences yet remain in detention for posing a continued “terrorist threat.”

The ability of governments to define extremism in self-serving ways was also evident at the June 14 high-level briefing that preceded the adoption of Resolution 2686. There, the representative of the Russian government, Vasily Nebenzya, llustrated the need to counter hate speech by citing threats of “russophobia” in Ukraine that he said are “taking place with the consent of the Kyiv regime.” The representative offered no acknowledgment of Russia’s ongoing war of territorial aggression against Ukraine.

Given the precedent of states using the fight against terrorism and violent extremism as a pretext to restrict the activities – and even existence – of civil society and political opposition, an even broader reference to “extremism” risks giving carte blanche to autocratic or democratic backsliding regimes to crack down on those perceived as challenging their ideological and political agenda, even when those actors are using peaceful means of protest. Read more - Lire plus

Twenty Years Too Many: A Call to Stop the FBI's Secret Watchlist

CAIR 2023 - For now over twenty years, the FBI has detained, surveilled, harassed, and destroyed the lives of innocent Muslims. The public record amply documents how these abuses, inflicted via always-expanding FBI powers, led not to a reduction in terrorism, but painful, farcical, and often dangerous abuses of Muslims.

The federal government’s multi-decade effort to recruit a vast network of informants inside the Muslim community, with all the lawlessness and acts of intimidation such an effort entails, has nothing to show for it. The same goes for the practice of patting down some Muslim babies and their diapers for explosives at airports, the policies that cause federal agents to handcuff Muslim mothers and fathers returning to this country, often at gunpoint, in front of their crying and terrified children, and all the interrogations of Muslims in their homes and while traveling about how often they pray and which mosque they go to.

The federal government’s habit of abusing Muslims is so rooted that it repeatedly overwhelms reason itself. On May 1, 2023, the Secret Service barred an elected official, Mayor Mohamed Khairullah of Prospect Park New Jersey, from entering the White House for an Eid celebration the president invited him to attend because of a secret status the FBI had assigned him years ago without notice or explanation. All of this injustice comes from a list. This list goes by various names—the terrorist watchlist, the Terrorism Screening Database, or as the FBI recently rebranded it, the Terrorism Screening Dataset.

The No-Fly List is equally famous, but rather than an actual list, the No Fly List is simply a designation some people on the watchlist get, singling them out for the additional punishment of being unable to fly. It has long been clear to the Muslim community itself that the FBI’s list is nothing more than a list of innocent Muslims. The consequences of being on the FBI’s list are borne almost exclusively by Muslims, and even individuals who openly espouse political violence generally do not find themselves similarly targeted so long as they themselves are not Muslim.

And now the evidence is no longer anecdotal. CAIR has studied more than 1.5 million entries on a 2019 version of the FBI’s list, provided to us by a Swiss hacker who found them online after a regional air carrier accidentally posted them to the public internet. One scroll through it reveals a list almost completely comprised of Muslim names. In fact, more than 350,000 entries alone include some transliteration of Mohamed or Ali or Mahmoud and the top 50 most frequently occurring names are all Muslim names. Of the watchlist entries we’ve reviewed, we estimate that more than 1.47 million of those entries regard Muslims—over 98 percent of the total.

For twenty years, the FBI’s secret list has brought hardship and fear to the Muslim community. But the FBI’s next million targets won’t be Muslim. With the War on Terror fog lifting, the FBI’s secret list will one day find a new target. The next targets will be our fellow Americans, and this report is meant as a warning to them. We are raising the alarm. This can and will happen to all of us, from every community, even those beyond the Muslims currently filling the FBI’s list. We call on all Americans to join our demand that the FBI stop sharing its secret list as a first step to responsibly unwinding it. Read more - Lire plus

How DHS is Fueling Georgia’s “Terrorism” Crackdown on Cop City Protests

Just Security 15/06/2023 - Demonstrators in Georgia are fighting against a massive law enforcement training facility, dubbed “Cop City”, being built near Atlanta that they claim will further militarize the police and destroy dozens of acres of vital forest land. Since December, law enforcement has arrested over 40 Stop Cop City demonstrators under the state’s domestic terrorism statute, which carries a penalty of up to 35 years in jail. Law enforcement also raided a bail fund at the end of May that supports demonstrators and arrested three activists. The state’s Republican Governor Brian Kemp called those arrested from the bail fund “criminals [who] facilitated and encouraged domestic terrorism.”  

While some of the arrested protesters have been accused of vandalism or throwing rocks at police, many, including a legal observer or those attending a concert in the forest, seem to primarily have been targeted because of their affiliation with the Stop Cop City movement. Civil liberties groups and others have rightly criticized Georgia law enforcement’s use of state domestic terrorism charges against protesters as draconian and disproportionate. These events though also highlight the dangerous manner in which the federal government’s DVE policies are playing out on the ground – interacting with state domestic terrorism laws and aggressive local policing – to intimidate protesters and violate their rights. The Department of Homeland Security and the Biden administration should speak out against police overreach in Georgia, publicly correct the record on classifying domestic violent extremist (DVE) groups, and narrow their definition of domestic violent extremism.

Georgia’s DHS Justification for “Domestic Terrorism” Arrests 

In justifying its arrests, Georgia law enforcement has repeatedly claimed that DHS had classified the Stop Cop City group, Defend the Atlanta Forest, as “domestic violent extremists.” Yet, in response to inquiries, including a letter last week from Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA), DHS has denied that it classifies any specific group as “domestic violent extremists”. A spokesperson, however, stated the department uses the term to refer to a U.S. actor “who seeks to further social or political goals, wholly or in part, through unlawful acts of force or violence” and regularly shares intelligence on these threats with local law enforcement.

The use of this nonexistent DHS classification is prominent in arresting documents. Consider an arrest warrant for a Cop City protester from December. Law enforcement describes the charged offense of domestic terrorism as: “participating in actions as part of Defend the Atlanta Forest (DTAF), a group classified by the United States Department of Homeland Security as Domestic Violent Extremists.” After listing the alleged unlawful acts of DTAF, the warrant concludes, “The accused affirmed their cooperation with DTAF by occupying a tree house while wearing a gas mask and camouflage clothing.”

Despite DHS denying they use this classification for specific groups, Georgia law enforcement have stuck by their guns. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) spokesperson last week released a statement to the Atlanta Journal Constitution stating that, “Although DHS reports that they do not classify or designate any groups as domestic violent extremists, the description provided by DHS for a domestic violent extremist does in fact describe the behavior of the individuals of the group in question which is being investigated by the GBI multi-agency task force.”

A Dangerous Federal DVE Strategy 

Georgia law enforcement is clearly in the wrong. They mischaracterized DHS intelligence for their own ends and, more to the point, as an FBI statement emphasized, “Membership in a group alone is not sufficient basis for a domestic terrorism investigation.” Yet in many of these warrants, protesters are seemingly being arrested for domestic terrorism not for actions they have taken, but because of their alleged affiliation with a group. This reads like an unconstitutional form of guilt by association. DHS though is also at fault. They have been far too slow to respond as Georgia law enforcement has wrongly used DHS’s intelligence in the aid of charging dozens of Americans as domestic terrorists. Instead of a press conference or another concerted public effort to set the record straight, they have instead simply responded to inquiries from reporters or, eventually, Warnock. 

The Georgia Senator has rightly called on DHS to share with state and local law enforcement partners that they do not classify groups as domestic violent extremists. DHS should do so clearly, forcefully, and publicly. Others, including Spencer Reynolds in a recent Just Security article have recommended that DHS strengthen its safeguards for intelligence gathering and sharing to protect Americans’ First Amendment rights and for Congress to check its overbroad intelligence mandate. These events, though, also highlight another problem for the federal government’s DVE strategy: its definition of the term can too often incorrectly capture protesters. Read more - Lire plus

After GOP pressure, FBI abortion “terrorism” investigations increased tenfold, government data shows

The Intercept 15/06/2023 - Following a concerted effort by Republicans to pressure law enforcement agencies to target activists supporting the right to abortion, the FBI dramatically increased its caseload on abortion-related “domestic terrorism.” Last year, as the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade sparked major protests nationwide, the FBI opened nearly 10 times as many investigations into cases of abortion-related domestic terrorism as it had in 2021, a new internal report reveals. While the report doesn’t say how many of these incidents were motivated by support for reproductive rights and how many were anti-abortion, the uptick follows calls by top Republicans in Congress for the bureau to pursue “pro-abortion terrorism.” 

“Pro-abortion terrorism is sweeping our nation,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wrote in a column last June, lamenting that “only after the outcry from the pro-life community did the FBI announce an investigation” into Jane’s Revenge — a small group of activists that firebombed an anti-abortion pregnancy center on June 7, 2021 — and that the attorney general “has yet to launch a wider DOJ investigation.” While conceding “no one has been killed or seriously injured,” Rubio said, “Things will only get worse before they get better.” (Facebook later quietly designated Jane’s Revenge a terrorist organization, as The Intercept reported.) Rubio’s column cited roughly 50 attacks on anti-abortion activists and institutions, linking to a list posted by the anti-abortion Family Research Council. Apart from the actions of Jane’s Revenge, most of the cases enumerated describe simple vandalism. [...]

As vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and then-ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, respectively, both of which oversee the FBI, Rubio and Grassley were both in a position to influence bureau leadership, and it appears the bureau listened. The FBI’s abortion-related terrorism investigations jumped from three cases in the fiscal year 2021 to 28 in 2022, a higher increase than any other category listed, according to an audit published by the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General on June 6. The number of abortion-related cases in 2022 far exceeds that of all previous years included in the audit, going back to 2017. 

In the same time frame, FBI investigations into “racially or ethnically motivated extremists” decreased from 215 to 169; investigations into “anti-government / anti-authority” declined even more sharply, from 812 to 240. In fact, the only other category to see an increase in cases was “animal rights / environmental,” which underwent a modest increase from seven to nine cases. Again, the report does not specify what proportion of the cases are motivated by support for reproductive rights or anti-abortion views. Asked about the specific breakdown, the FBI did not respond to a request for comment. But in testimony before the Senate on November 17, 2022, Wray revealed that the vast majority of the bureau’s investigations are focused on violence against anti-abortion individuals or organizations. 

But experts say the vast majority of serious violence in abortion-related cases is carried out by individuals trying to stop people from having abortions. From 1993 to 2016, 11 murders and 26 attempted murders were carried out by anti-abortion advocates, according to NARAL Pro-Choice California. In contrast, Michael German, a former FBI agent and a fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program, said that he was not aware of a single case of serious bodily injury caused by abortion rights advocates. 

“There is a long history of deadly anti-abortion violence in this country,” German said. “The FBI should not devote counterterrorism resources to vandalism cases that don’t threaten human life out of some flawed notion of parity. “Counterterrorism resources should be directed to the most serious threats,” German told The Intercept. While the Department of Homeland Security defines domestic terrorism such that it “must be dangerous to human life” or critical infrastructure, the FBI does not have this requirement. “Mere vandalism and property damage, while crimes that might deserve state and local police attention, should not be treated as terrorism.” 

Since the bureau collapses both anti-abortion and abortion rights into the same abortion-related threat category and doesn’t collect data on specific incidents, they exercise considerable discretion in determining which side to investigate. “That’s part of why the FBI resists collecting data on domestic terrorism incidents: it frees them to target by bias and ideologies they oppose rather than the data regarding actual acts of violence,” German said. Read more - Lire plus

The FBI groomed a 16-year-old with "brain development issues" to become a terrorist

The Intercept 15/06/2023 - Last week, the Department of Justice announced the arrest of a teenager in Massachusetts on allegations of providing financial support to the Islamic State group. A flurry of reports picked up on the arrest of Mateo Ventura, an 18-year-old resident of the sleepy town of Wakefield, echoing government claims that an international terrorist financier and ISIS supporter had just been busted in the United States. The Department of Justice’s own press release on the case likewise trumpeted Ventura’s arrest for “knowingly concealing the source of material support or resources that he intended to go to a foreign terrorist organization.”

The only problem with the case and how it has been described, however, is that according to the government’s own criminal complaint, Ventura had never actually funded any terrorist group. The only “terrorist” he is accused of ever being in contact with was an undercover FBI agent who befriended him online as a 16-year-old, solicited small cash donations in the form of gift cards, and directed him not to tell anyone else about their intimate online relationship, including his family. The arrest has shaken his family, who denied allegations that their son was a terrorist and said that he had been manipulated by the FBI. Ventura’s father, Paul Ventura, told The Intercept that Mateo suffered from childhood developmental issues and had been forced to leave his school due to bullying from other students.

“He was born prematurely, he had brain development issues. I had the school do a neurosurgery evaluation on him and they said his brain was underdeveloped,” Ventura said. “He was suffering endless bullying at school with other kids taking food off his plate, tripping him in the hallway, humiliating him, laughing at him.” Contrary to the sensational narrative fed to the news media of terrorist financing in the U.S., the charging documents show that Ventura gave an undercover FBI agent gift cards for pitifully small amounts of cash, sometimes in $25 increments. In his initial bid to travel to the Islamic State, the teenager balked — making up an excuse, by the FBI’s own account, to explain why he did not want to go. When another opportunity to travel abroad arose, Ventura balked again, staying home on the evening of his supposed flight instead of traveling to the airport. By the time the investigation was winding down, he appeared ready to turn in his purported ISIS contact — an FBI agent — to the FBI.

There is still much that remains to be known about Ventura’s case, which remains in its early stages. More information may still come to light as it moves to discovery and trial, including about his dealings with the FBI and other activities online. Yet based on the government’s own account of what led to Ventura’s arrest, there is reason to believe that his case is less a serious terrorism bust than one of the many instances in which a troubled or mentally unfit young man was groomed by undercover FBI agents to commit a crime that would not have otherwise happened.

This law enforcement tactic has been criticized by national security researchers who have scrutinized the FBI’s role in manufacturing terrorism cases using vulnerable people who would have been unable to commit crimes without prolonged government assistance and encouragement. A 2014 Human Rights Watch report criticizing the use of informants in terrorism investigations said, “In this way, the FBI may have created terrorists out of law-abiding individuals.” This FBI tactic was a mainstay of terrorism prosecutions for roughly two decades. While its use lately has waned, the Ventura case may indicate that authorities are still open to conjuring terrorists where none existed. Read more - Lire plus

Prosecutors Disclose Discovery of Secret Guantanamo Prison Videos

The New York Times 21/06/2023 - Prosecutors have discovered secret videos of guards forcibly removing the accused mastermind of the bombing of the Navy destroyer Cole from his cell at Guantánamo Bay around the time federal agents claim he voluntarily confessed to his role in the Qaeda plot, the lead prosecutor told the trial judge on Wednesday.

The surprise disclosure could cause more delays in Guantánamo’s longest-running death-penalty case, which has been in pretrial proceedings since 2011. The judge is retiring from the Army and has scheduled closing arguments for next week on the question of whether to allow 2007 statements by the defendant, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, at his eventual trial. But the videotapes have not been turned over to either the judge or defense lawyers.

Instead, a prosecutor, Michael J. O’Sullivan, said the tapes were so sensitive that government agents were preparing them for screenings in classified settings — after certain information was apparently obscured. Agents have testified that in January 2007 Mr. Nashiri boasted of his role in the Cole attack, which killed 17 sailors off Yemen in October 2000. But defense lawyers have long argued that he told federal agents what he thought they wanted to hear because he had earlier been tortured. [...]

Defense lawyers originally asked for videos of the prisoner’s treatment in Camp 7 in 2011, when he was charged, the judge said in a ruling last year. Prosecutors had replied that there were none. [...] Annie W. Morgan, one of Mr. Nashiri’s lawyers, said Guantánamo prison records in 2006-7 showed that Mr. Nashiri was “subjected to an increasing number” of forced removals from his cell just before his interrogations. She called it “a deliberate attempt to remind him of the harsh treatment he received in C.I.A. black sites and what would happen if he did not cooperate.”

In the black sites, agency employees waterboarded him, confined him to a wooden box, threatened him with death and had him shackled in painful positions to gain his cooperation. He was kept in isolation and at times abused rectally. While Mr. Nashiri was in Thailand in 2002, the C.I.A. made videotapes depicting the treatment of him and another prisoner known as Abu Zubaydah, but then destroyed them three years later. In place of that destroyed evidence, the videos of Mr. Nashiri at Guantánamo’s Camp 7 prison in 2006 and 2007 “will give at least a glimpse into that behavior,” Ms. Morgan said.

The judge asked the prosecutor for the national security justification for withholding copies of the tapes from the judiciary and the defense, and suggested in open court that it was perhaps the need to protect “tactics.” Mr. O’Sullivan responded: “It’s been cleared for display only. That’s about all I can tell you at this point.” Once the videos were processed, he said, prosecutors would offer classified screenings on a rolling basis, perhaps beginning as early as next week. Read more - Lire plus

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UK moves to block Guantanamo Bay prisoner suing over CIA torture claims

US intelligence confirms it buys Americans’ personal data

TechCrunch 13/06/2023 - A newly declassified government report confirms for the first time that U.S. intelligence and spy agencies purchase vast amounts of commercially available information on Americans, including data from connected vehicles, web browsing data, and smartphones. By the U.S. government’s own admission, the data it purchases “clearly provides intelligence value,” but also “raises significant issues related to privacy and civil liberties.”

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) declassified and released the January 2022-dated report on Friday, following a request by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) to disclose how the intelligence community uses commercially available data. This kind of data is generated from internet-connected devices and made available by data brokers for purchase, such as phone apps and vehicles that collect granular location data and web browsing data that tracks users as they browse the internet.

The declassified report is the U.S. government’s first public disclosure revealing the risks associated with commercially available data of Americans that can be readily purchased by anyone, including adversaries and hostile nations. The United States does not have a privacy or data protection law governing the sharing or selling of Americans’ private information. “In a way that far fewer Americans seem to understand, and even fewer of them can avoid, [commercially available information] includes information on nearly everyone that is of a type and level of sensitivity that historically could have been obtained” by other intelligence gathering capabilities, such as search warrants, wiretaps and surveillance, the report says.

In a statement following the report’s publication, Wyden said: “This review shows the government’s existing policies have failed to provide essential safeguards for Americans’ privacy, or oversight of how agencies buy and use personal data.” “According to this report, the ODNI does not even know which federal intelligence agencies are buying Americans’ personal data,” Wyden added. Government agencies must typically secure a court-approved warrant to obtain Americans’ private data directly from a phone or tech company, such as private messages. But the ODNI’s report states that in the cases where Americans’ information — like location data — is openly for sale to the general public, U.S. intelligence agencies can purchase it. (Though, this theory has yet to be scrutinized in federal court.)

Although this data is generally sold in bulk — often millions of data points at a time — the ODNI’s report warns that commercially available data can be easily deanonymized to identify individuals, including Americans. Location data, for example, can be used to infer where people live and work, based on where their phones and vehicles are at certain times of the day. Commercially available information can also reveal “the detailed movements and associations of individuals and groups, revealing political, religious, travel, and speech activities,” the report says, such as being used to “identify every person who attended a protest or rally based on their smartphone location or ad-tracking records.” Read more - Lire plus

'Encryption protects our rights, privacy is not a crime'

The encryption of communications is a right that goes hand in hand with the protection of privacy. A group of more than 120 signatories, led by the association La Quadrature du Net, protests against the criminalization of this practice, whether by the French police or at a European and international level.

Le Monde 14/06/2023 - Encryption of communications is a common practice that ensures one’s correspondence is not read by third parties outside the recipients. The right to encryption is an extension of our right to privacy, articulated by Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights which gives each and every one of us the "right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence."

Any person who wants to protect their messages can use encrypted communications – activists, human rights defenders, investigative journalists, young people bureaucrats, parents, friends and you – all use services such as WhatsApp and Signal that integrate secure encryption in their messaging services. Throughout history, people all over the world used encryption to investigate corruption, to organize and challenge oppressive regimes, to create social change, and to make our world a just space for all. As of 2022, over 2 billion people use encryption every day, all over the world. The reason is simple: privacy empowers us all.

However, end-to-end encryption is currently under attack by prosecutors and legislators in France, the EU, the UK and the US. We are asked to choose, as a society: do we accept a future in which our private mail and communication can be intercepted anytime, in which we are treated as potential suspects?

La Quadrature du Net recently revealed information relating to the so-called "December 8" affair (2020) in which nine "ultra-left" people − one of whom had previously joined the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group alongside the Kurdish fighters of the YPG (People's Protection Units) − were arrested by the DGSI and RAID. Seven have been charged with "association de malfaiteurs terroristes," and their trial is scheduled for October 2023. These facts show the French police's unprecedented determination to criminalize the use of privacy-protecting technologies. The encryption of communications is then used as "proof" of clandestine − and therefore terrorist − behavior.

Upon inspection, the documents reveal that French law enforcement in fact criminalizes perfectly legal and responsible digital security practices such as the use of encryption. In the past, secure encryption has been recommended and supported by many institutions such as the United Nations, the CNIL (the French data protection authority), the ANSSI (French Cybersecurity agency), the ENISA, as well as the European Commission. Read more

Version française: « Attachés aux libertés fondamentales dans l’espace numérique, nous défendons le droit au chiffrement de nos communications »

French government outlaws climate activist group

Le Monde 21/06/2023 - The French government issued a decree on Wednesday, June 21, outlawing an activist climate group it accuses of fomenting violence in a series of recent demonstrations, including one that saw fierce clashes with police over an irrigation project.

Soulèvements de la Terre ("Uprisings of the Earth," SLT) condemned the shutdown and has called for protests in dozens of cities across France starting Wednesday.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said that "under the claim of defending the preservation of the environment" SLT "encourages sabotage and property damage, including with violence." SLT is part of a new wave of more radical climate activist groups, including Extinction Rebellion, that say direct action is needed in response to insufficient efforts to combat climate change and global warming. The dissolution procedure for SLT was launched in March after around 5,000 protesters battled with more than 3,000 police officers during a protest against a giant irrigation reservoir near Sainte-Soline in western France. Two protesters were left in a coma afterward, while around 30 officers were injured.

But Darmanin has drawn fire from left-wing opponents and rights groups for branding the actions of some protesters "eco-terrorism," noting that SLT's dissolution is based on a new law targeting extremist ideologies. "It should not be used in a context of civil disobedience, where the freedom of expression and assembly takes precedence," Greenpeace France said in a statement. Greenpeace added that it would support SLT if it contested the dissolution decree before the Conseil d'Etat, which rules on the legality of French laws. [...] "It should not be used in a context of civil disobedience, where the freedom of expression and assembly takes precedence," Greenpeace France said in a statement. Greenpeace added that it would support SLT if it contested the dissolution decree before the State Council, which rules on the legality of French laws. Read more - Lire plus

German police raid climate activists who blocked traffic

BBC 24/05/2023 - German police have carried out raids in seven states in a probe into climate campaigners suspected of forming or backing a criminal group because of their controversial activities. Among those raided was Last Generation spokeswoman Carla Hinrichs, whose door was broken down by armed police while she was in bed, the group said.

For months Last Generation has disrupted traffic in German cities.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has condemned their campaign as "completely crazy".

For weeks in Germany there has been a ferocious culture war about whether Last Generation can be legally defined as a criminal organisation. Conservative MPs have demanded tougher penalties including jail sentences, while left-wingers have warned of a dangerous authoritarian clampdown. Some 170 police took part in Wednesday's raids on flats and other buildings in Berlin, Bavaria, Dresden, Hamburg and elsewhere, shutting down the group's website and freezing two accounts. Ms Hinrichs's flat in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg was targeted at 07:00 on Wednesday by 25 police officers carrying guns, her colleagues said.

No arrests have been reported but seven people aged 22 to 38 are suspected of organising a campaign to collect at least €1.4m (£1.2m) in funding mainly to finance "further criminal acts". Police and prosecutors said the raids were aimed at establishing Last Generation's membership structure. Two of the activists under investigation are suspected of trying to sabotage an oil pipeline running across the Alps from the Italian coast at Trieste to Ingolstadt last year. In Berlin, Last Generation activists are making an impact. Roads blocked by activists have become a regular feature in radio traffic reports. Households have been getting leaflets inviting locals to Last Generation information or training events.

Last week, 12 streets were blocked in the city as activists glued themselves to the road or to cars. But these street sit-ins have resulted in some drivers lashing out. Countless social media videos show outraged drivers screaming at campaigners. In polls, most Germans disagree with the group's tactics. In a survey carried out by left-leaning magazine Der Spiegel this month, 79% of respondents said the group's actions were wrong, with only 16% agreeing with the activists. But that doesn't mean all Germans support a clampdown either. Many left-wing and Green politicians as well as commentators say they disagree with the group's tactics because they enrage people rather than win them over to environmentalism. But they argue activists should still have the right to campaign peacefully. Read more - Lire plus

German police raids on Last Generation climate activists spike recruitment

Action: Release those wrongfully detained in Algeria

Amnesty International 2023 - In Algeria, between 250 and 300 people remain deprived of their freedom solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.

What’s the problem?

Algerian authorities are targeting activists, journalists, human rights defenders and other critics of the state. Anyone seen to go against the grain, be it by criticizing the government on social media, participating in a group protecting minority rights, or writing for independent media, risks being detained in this indiscriminate crackdown on free expression.

In the past four years, authorities have arrested and detained thousands of political and civil society activists, human rights defenders and journalists for expressing their views, prosecuting them under vaguely worded Penal Code provisions. Many detainees have been released over the years, although at least around 300 remain deprived of their freedom – some in deplorable conditions – solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association. Authorities have also abused anti-terrorism laws to target dissidents and critics.

With your continued support, we can, together, put pressure on the authorities to release those arbitrarily detained solely for exercising their rights. We will not stop until the last detainee is free.

What can you do to help?

Sign the petition to end the continuing bogus prosecution and arbitrary detention of hundreds of state critics, civil society activists, human rights defenders and journalists. Take action - Passez à l'action!

Pakistani journalists abroad face terrorism investigations at home

CPJ 15/06/2023 - Pakistan authorities must cease harassing foreign-based journalists Wajahat Saeed Khan, Shaheen Sehbai, Sabir Shakir, and Moeed Pirzada and allow them to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.

On Saturday, June 10, police in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad opened a criminal and terrorism investigation into freelance U.S.-based journalists Khan and Sehbai, along with two former army officers, for allegedly “inciting people to attack military installations, spread terrorism, and create chaos” on May 9 after the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, according to news reports and the two journalists, who spoke with CPJ by phone.

Separately, on Tuesday, June 13, Islamabad police opened a similar criminal and terrorism investigation into Shakir, a freelance journalist based outside of Pakistan, Moeed Pirzada, U.S.-based editor of the news website Global Village Space, and another former army officer, according to news reports and the two journalists, who spoke with CPJ by phone.

The allegations were brought against the accused in relation to unspecified social media posts and videos by the journalists, according to copies of the first information reports, which cite sections of the penal code including criminal conspiracy and abetting mutiny, and the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, which carries a maximum punishment of death or life imprisonment.

“It is unconscionable that foreign-based Pakistani journalists Wajahat Saeed Khan, Shaheen Sehbai, Sabir Shakir, and Moeed Pirzada face potential death sentences under terrorism investigations in retaliation for their critical reporting and commentary,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Authorities must immediately drop these investigations and cease the relentless intimidation and censorship of the media.” Since Imran Khan’s May 9 arrest, when unprecedented protests targeting police and military installations erupted throughout the country, journalists have been arrested, attacked, and harassed. Mainstream Pakistani news channels have ceased coverage of the former prime minister following military pressure. Anchor Imran Riaz Khan has been missing since May 11 following his arrest at Punjab’s Sialkot Airport, his lawyer Azhar Siddique told CPJ via messaging app.

Khan, Sehbai, Shakir, and Pirzada each critically analyzed the former prime minister’s arrest and aftermath on their social media and YouTube channels. Khan, whose YouTube-based political affairs channel has around 205,000 subscribers, told CPJ he believes authorities are using the unrest as an excuse to target the four journalists for their previous and ongoing extensive critical coverage of the government and army. The Pakistani government has submitted several unsuccessful requests to Twitter to take down Khan’s content commenting on the political unrest in Pakistan, according to Khan and emails from Twitter to the journalist, which CPJ reviewed. Khan told CPJ that he fears the government will reference the terrorism investigation to social media companies to bolster attempts to censor him online. Read more - Lire plus

In secret meeting, Pakistani military ordered press to stop covering Imran Khan

I literally cannot say Imran Khan’s name on Pakistani TV – this madness has to end

Pakistan's anti-terrorism court grants pre-arrest bail to former PM Imran Khan in May 9 violence case

Pakistan: Anti-terrorism court discharges Imran Khan party's leader Rashid, orders release

The Intercepted podcast: Imran Khan's ousting and the crisis of Pakistan's military regime

Tunisia bars TV, radio reports of opposition conspiracy cases

Al Jazeera 18/06/2023 - Radio and TV programmes in Tunisia have been banned from reporting on the cases of prominent opposition figures accused of conspiring against state security, further deepening Tunisia’s authoritarian shift under President Kais Saied.

A judge made the decision on Saturday, according to the official news agency TAP. “The investigating judge of office 36 of the anti-terrorism branch issued a decision banning media coverage of the two cases of conspiring against state security,” court spokesperson Hanan el-Qadas told TAP. El-Qadas said the ban concerns just “audio-visual media” and was ordered in place to protect the privacy of the figures involved in the cases.

At least 21 dissidents are being investigated “on unfounded accusations of ‘conspiracy’”, an investigation that began in February of this year, according to Amnesty International. At least 12 people have been arrested, the human rights group said. Those arrested have been publicly branded as “terrorists”, accused of plotting to attack the state, and are being investigated under 10 articles of Tunisia’s Penal Code, including “Article 72, which mandates the death penalty for trying to ‘change the nature of the state’”, Amnesty International said.

Some outspoken critics of Saied’s government who are being investigated include Rashid Ghannouchi, the recently arrested leader of Ennahdha, the country’s biggest political party; and Nejib Chebbi, leader of Tunisia’s National Salvation Front, an opposition alliance co-founded by Ennahdha; alongside a litany of lawyers, journalists, and activists.

Since December, at least 30 opposition figures deemed critical of the Tunisian government have been arrested, according to Human Rights Watch, in a growing crackdown against the country’s opposition. In July 2021, President Saied sacked the government and suspended parliament before moving to rule by decree and eventually taking control of the judiciary. His government’s arrests of dozens of dissidents in recent months have sparked condemnation from the international community and rights groups. Read more - Lire plus

Tunisia Prosecutors Block Planned Release Of Opposition Figure

Myanmar court convicts journalist injured by army on 2nd charge, extending jail term to 13 years

ABC News 31/05/2023 - A court in military-ruled Myanmar has convicted a 34-year-old journalist of violating the country’s counter-terrorism law, adding 10 years to the three-year prison sentence she was given last December for filming an anti-military protest in which she was injured by a speeding army vehicle, according to her lawyer and a family member.

The conviction of Hmue Yadanar Khet Moh Moh Tun, a video journalist for the online Myanmar Pressphoto Agency, is the latest move against press freedom by the country’s ruling military, which has cracked down on independent media since seizing power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. Myanmar is one of the world’s biggest jailers of journalists, second only to China, according to Reporters Without Borders, and it is ranked near the bottom of the watchdog's World Press Freedom Index -– 173rd out of 180 countries this year.

“By imposing this additional 10-year sentence on Hmu Yadanar, the military junta led by Gen. Min Aung Hlaing has yet again demonstrated the extraordinary scale of the tyranny to which reporters are subjected to Myanmar,” Daniel Bastard, head of the Paris-based group's Asia-Pacific desk, said in a statement Tuesday. “We urge Tom Andrews, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, to take up this highly symbolic case in order to seek effective international sanctions against its military rulers.”

Since the takeover, journalists in Myanmar have faced extreme peril as the military government criminalized many aspects of reporting and has arrested more than 150 journalists, driving many others into hiding or exile.

At least 13 media outlets have had their licenses revoked and about 156 journalists have been arrested, 50 of whom remain detained. Of the detainees, 31 have already been convicted and sentenced. At least four journalists have been killed and others tortured while in detention. Most of the detained journalists are being held under an incitement charge — defined as causing fear or spreading false news that leads the public to hate the government and military — which is punishable by up to three years in prison. Others are held under the counter-terrorism law, which carries punishments ranging from 10 years in prison to the death penalty. Read more - Lire plus

India: UN body demands immediate release of Khurram Parvez

fidh 15/06/2023 - Indian authorities should immediately release Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez, a group of United Nations (UN) human rights experts has said. Mr. Parvez has been detained since his arrest on 22 November 2021 under India’s draconian anti-terrorism legislation and is currently detained in Rohini Jail, Delhi.

In an opinion adopted on 28 March 2023 and released on 5 June 2023, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) said Mr. Parvez’s detention was “arbitrary”. It called on the Indian authorities to immediately release him and to provide him with an “enforceable right to compensation and other reparations.”

“The UN ruling on Khurram Parvez’s case authoritatively confirms that his detention is an act of reprisal for his human rights work, and an attempt to silence him and Kashmiri civil society as a whole. The Indian authorities must implement the UN’s recommendations and immediately release Khurram,” said Alice Mogwe, International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) President.

The WGAD is mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate alleged cases of arbitrary detention. It considers individual complaints and adopts opinions on whether the detention of a particular individual is considered to be arbitrary. This WGAD opinion was issued in response to a complaint filed jointly by FIDH, CIVICUS, FORUM-ASIA and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) to the UN body on behalf of Mr. Parvez on 22 November 2022.

“The arbitrary and unjust detention of Khurram Parvez is not an isolated incident but the result of India’s relentless attacks on those who expose the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government’s discriminatory and abusive policies. India must reverse its politics of silencing dissent and guarantee the right to defend human rights in the country”, said Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General.The WGAD expressed serious concern about “the chilling effects” of Mr. Parvez’s arrest and prolonged detention on civil society, human rights defenders and journalists in India. Read more - Lire plus

Hong Kong student indicted over social media posts made from Japan

Japan Times 18/06/2023 - A student from Hong Kong who had been studying at a Japanese university has been indicted for “seditious” online statements made while she was in Japan, a case that adds to fears over a sweeping national security law that is being deployed beyond the city’s borders. Yuen Ching-ting, 23, had returned from Tokyo in February to renew her identity card and was arrested in early March — a day before her scheduled flight to Japan — over her posts on social media, the South China Morning Post reported.

In the Thursday indictment, handed down by Hong Kong’s National Security Department, she was charged with “doing an act or acts with seditious intention” and accused by the prosecutor of using language that incites “hatred or contempt” against the central government in Beijing and the authorities in Hong Kong, Nikkei Asia reported.

Police said in April that her posts included phrases such as “Hong Kong independence” and “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times,” the report said. The Beijing-imposed national security law, which came into effect in June 2020, targets alleged acts of secession, subversion, or collusion with foreign entities, and can in some cases lead to a life sentence. Part of a wider crackdown on dissent, it can also be applied to acts committed outside of Hong Kong, though the sedition provision is only meant to apply within the city.

The defense pointed out that most of the posts in the case were made overseas, with the court hearing that only two were made from Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post reported. Yuen’s lawyers also referred to the statute of limitations for sedition offenses, set at six months, claiming that she made her last social media post more than a year ago in May 2022, Nikkei Asia reported. But the prosecutor said Yuen’s posts to Facebook and Instagram came between September 2018 and early March this year, adding that they were accessible in Hong Kong even if they were created in Japan, the report said. Yuen was granted bail and released on Friday, the South China Morning Post reported. She is due to appear for a hearing on Aug. 2, a schedule of court proceedings shows.

Under the conditions of her bail, Yuen is required to delete all the social media posts related to her case, report to a police station twice a week, and cannot travel abroad, join online chat groups with more than five people, or speak to the media, the report said. Police are also allowed access to her social media accounts, if necessary, according to the South China Morning Post. On Thursday, the Japan Hong Kong Democracy Alliance released a statement calling for the Japanese government to address the incident, calling it a “violation” of Japanese sovereignty from Hong Kong’s judicial system, adding that Yuen’s actions in Japan had not violated any domestic laws. Source

Majority Of Canada’s Non-U.S. Military Exports Go To Anti-Democratic Regimes

The Maple 06/06/2023 - While the Trudeau government spent much of last year touting the idea that it was working to defend democracy, a majority of military exports to non-U.S. countries filled the armouries of anti-democratic regimes, according to an analysis by The Maple of Global Affairs Canada (GAC) data.

According to GAC’s recently published “2022 Exports of Military Goods” report, Canadian arms manufacturers exported a total of $2.1 billion in goods to non-U.S. countries last year. Of those, the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia alone accounted for $1.15 billion in goods, more than 54 per cent of the total. The Maple found that nearly 58 per cent of the total value of all Canadian military exports to non-U.S. countries went to anti-democratic Gulf monarchies, including Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman and Kuwait. Each of these countries has also been accused by international monitors of committing serious human rights violations.

For example, the Saudi monarchy has in recent months carried out “callous” executions that followed “unfair” trials, according to Amnesty International, alongside a long list of other serious abuses. The UAE heavily curtails dissenting speech and engages in arbitrary detention, in addition to censoring critical media. The monarchies of Qatar, Kuwait, and Oman engage in similar acts of repression.

Canadian military exports to the state of Israel in 2022 were valued at more than $21 million. According to reports published by multiple international human rights organizations in the past two years, Israel maintains a constitutionally entrenched system of apartheid that strips Palestinians of basic rights, and which critics argue disqualifies Israel’s supporters’ claims of the country having the only functioning democracy in the Middle East.

The charge that Israel is an apartheid state is strongly rejected by the Israeli government, pro-Israel groups and allied governments (including the Trudeau government), despite years of evidence documented by Palestinians and international human rights monitors.

According to Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, Israeli forces killed 146 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank last year, making it the deadliest year for Palestinians since 2004.

A total of 315 permits were granted to and utilized by Canadian military suppliers exporting to Israel last year, the highest number among all non-U.S. countries.

Despite Saudi Arabia continuing to account for a majority of Canadian military exports in 2022, such exports fell by approximately 34 per cent when compared with 2021. Exports to Israel fell by approximately 18 per cent. Exports to Qatar, however, massively increased from just over $19,000 in 2021 to $49 million in 2022. The UAE, meanwhile, saw a more than sevenfold increase in military goods from Canada, with imports jumping from just over $3 million in 2021 to $25.6 million in 2022. Exports to Oman increased fivefold.

The exports to anti-democratic countries run counter to GAC’s stated mandate to “advance democracy” around the world. The ministry’s website claims: “Canada is advancing an inclusive approach to democracy. We want people to participate in decision-making processes and institutions that impact all areas of their lives.” Read more - Lire plus

Protest Disrupts Opening of North America’s Largest Weapons Fair

Watch CANSEC Protest on Democracy Now

UK universities and the further development of killer robots

SGR 06/06/2023 - A new report has uncovered the “disturbingly close” relationship between the military-industrial sector and UK higher education, especially in areas related to Autonomous Weapons Systems. Nico Edwards, Sussex University, summarises the findings.

After years of global campaigning, on 21 October 2022, 70 states delivered the first-ever joint statement on Autonomous Weapons Systems (AWS) – better known as killer robots – to the UN General Assembly. 

The statement recognises AWS as a serious threat to global humanitarian, ethical and other pillars, emphasising the need to maintain human control over, and accountability for, the use of force. Still, military powers like the USA, Russia, China, Israel and the UK continue to block UN talks on international legislation to regulate the development and use of killer robots.

The use of so-called loitering munitions and missiles in the ongoing war in Ukraine is complicating the issue further: both Russia and Ukraine have reportedly deployed drones with a variety of autonomous functions, such as artificial intelligence visual identification, recognition and targeting technologies or autonomous flight and navigation capabilities. 

While global civil society highlights this as immediate proof of the need for an international ban, many states instead see it as a reason to continue or even increase investments into AWS. The current Europe-wide explosion in military spending is likely to entrench this logic further. Read more - Lire plus

ICLMG ACTIONS & EVENTS

CSIS isn't above the law!

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.

Canada must protect Hassan Diab!

Send an email using ICLMG’s one-click tool and share widely!

Letter in English + Lettre en français

Sign and share the LeadNow petitions to protect Hassan from further injustice

Petition in English + Pétition en français

For more information on the case of Hassan Diab, read our webcomic, watch our animated version of the comic, or visit justiceforhassandiab.org.

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.

Please share on Facebook + Twitter + Instagram

20 years of fighting deportation to torture: Justice for Mohamed Harkat Now!

December 10, 2022 - ironically Human Rights Day - marked the 20th "anniversary" of the arrest of Mohamed Harkat under Canada's rights-violating security certificate regime. For Mr. Harkat, it's been two decades of fighting deportation to torture, 16 years of harassment and intrusive surveillance, arbitrary detention, solitary confinement, secret trials, PTSD: enough is enough! We call for justice for Moe Harkat now! Watch - Visionnez

TAKE ACTION: Stop Moe Harkat's deportation to torture!

ACTION: Arrêtez la déportation vers la torture de Mohamed Harkat!

Reform Canada's extradition law now!

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!

Version française: Le Canada doit réformer la loi sur l'extradition! + Partagez sur Facebook + Twitter + Instagram

Phone PM Justin Trudeau

TAKE ACTION: Justice for Hassan Diab!

Just Peace Advocates' action: Write a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau: Say “No" to a second extradition of Hassan Diab

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

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

Access to information

Accès à l'information

How Canada’s Freedom Of Information system broke under its own weight

Accountability

Reddition de comptes

Federal Court decides CSIS no longer needs a warrant to conduct searches, no matter how intrusive, of non Canadians outside Canada, because “spying isn’t illegal” and “they don’t have charter rights”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen: State Dept. Must Release Report on Shireen Abu Akleh Death, Hold Killers Accountable

Migrant and refugee rights

Droits des migrant.es et réfugié.es

Ontario the latest province to stop imprisoning migrants

As Media Spotlights Titanic Sub, Hundreds of Migrants Who Died in Greek Shipwreck Get Scant Coverage

Shipwreck in Pylos. Open letter by over 180 human rights organizations

Privacy and surveillance

Vie privée et surveillance

"Lawful access" is back on the agenda, as the government seeks comments on warrantless access to internet user data, and now digital device searches

Pentagon's Secret Service trawls social media for mean tweets about generals

Whistleblowers

Lanceurs d'alertes

UK: Assange closer to extradition to the US after appeal rejected by High Court

Daniel Ellsberg’s Dying Wish: Free Julian Assange, Encourage Whistleblowers & Reveal the Truth

RIP Daniel Ellsberg: “Most Dangerous Man in America” on Leaking Pentagon Papers, Exposing Gov’t Lies

The Espionage Act: Could Trump Indictment Lead to Changes to 1917 Law Used to Jail Whistleblowers?

Miscellaneous

Divers

ACTION: Urge PM Trudeau to reduce military spending

ACTION: Stop Deporting Russian War Resisters

July to December 2022 - Juillet à décembre 2022

In case you missed it, we've published our biannual summary of activities last month. Here are the legislation and issues we worked on from July to December 2022:

• Bill C-20, Public Complaints and Review Commission Act
• Bill C-26, An Act respecting cyber security & amending the Telecommunications Act
• Bill C-27, Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022
• "Online harms" proposal
• Countering terrorist financing & prejudiced audits of Muslim charities
• International Assistance and anti-terrorism laws
• Justice for Dr Hassan Diab & reform of the Extradition Act
• CSIS accountability and duty of candour
• Facial Recognition Technology (FRT)
• Canadians detained in Northeastern Syria
• Justice for Moe Harkat and abolish security certificates
• Canada’s armed drone purchase
• Listing of Iranian Canadians
• Ongoing No Fly List problems

For more details on each issue, click here. And here are the issues we plan to work on in the first half of 2023:

• Advocating for changes to anti-terror laws that prohibit Canadian organizations from providing international assistance in Afghanistan and other regions in need;
• 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 privacy law reform;
• Fighting for Justice for Mohamed Harkat, an end to security certificates, and addressing problems in security inadmissibility;
• Ensuring Justice for Hassan Diab and reforming Canada’s extradition law;
• The return of the 40+ Canadian citizens indefinitely detained in Syrian camps, including more than 20 children;
• The end to the CRA’s prejudiced audits of Muslim-led charities;
• Pushing for Canadian government action on behalf of Iranian Canadians negatively and unjustly impacted by the US terror listing of the IRGC;
• 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;
• And much more! Read more - Lire plus

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