26 June 2012, Toronto — Security certificate detainee Mohammad Mahjoub and his supporters were outside Canada's notorious intelligence agency this afternoon to protest twelve years of arbitrary detention for Mr. Mahjoub and to mark the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

"Twelve years ago today I was arrested on my way to work in Toronto, and for twelve years I've remained without charge - harassed, and abused," said Mr. Mahjoub as many CSIS officials slipped out of their building in downtown Toronto heading for lunch.

Mr. Mahjoub came to Canada seeking protection and freedom from the Hosni Mubarak regime in Egypt. Instead, he was treated to years of violence, lengthy periods of solitary confinement, threats, abuse, racist insults, and arbitrary, indefinite detention.

"At first we were told that there was evidence against me, but that it was secret. Then CSIS said that they had destroyed the evidence. Finally it turned out that there was no evidence in the first place, just information obtained from torture, and unsourced intelligence reports. Increasingly, "national security" seems to mean "saving face". " Mahjoub added as the protest, accompanied by a 2 meter high platform of legal boxes dragged by a "Judge", moved to the Department of Justice and then on to the Federal Court House.

To loud cheers from his supporters, many of them carrying signs, Mahjoub insisted, "We are here to demand justice, apology, reparations and citizenship for me and the other four men who have been held under security certificates."

"Security Certificates have long been one of the most vicious pieces of racist, anti-immigrant legislation in Canada. This legislation allows the government to target people without full status, utilize secret information obtained by torture, keep people jailed for years, deport them, and never actually charge anyone, with anything," explains Syed Hussan, an organizer with the Justice for Mahjoub Network.

"Mahjoub is undeniably a survivor of mental, physical and emotional abuse - abuse carried out by Canadian government officials in the form of long periods of solidarity confinement; beatings; racist insults and threats; sexual violence; indefinite, arbitrary detention; threats of deportation and so on. Not only that, but by using information obtained by torture, Canadian officials are choosing to be complicit in state-sponsored torture elsewhere," says Mahjoub supporter and campaign organizer Fariah Chowdhury.

Vinay Sharma, Human Rights Director, Canadian Auto Workers added, "Jason Kenney and Vic Toews need to step in and end this injustice once and for all. Twelve years without charge is simply too many."

"If Mr. Mahjoub or any other security certificate detainee is guilty of wrong-doing, then they must be afforded the same basic human right to due process; they should be able to hear the evidence against them. Deeming a detainee to be a terrorist, based on secret intelligence, and then deporting him to face near-certain torture is not only inhumane, it is counter-intuitive," said Ihsaan Gardee, CAIR-CAN Executive Director. "CAIR-CAN once again calls upon the federal government to review the constitutionality of Security Certificates and stand up for equal rights for all individuals in Canada, regardless of citizenship."

Hussan agrees. "Not only has CSIS conceded that the information they are using may have been obtained through torture, we have seen any semblance of a fair trial systematically squandered - Mr. Mahjoub's phone conversations with his lawyers have been illegally tapped, his confidential defense files seized by the prosecution and evidence in his case destroyed or concealed by CSIS. The entire department of justice, the intelligence agencies and the Ministers are directly responsible for the travesty here and they must be held accountable."

In early June, the Federal Court fired 11 lawyers and legal assistants from Mr. Mahjoub's case for seizing his defence documents but decided not to suspend the proceedings. Protestors mounted their names at the Department of Justice. Just last week, the Federal Court in a secret hearing ruled to exclude all summaries of evidence that have been destroyed by CSIS. [1]

Mary Foster, who helped organize a street festival in Montreal in support of Mahjoub, added, "The only thing that Mr. Mahjoub is "guilty" of is being Muslim and having a certain profile. This is not only a struggle for justice for Mr. Mahjoub, it is about opposing the rise of anti-immigrant, racist fear and expanding state powers of repression!" A rally also took place in Fredericton.

[1] Mahjoub security certificate case staggering after judge excludes destroyed evidence

For more information:
Justice for Mahjoub Network
WEB: supportmahjoub.org
EMAIL: justiceformahjoub@gmail.com
FB: facebook.com/SupportMahjoub