http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1150149010011&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154
Khadrs show up for suspects
Jun. 13, 2006. 06:59 AM
MICHELLE SHEPHARD AND HAROLD LEVY
STAFF REPORTERS
The alleged members of a Toronto-based terrorist group are receiving support from other Canadians who say their names have been smeared by terrorism allegations, including members of the Khadr family and the uncle of a detained Syrian.
Sitting in the front row at a court appearance for the accused yesterday was 17-year-old Karim Khadr, who was paralyzed when he was shot during a 2003 battle with Pakistani forces that killed his father, reputed Al Qaeda financier Ahmed Said Khadr.
Also watching was Khadr's mother, Maha Elsamnah, who has been living in Toronto since she returned from Pakistan with Karim two years ago. The Khadr family knows at least one of the suspects, Fahim Ahmad, who is accused of being one of the alleged leaders of what police call a homegrown terrorism cell plotting to attack southern Ontario targets.
The 12 adults and five youths under the age of 18 were arrested June 2 in raids across the city.
Lawyers for the men complained yesterday that the accused were enduring "cruel and unusual punishment" while detained. The allegations came as Justice of the Peace Keith Currie imposed a blanket publication ban on the legal proceedings.
No Khadr family members have been convicted of terrorism offences but two are now in custody: Abdullah, 25, in Toronto, fighting deportation to the U.S., where he has been indicted on terrorism charges, and 19-year-old Omar, who is Canada's only detainee in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Omar Khadr is being held on murder and attempted murder charges stemming from a 2002 battle in Afghanistan in which a U.S. soldier was killed.
A few rows back in the packed courtroom sat Ahmed Shehab, who had his Toronto photocopy shop raided by the RCMP a week after the 9/11 attacks, and his nephew Nabil Al Marabh, detained on terrorism allegations in the U.S.
The terrorism accusations against Al Marabh were later dropped, and he was deported on an immigration violation to Syria, where his uncle says he's now detained.
Shehab said yesterday he recognized some of the accused, but came to court to show his support and send the message that the suspects are innocent until the court rules.
The 17 accused were brought before the justice of the peace yesterday to set dates for their upcoming bail hearings. The five youths, who cannot be identified due to Canadian laws protecting suspects under 18, appeared first, shackled and handcuffed together.
The accused adults were brought into the court in groups of three and four. Some, like 21-year-old Asad Ansari, kept their heads bowed and looked only at the floor.
Others such as Ahmad looked constantly over their shoulders, smiling at friends and family members who filled one side of the courtroom.
A majority of defence lawyers opposed the ban, arguing the case had already been tried in public and their clients wanted the government to have to defend its claims in open court.
Lawyer David Kolinsky, who represents Zakaria Amara, another alleged leader of the group and the 21-year-old who sources say will be accused of allegedly arranging the purchase of ammonium nitrate to manufacture a bomb, told reporters outside the courthouse that a guard attacked his client at the maximum security facility in Milton, where he is being held.
"(He) was pinned down on the ground. He had the guard's finger drilled into his cheek and the guard also flicked him quite hard in the eye," Kolinsky said.
When claims of mistreatment and threats by guards at Maplehurst Detention Centre were discussed in court, accused Yasin Abdi Mohamed raised his handcuffed arms in the air and shouted "torture."
Mohamed and 22-year-old Ali Dirie pleaded guilty last October to weapons offences after their rented car was pulled over two months earlier at Fort Erie's Peace Bridge and they were found smuggling weapons and ammunition into Canada from the U.S. They had been serving two-year sentences in Kingston but are now charged with allegedly acquiring those weapons for terrorist activities.
Other lawyers yesterday complained of the conditions their clients are facing in segregation, including claims that the lights in their cells are left on 24 hours a day, they're forced to keep their eyes on the floor and are being woken up every 30 minutes.
Lawyers said that amounted to "cruel and unusual punishment," and breached their clients' Charter rights.
Lawyer Rocco Galati, who represents 21-year-old Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, added that when suspects are escorted "they must walk at a 90-degree angle with their legs upright and their torso across at a 90-degree angle with handcuffs stretched out."
"And they are being escorted by three armed tactical members of the security forces," he said.
Galati also accused the authorities of unfairly leaking selected information to the media "to ensure the denial of a fair bail hearing and the denial of a fair trial."
"After (the Crown has) had 10 days with the media, feeding the media whatever they want to feed the media, denying us disclosure of any evidence and doing what they need to do to conduct the trial in this parking lot of the courthouse, they now have the audacity to request a blanket publication ban of all proceedings," Galati told reporters outside of court.
The alleged members of a Toronto-based terrorist group are receiving support from other Canadians who say their names have been smeared by terrorism allegations, including members of the Khadr family and the uncle of a detained Syrian.
You mean "other Canadians who are terrorists too!"
When claims of mistreatment and threats by guards at Maplehurst Detention Centre were discussed in court, accused Yasin Abdi Mohamed raised his handcuffed arms in the air and shouted "torture."
:rofl: ya....laughing this hard is torture...I can't stop....too funny
They all know how to play the PR game so well....must be a chapter on it in the Al -qaeda training manual.
