Guantanamo Jr.

[Taranne]

Quand on sait à quel point les Canadiens aiment à s'ériger en donneurs de leçons en matière de droits de l'homme, ce genre d'anecdote ne manque pas de sel:

Terror suspect airs grievances over 'Guantanamo North'

Allison Hanes

CanWest News Service; National Post

Thursday, June 29, 2006

MONTREAL - Terror suspect Mahmoud Jaballah complained Wednesday of stifling heat, not being able to buy snacks and difficulty contacting his wife and six children since being moved to a new immigration holding centre in Kingston, Ont., dubbed Guantanamo North.

Through his lawyer and in a recent affidavit, the Egyptian national aired his grievances in Federal Court in Toronto, as part of a renewed bid to be released from custody, this time asking to be put under house arrest.

A hearing to determine whether Jaballah's detention since August 2001 on the basis of secret intelligence is reasonable was supposed to continue Wednesday. But his lawyers requested anew that Judge Andrew Mackay postpone the proceedings until after the Supreme Court of Canada rules on the constitutionality of security certificates.

Since being transferred to the purpose-built facility on the grounds of the Millhaven penitentiary in April, Jaballah said the few privileges he enjoyed during his five years at the Toronto West Detention Centre have been scaled back.

There is no air conditioning in the portable trailers that comprise the $3.2-million, high-security six-cell complex, according to an affidavit, which pushes temperatures to between 30 C and 32 C on days where the mercury outside is not nearly that high.

''This was entirely foreseeable, putting a trailer in the middle of a parking lot in the middle of summer,'' lawyer John Norris told the court.

''The men were transferred to a detention centre that was ready in some respects the fences were up and the locks were on the doors. But there have been a number of growing pains, to put it mildly.''

Jaballah and his two fellow inmates also being held on security certificates Syrian Hassan Almrei and Egyptian Mohamed Mahjoub recently ended a month-long hunger strike over their conditions of detention.

Jaballah complained that since moving to Kingston he has been restricted to one hour per day speaking with his family by phone.

Each time he makes a phone call, the affidavit says Jaballah has to fill out a form that goes up a chain of command. This can take up to three hours.

Then, unlike the Toronto jail where he could dial pre-approved numbers on his own, a guard has to come and put the call through for him.

Jaballah said he's been thwarted from accessing the media. His newspapers are never delivered and he's not allowed to contact journalists directly.

He's also dismayed the three prisoners of the immigration holding centre are not offered the canteen service available to criminal inmates, where for reduced rates they may purchase snacks and personal hygiene products.

Instead, they have access to a vending machine that offers junk food at steeper prices. But since they're not allowed to keep cash on hand, the prisoners have to wait until visitors come to purchase any of the snacks.

''Mr. Jaballah was advised that the guards have their own vending machine, and they pay a reduced rate for the items in it,'' the affidavit added.

Federal Justice department lawyers Wednesday accused Jaballah's lawyers who are defending him against allegations that he is a member of the al-Jihad terror network of abusing rules of procedure to deliberately stall proceedings.

''The court has made several decisions to get on with it and the (government) has done everything in its power to get on with it,'' said Justice Department attorney David Tyndale. ''We have been faced time and time again with last-minute motions that are becoming repetitive.''

Mackay will rule in a conference call Friday afternoon whether to put the case on hold or go ahead.

National Post

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