Courts impose publication ban (Canada: terror cell bust)

Courts impose publication ban

CP via The National Post
Monday, June 12, 2006

BRAMPTON, Ont. (CP) -- A justice of the peace involved in the case against 17 terror suspects has imposed a publication ban on the proceedings.

The ban was met with criticism from Muslims and defence lawyers outside the Brampton, Ont., courtroom where many of the arrested men appeared Monday.

"We call it a publication scam," Ahmad Shehab, a Muslim counsellor said outside the courthouse.

Police stand guard as terror suspects arrive at court
for a bail hearing 12 June 2006 in the Brampton suburb
of Toronto. Lawyers for 14 of 17 Muslim men charged in
Canada's biggest anti-terrorism sweep appealed in court
for their clients' release, complaining about detention
conditions and vowing to oppose a possible secret trial.
The accused -- all but two of whom are under 25 years
old -- were nabbed in police raids in several locations
in and around Toronto, in a two-year long sting operation

A woman embraces her child while pointing her finger
at media, en-route to Brampton's Court House, Monday
morning, to see family members and friends in court
regarding the recent terrorist charges.
(Brent Foster/National Post)
[snip Getty image]

"If you accuse people you might as well show things, clear, transparent, due process, crystal clear evidence so the public could see," he said.

Defence lawyer Arif Raza said much of the information is already in the public domain, so he sees no need for a ban now.

"Rather than have speculation in the press, I think that justice would be better served by accurately reporting what precisely had happened in the court rather than speculate."

A lawyer representing one of the accused says the Crown had no right to seek a blanket publication ban after feeding so many damaging accusations to the media about the suspects.

"After they've had 10 days with the media, feeding the media whatever they want to feed the media, denying us disclosure of any evidence and doing what they need to do to conduct a trial in this parking lot of this courthouse, they now have the audacity to request a blanket publication ban of all proceedings from today's date," Rocco Galati said outside court before the ban was imposed.

Galati, who represents Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, a 21-year-old health sciences graduate of McMaster University, said he wants the allegations against his client to be known.

"I want the public to know exactly the allegations against my client," he said.

"I want the public to see the bail hearing, I want the public to assess for itself and have confidence in the administration of justice and the only way to do that is with a live feed."

Also outside court, Galati said the men are being kept in isolation in rooms that are lit 24 hours a day. He said they are being woken up every half hour.

Another lawyer said outside court that his client was beaten by a guard after he giggled because he felt ticklish while being searched.

David Kolinsky said the guard pinned his client to the ground, drilled his knuckle into the man's cheek and said, "is this funny?"

"Under the convention against torture and other cruel and unusual punishment the instances of mistreatment that defence counsel have cited as going on at the jail constitute torture," Galati told reporters.

Galati said the men have been denied access to their lawyers and have been allowed no time outdoors for five straight days.

He said the accused are given only five minutes to eat their meals or else the food is taken away.

The men are not allowed to speak to anyone, including the guards, and are being forced to keep their eyes on the floor at all times.

"When they are escorted or walked from point A to point B, they must walk at a 90-degree angle with their legs upright and their torso across at a 90-degree angle with handcuffs stretched out and be escorted by three armed tactical members of the security forces," Galati said.

The lawyer called the treatment of the men and youths "unprecedented" and said the suspects have been publicly declared guilty by the prime minister, the mayor of Toronto and some Muslim community leaders.

These and other actions associated with the case call into question whether the accused could now get fair treatment by the justice system, the lawyer said.

"Within mere days of the arrests, the prime minister of Canada and the mayor of Toronto publicly declared the guilt of the accused," Galati said outside the courthouse.

"Some leaders of the opposition, MPs and senators have also declared their guilt," he said.

"Self-proclaimed leaders of the Muslim community, in a desperate attempt to distance themselves from the accused have declared them guilty as well."

The 17 suspects face a variety of charges including knowingly participating in or contributing to terrorist activity, providing or receiving training for terrorist purposes and providing or making available property for a terrorist activity.

Weapons and explosives charges include committing indictable offences, in this case planning to cause an explosion and importing firearms and ammunition, to benefit a terrorist group.

The maximum sentences for participating in terrorism, training and making property available are 10 years in prison.

The weapons and explosives offences would be crimes in any case, but proof that they were linked to a terrorist objective would raise the maximum sentence to life in prison.

Galati also pointed to the heavy military force surrounding court proceedings last week, including the presence of SWAT team members inside the courtroom, saying it all leads to the denial of a fair bail hearing.

"The military show of force was oppressive and . . . included three outside perimeters with a tactical team with automatic assault rifles, rooftop snipers, helicopters and dogs," he said.

"It also included inside the courtroom armed SWAT team members with automatic assault rifles."

Media from around the world were at the courthouse, as they were last week when the men made their first appearance, but their families had no comment.

Several male family members or supporters held hands to form a protective ring around the women as they made their way from the parking lot into the courthouse.

Among those in attendance was Karim Khadr, the son of Ahmed Said Khadr, an associate of Osama bin Laden who was killed in a fire fight with Pakistani forces in 2003.

Unfortunately the Islamofascists are quite ready to die for their beliefs anytime. As a matter of fact thats how they want to die. Therefore the determination of their own guilt or innocence is of little consequence to them. For this reason the Islamofascism use public trial as a twisted and perverted platform to manipulate and mock the freedoms of fair trail which are so sacred to a free society.

To open the court to the public is to give these terrorist a platform on which the liberal press will join to further their cause, to create more Muslim terrorists. The lives of court officials and jurors would be at risk.

The judge is quite right in closing the court. There will be a record of the proceedings and I have no problem in supporting the courts closure as long as all other forms of fair trial process are observed.

In this case Justice will be done, and it will be seen to be done after the fact. Whatever the outcome, it will be appealed, and Canada has no death penalty, as it should in a case like this one.

You have far more faith in these black-robed, de facto dictators than I obviously do.

Canada's Judges are much more interested in imposing their activist political agendas while lining their own pockets than they are about what might constitute 'justice' and/or the rights or sensibilities of those compelled to pick up their largely unearned tabs.

Well you can always send them to Reno, Nevada for a vacation.LOL

But I do not believe all judges are as you say. I have known a few conservative burners in my day who still believe in the Doctrine of Supremacy of Parliament, as I was taught in law school.

Lets hope we lucjk out, banning publication is a good indication that the Brampton judege is quite conservative and intenT on maintaining a secure environment for jurors and witnesses.

We will have to see, though, we are still nly at the prliminary stages and a trial judge has not yet been seized with the evidence which would bind him to the trial process for its duration.

"... a trial judge has not yet been seized with the evidence which would bind him to the trial process for its duration."

Presumably, any or all of the "accused" still have the option of electing for a Trial by Jury.

Meanwhile, the publication ban does nothing to prevent Rocco Galati - as he's plainly attempting to do above - & the rest of the slimeball shysters representing them to continue in their efforts to poison any potential Jury pool - which is precisely what they've been attempting to do from the get go.

Merely the Crown's decision to hold the Trial in Brampton - since, with such a wide-ranging conspiracy, there must have been many other lawful venue options available - may well indicate some sort of fix is in:

Given that, when it comes to potential Jurors, the Region of Peel most likely has considerably more Muslims per capita than any other Jurisdiction in the province.

Possible hung jury(s) and/or mistrials anyone?

ON THE NET...

TOWNHALL.com: "WHY STRIKE CANADA?" -Column by Joel Mowbray (June 14, 2006)

JAMESTOWN.org - Terrorism Focus: "THE DANGEROUS DREAMS OF TORONTO'S TERRORISTS" by Andrew McGregor (June 13, 2006)

JIHAD WATCH.org (AP): Ottawa - "MUSLIMS CHALLENGE CANADA DETENTION POLICY" (June 13, 2006)

JIHAD WATCH.org: "CANADA: LAWYERS ALLEGE JIHAD SUSPECTS BEING TORTURED IN JAIL" (June 12, 2006)

SAAG.org - Paper no. 1841: "CANADIAN JIHADI NETWORK - INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR --- PAPER NO. 74" by B. Raman (June 12, 2006)

JIHAD WATCH.org: "CANADA JIHADISTS GREW MORE DEVOUT, BEGAN TO PLOT" (June 11, 2006)

JIHAD WATCH.org (CBC): "SAUDIS SPREADING JIHAD IN CANADIAN MOSQUES" (June 10, 2006)

JIHAD WATCH.org (THE GLOBE AND MAIL): "'It may have been the most politically correct terrorism bust in history'" (June 9, 2006)

WorldAnalysis.org (from Wednesday's GLOBE AND MAIL): Ottawa - "CANADA: RCMP FOILED DOZEN PLOTS IN PAST TWO YEARS" (June 8, 2006)

SAAG.org: "SRI LANKAN TIMIL IN TORONTO PLOT - INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR: PAPER NO. 71" by B. Raman (June 8, 2006)

MSNBC.msn.com: Washington - "U.S. CITIZEN HELD IN BRITAIN AS TERROR SUSPECT Brooklyn College grad accused of aiding in plot to attack London" by Pete Williams (Note: The suspect is identified as "Syed Hashmi, age 26.") (Updated June 7, 2006)

LittleGreenFootballs.com - Weblog (TIMESONLINE.co.uk): "BRITON ARRESTED IN CANADIAN TERROR INVESTIGATION" (June 7, 2006)

FRONTPAGE MAGAZINE.com: "JIHAD DENIAL IN TORONTO" by Robert Spencer (June 7, 2006)

MICHELLE MALKIN.com - Weblog: "THE GEORGIA CONNECTION" (June 6, 2006)

JIHAD WATCH.org (AP): "CANADA JIHADISTS PLANNED TO STORM PARLIAMENT, BEHEAD OFFICIALS" (June 6, 2006)

FRONTPAGE MAGAZINE.com: "CANADIAN BLINDNESS TO TERROR" by Patrick Poole (June 6, 2006)

CSMONITOR.com: Toronto - "CANADA FACES 'JIHAD GENERATION'" by Rebecca Cook Dube (June 5, 2006)

FRONTPAGE MAGAZINE.com: "TERROR IN TORONTO" by Stephen Brown (June 5, 2006)

JIHAD WATCH.org: "DHIMMI MEDIA COVERS UP ISLAMIC IDENTITY OF CANADIAN TERROR SUSPECTS, SAYS THEY REPRESENT 'BROAD STRATA' OF SOCIETY" (June 4, 2006)

WASHINGTON TIMES.com (AP): "CANADIAN ARRESTS FOIL TERROR PLOT" by Beth Duff-Brown (June 4, 2006)

COUNTERTERRORISM BLOG.org: "WERE CANADIAN JIHADISTS TARGETING PICKERING NUCLEAR PLANT?" by Andrew Cochran (June 3, 2006)

NEWSMAX.com Wires: Toronto - "17 TERROR SUSPECTS ARRESTED IN TORONTO" (June 3, 2006)

A Discussion on FREEREPUBLIC.com: "TERROR STRIKE TORONTO (ABORTED!)" (June 4, 2006)

"www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1642083/posts?page=137#137" (June 3, 2006)

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.