There was a media scrum held this morning just after 8:30 pm outside the Federal Court at 180 Queen St. W. I held a sign in wind and rain that read, from top to bottom - JUSTICE, FREEDOM, MAHJOUB. Paul Slansky and Mr. Mahjoub spoke to reporters who attended. These included CBC Radio’s Joan Leishman who did a piece on Security certificates a while ago, CBC French Radio OMNI TV, Colin Perkel of Canadian Press (I think), Newstalk 1010, Tom Godfrey of the Toronto Sun, Amar, Noah and Catherine – filmakers. Paul commented on the nature of the hearings – the secret evidence that Mr. Mahjoub and his lawyers are never allowed to see and the likelihood that much of the secret evidence is based on torture while the real source of other evidence is not likely known even by CSIS. Mr. Mahjoub spoke of how eleven years of incarceration and near house arrest have ruined his life and that of his family. You can see and hear his emotions boil up if you go to the the Sun article (#3) below – with video of Mr. Mahjoub speaking.
(please copy these urls into your browser)
1. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/detained-toronto-man-accused-of-terrorism-links-makes-plea-for-freedom/article2272164/
2. http://www.newstalk1010.com/News/localnews/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10327330
3. http://www.torontosun.com/2011/12/15/egyptian-man-fights-terrorism-charges-in-canada-for-11-years with video
4. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/12/15/mahjoub-.html
Today was one of the best court support days we've had in a long time. At one point just before lunch break there were nine of us - Amar, Noah, Catherine (who is on the film team), Brooke, John, Jean, Brydon, Elizabeth and myself.
The new witness today is Professor Leman-Langlois of Laval University in Quebec City. He is the Canada Research Chair in Criminology. Public Counsel Yavar Hameed took the witness through his Curriculum Vitae (CV) in order to show to the court that the witness is qualified to be an expert witness in this case. His education, research, articles and books written and his supervision of graduate students up to the PHD level indicated his expertise and intelligence and he is a young man with a quick mind. He is prepared to comment on surveillance, risk, terrorism, counter-terrorism, open and dark networks and more.
Ministers’ Counsel with their questioning tried to portray this witness as not having expertise in Al Qaeda; Al Jihad in Sudan and other items. This line of questioning ended the morning. I was not at court in the afternoon. Judge Blanchard still must rule on whether the witness is qualified but I think he will and I believe Professor Leman-Langlois will still be on the witness stand tomorrow morning (Friday) beginning at 9:30 am. Just listening to him today made me feel like I was in a course on Criminology. Please attend – I believe it will be very informative and helpful.
Please come to Federal Court, 180 Queen St. W., 6th floor, Friday, Dec. 16, 9:30 am.
No comments:
Post a Comment