Zundel -- the Man Who Wasn't There

Any doubt that the Canadian poodle press is part of a conspiracy to re-write reality and keep the public ignorant is obvious from the article below. It tells of the decision to deport Mohamed Harkat, one of five Moslems held, until recently when he and Jaballah, won release on strict bail conditions. These Moslems were held as suspected terrorists under national security certificates. Held in solitary confinement for up to five years, they were subject to secret hearings and secret evidence. “Accused terrorist Mohamed Harkat, who has been living at his Ottawa home for the past three weeks while on bail, has been ordered deported to Algeria by the federal government despite his concerns that he will be tortured, the Ottawa Citizen reported Tuesday..The Canadian Border Services Agency notified Harkat of the decision on Friday, the newspaper said, one day after a Federal Court panel dismissed the government's appeal of his bail order.  According to the Citizen, a federal bureaucrat within the agency, James Schultz, ruled in a 55-page decision that Harkat continued to pose a substantial danger to Canadians as an Al Qaeda operative. Schultz further decided that the danger posed by Harkat outweighed the Algerian-born man's right to be protected from abuse in his native country. The decision, confirmed late Monday by Harkat's lawyer, Paul Copeland, represents a milestone in the case, which has been before the courts for more than three years. However, the decision does not mean that Harkat will be sent home anytime soon. Copeland vowed on Monday to seek leave for a judicial review of the decision of Schultz, an official known as a minister's delegate. The Supreme Court of Canada is still involved with the Harkat case and no deportation will take place until the high court rules on whether the security certificate process is constitutional. The security certificate legislation gives the government the power to detain terrorist suspects for years while the Federal Court decides whether an individual should be deported as a security threat based on evidence that does not have to be made public.” (Canadian Press, July 18, 2006) Now, for what the article does NOT tell you. There was a sixth political prisoner – publisher Ernst Zundel, held on a national security certificate from February, 2003 to March 3, 2005. The press never mentions him. Yet, he was the best case against the secret hearings and unlimited detention. Unlike the five Moslems – all relative newcomers – Mr. Zundel had lived in Canada for 42 years – 1958-2000. He was a public figure, publisher, graphic artist, employer and publicist. He had been extensively surveilled and investigated by many police forces – the OPP, the RCMP, the Metropolitan Toronto Police Service and, of course, our federal spies and snoops, CSIS. He had never been convicted of any crime in Canada, despite numerous efforts by censorship lobby groups like the Canadian Jewish Congress and the relentless Sabina Citron, a self described “holocaust survivor” and a person convicted of infractions of Ontario labour laws in her treatment of her largely immigrant workforce. Yet, CSIS said he was a threat to national security because he was a “terrorist”. Born a Seventh Day Adventist, Mr. Zundel has been a lifelong pacifist. The persecution of Ernst Zundel provides the strongest case against the police state methods of the “national security certificates.” Yet, in attempting to spin a soap opera scenario to create sympathy for poor “oppressed” Moslems, the press must ignore the Zundel case, as he most deserves sympathy. He was obviously innocent and clear proof the government is misusing the security certificates for political expediency: It allowed them to get rid of a political problem, Ernst Zundel. Some or all of the Moslems may, for all we know, be terrorists. The story also omits telling you that the Crown refused to stay Mr. Zundel’s deportation pending an application to challenge the law to the Supreme Court. In this as in every other way, as Mr. Zundel frequently wryly commented: “There’s one law for everyone else and a separate law for Ernst.”   ----------------------------- Terror suspect Harkat ordered deported Jul. 18, 2006. 05:58 PM CANADIAN PRESS   OTTAWA — Accused terrorist Mohamed Harkat, who has been living at his Ottawa home for the past three weeks while on bail, has been ordered deported to Algeria by the federal government despite his concerns that he will be tortured, the Ottawa Citizen reported Tuesday.. The Canadian Border Services Agency notified Harkat of the decision on Friday, the newspaper said, one day after a Federal Court panel dismissed the government's appeal of his bail order. According to the Citizen, a federal bureaucrat within the agency, James Schultz, ruled in a 55-page decision that Harkat continued to pose a substantial danger to Canadians as an Al Qaeda operative. Schultz further decided that the danger posed by Harkat outweighed the Algerian-born man's right to be protected from abuse in his native country. The decision, confirmed late Monday by Harkat's lawyer, Paul Copeland, represents a milestone in the case, which has been before the courts for more than three years. However, the decision does not mean that Harkat will be sent home anytime soon. Copeland vowed on Monday to seek leave for a judicial review of the decision of Schultz, an official known as a minister's delegate. The Supreme Court of Canada is still involved with the Harkat case and no deportation will take place until the high court rules on whether the security certificate process is constitutional. The security certificate legislation gives the government the power to detain terrorist suspects for years while the Federal Court decides whether an individual should be deported as a security threat based on evidence that does not have to be made public. Harkat was one of three foreign-born men whose cases were before the Supreme Court earlier this year as it considered whether the security certificate process meets the standard of fundamental justice. If the high court decides that the process does not meet the standard of fundamental justice, Harkat's deportation will likely be set aside. If, however, the Court upholds the constitutionality of security certificates, Harkat will have few legal avenues left open to him to avoid being sent to a country where he says he will be tortured. Schultz's decision in favour of deporting Harkat comes one week after Amnesty International published a report saying Algeria's intelligence agency is using the war on terror as an excuse to mistreat, and sometimes torture, terrorism suspects. That report, however, was not considered by Schultz, who had already rendered a decision by the time Copeland brought his attention to the Amnesty findings. Harkat, 37, worked at a gas station in Ottawa before being taken into custody on a security certificate in 2002. It accused him of being an Al Qaeda sleeper agent who posed an immediate security threat to Canadians. Last year, the certificate was upheld as "reasonable" by Judge Eleanor Dawson, based largely on evidence that remains secret from Harkat, his lawyers and the public. Harkat won his release last month when his lawyers convinced Dawson that the federal government was taking too long to decide whether he should be deported. They also convinced the judge that Harkat would not pose a significant threat if he was released with strict bail conditions, amounting to a modified form of house arrest.