DECEMBER 10 2004
4 PM- 6 PM. CIC OFFICES 300 WEST GEORGIA
please bring banners and placards and noisemakers.

As you read this, five Muslim men remain detained without charge or bail on secret evidence neither they nor their lawyers are allowed to see, in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. They have been behind bars anywhere from 18 months to over four years, denied a fair trial, and are at risk of deportation to torture.

These men are not some shadowy figures in a passport photo. They are teachers, students, poets, artists, parents, husbands, friends and workers. Their names are: Mohammad Mahjoub (detained, June 2000); Mahmoud Jaballah (August 2001); Hassan Almrei (October, 2001); Mohamed Harkat(December, 2002); and Adil Charkaoui (May, 2003).

The families of these men and their supporters are calling for a CROSS-CANADA DAY OF ACTION on FRIDAY 10 DECEMBER to demand FOUR things:

1. That the five men be released immediately; or, if any case against them actually exists, that they be allowed to defend themselves in open, fair and independent trials with full disclosure of the case against them. 2. That they not be deported.
3. That the federal government abolish the secret trial security certificate process.
4. That CSIS, RCMP, and CIC end its ongoing harassment and intimidation of individuals and communities of Arab, Middle Eastern, and South Asian heritage and/or Muslim faith.

On International Human Rights Day, December 10, which is also the second anniversary of the detention of one of the Secret Trial Five, individuals and groups concerned about secret trials and deportation to will be protesting across Canada.

These are small signs of progress- CSIS has not issued a security certificate in 18 months- but they are certainly not enough. The men and their families have been subject to years of imprisonment, solitary confinement, loss of friends, poverty, confusion about WHY they are detained, and daily uncertainty about whether they will be removed in the night to face torture overseas in the morning. And this is continuing.

The attacks on the dignity and rights of these men is part of a much broader attack on refugees and immigrants, and very specifically Muslim, Arab, and South Asian communities. Standing up for the rights of the Secret Trial Five is a concrete way to confront the politics of racist fear, which is being used to justify expanding governmental powers and war policies.

More background information is available at

Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada (Toronto)
www.homesnotbombs.ca

Coalition for Justice for Adil (Montreal)
www.adilinfo.org

Committee for Justice for Mohamed Harkat (Ottawa)
www.zerra.net/freemohamed