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THANKS to fanfan from Canada for the ping to this thread. Read the whole article please.
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1611475/posts

Tamil Tigers outlawed -- Group added to Canada's terror list
National Post ^ | 2006-04-08 | Stewart Bell

Posted on 04/08/2006 6:50:49 AM PDT by Clive

TORONTO - The Tamil Tigers have been added to Canada's list of outlawed terrorist organizations, the National Post has learned.

The designation was to be finalized yesterday, a day after Cabinet met to accept a recommendation from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

An official announcement was scheduled for Monday.

The Tigers are the 39th terrorist group to be outlawed under the Anti-Terrorism Act, and the first added to the list by the new Conservative government.

The move was spearheaded by Stockwell Day, the Minister of Public Safety, who in opposition repeatedly condemned the Liberals for not outlawing the Tigers.

The decision means it will now be a criminal offence to participate in the activities of the Tamil Tigers, formally known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, a Sri Lankan separatist group responsible for more than 160 suicide bombings. For example, anyone convicted of financially supporting the Tigers could be imprisoned for up to 10 years.

But while the Tigers were placed on the list, the government stopped short of listing any of the terrorist group's Canadian front organizations.

The Cabinet order will likely have implications both at home and abroad. It will criminalize the Tiger "war taxes" that have long been paid -- both voluntarily and involuntarily -- by some Tamil-Canadians. Also, Canada has the world's largest Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora, estimated at 250,000, and the listing could deal a blow to the Tigers, who are heavily dependent on Canadian and other foreign donors.

"It is estimated that between one and two million dollars are raised annually in Canada, making it one of the largest contributors of funds to the LTTE worldwide," according to a classified CSIS report circulated in 2000. "The LTTE has traditionally raised these monies through the use of fronts groups."

The Tigers were formed in the 1980s to fight for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil minority, but the guerrilla group quickly embraced terrorist tactics.

Buses, trains and office buildings were bombed by the LTTE's suicide squad, the Black Tigers. The LTTE is considered one of the world's leading practitioners of suicide terrorism, and has assassinated scores of political opponents, among them the late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Peace talks and a ceasefire have been faltering in recent months, as the idyllic island nation off India's southern tip has tumbled back into ethnic warfare that has already cost more than 60,000 lives.

Last month, Human Rights Watch reported that LTTE supporters had been going door to door in Toronto since late 2005 extorting money from Tamil-Canadians to finance a "final war" for independence.

Although the Tigers are one of the most active terrorist groups in Canada, the Liberals had refused to outlaw their activities, some say because the party was afraid of angering Tamil-Canadian voters in Toronto.