Canadian police seize reporter's files in suspect's deportation (Ashcroft

http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/01/22/canadian_police_seize_reporters_files_in_suspects_deportation/

This is a reporter doing a story on the guy suing Ashcroft


snip

Arar had been changing planes in New York on his way back to Canada in 2002 when he was arrested and sent to Syria, where he says he was tortured before being sent back to Canada last year. He denies any involvement with terrorist groups.

The United States has said it was tipped off to Arar by Canadian security officials, prompting demands for inquiries into whether Canada had helped send one of its citizens off to a Middle Eastern torture chamber.

Two investigations are already under way into whether the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or Canada's spy agency had given

snip


Canada Reporter's Home Raided Over Al Qaeda Story

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0121-13.htm

 
OTTAWA - Police raided the home and office of an Ottawa journalist on Wednesday to investigate possible leaks of classified information about a Syrian-born Canadian who was deported to Syria by the United States, suspected of ties to al Qaeda.



The police action, which the Ottawa Citizen's publisher said "smacks of a police state mentality," came on the day that Maher Arar's lawyers said their client planned to launch a lawsuit against the United States in New York on Thursday over his deportation.

Arar had been changing planes in New York on his way back to Canada in 2002 when he was arrested and sent to Syria, where he says he was tortured before being sent back to Canada last year. He denies any involvement with terrorist groups.

The United States has said it was tipped off to Arar by Canadian security officials, prompting demands for inquiries into whether Canada had helped send one of its citizens off to a Middle Eastern torture chamber.

Don't get me started on their unlawful detention of legal immigrants from "suspicious" countries aka Middle East.

Here's an example:

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1072221008532&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795

What meaning do the principles of the rule of law have when 21 Muslim men in "Project Thread," are rounded up and detained in maximum security prisons for months on the "suspicions" of terrorism. All have been released. None was charged with terrorism activities.

Yet, accused and branded, they are followed by the shadow of the public's inescapable spotlight.

When it comes to "suspicions" about Canadians of Arab origin or the Muslim faith, individuals are now presumed guilty until they prove their innocence. That is if they get the opportunity to stand trial.