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Canada court rejects Guantanamo detainees' bid to access intelligence records

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The Canadian Federal Court on Tuesday dismissed an application by two Guantanamo Bay detainees requesting access to Canadian interrogation records. Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a Mauritanian with landed immigrant status in Canada, and Ahcene Zemiri, an Algerian permanent resident of Canada, sought disclosure of records of interrogations conducted by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) both in Canada and at Guantanamo Bay. Relying on the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Canada (Justice) v. Khadr, and claiming protection under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Slahi and Zemiri argued that Canada was obligated to turn over any materials which had been given to American authorities. The court distinguished this case from Khadr on the grounds that Khadr was a Canadian citizen and necessarily entitled to section 7 protections, where Slahi and Zemiri's connection to Canada was more tenuous. the Charter, ... is a Canadian instrument enacted to enshrine and protect the fundamental rights of Canadians and those finding themselves within Canada's territory. Its extraterritorial reach is exceptional and limited. ... This Court is not prepared to extend the Charter's reach beyond that which has already been decided. The Applicants are not Canadian citizens. They have failed to establish the required connection to Canada. Consequently, their circumstances cannot engage a section 7 Charter right.The men requested the disclosure in order to corroborate their allegations of mistreatment at Guantanamo Bay as part of an ongoing habeas corpus petition before the US District Court for the District of Columbia. Lawyers for the men said that the habeas corpus proceedings would likely conclude before any appeal of this judgment could be heard. In January, a military judge suspended military commission proceedings against Canadian citizen Omar Khadr, who has admitted to throwing a hand grenade that killed a US soldier in Afghanistan. Khadr identified fellow Canadian and former Guantanamo detainee Maher Arar as among those living with suspected terrorists, a charge that Arar denies. In December, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit began an en banc rehearing of Arar's case, in which he is challenging the US government's policy of extraordinary rendition under the Torture Victim Protection Act and the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution. US lawmakers apologized in 2007 for his arrest, deportation and, torture at the hands of Syrian Officials.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on February 17, 2009 (boomark / email).