Starving for Justice in Gitmo North: "We are slowly dying in here..."

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Starving for Justice in Gitmo North:
"We are slowly dying in here..."


Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada
(416) 651-5800, tasc@web.ca

January 30, 2007


"We are slowly dying in here..."

Weekend Scare Underscores Very Real Danger of Sudden Death for Hunger Striking Detainees at Canada's Guantanamo North

Still No Medical Monitoring After Two Months Without Food

JANUARY 30, 2007 -- "We are slowly dying in here," Mohammad Mahjoub says over the phone on day 67 of his hunger strike, day 56 for Mahmoud Jaballah and Hassan Almrei. "Our situation is very bad."

The three men, held indefinitely under the much-criticized security certificate regime of secret evidence and deportation to torture, are kept at the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre (KIHC), dubbed Guantanamo North.

Despite last Thursday's visit by Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, who did not meet with the detainees, there has been no negotiation with the men, and no effort to end a critical situation that could turn deadly at any time.

NO MEDICAL MONITORING

Indeed, the detainees' lives are on the line as staff at the facility play a dangerous game of roulette: despite considerable medical literature spelling out the need for daily medical checks of hunger strikers who have passed day 10 without food, medical staff have NOT conducted a single physical check on any of the detainees, who are subsisting on water and juice. The need to check weight, pulse, blood pressure, respiration, electrolytes, and sodium and potassium levels, among other standards, is essential in preventing the kind of traumatic incident that occurred this past weekend.

On Saturday, January 27, Mr. Jaballah reports that he felt dizziness at about 3:15 pm, pressed the emergency button, and someone finally saw him at approximately 4 pm. He was very weak and unable to walk, and requested that if he needed to be taken to another area for medical help, that this be done with a wheelchair or cart. He was informed that a cart would arrive
at 6 pm. He again felt quite ill, pressed the emergency button, fell down, and was rendered unconscious, only waking up in another section of the KIHC.

He reports experiencing great pain that left him screaming, and a complete lack of control over his body, with uncontrollable shivering and shaking. "Because there has been no daily monitoring of blood, pulse, weight, or other vital signs, it is hard to pinpoint the exact cause of this incident, but our consultation with a Toronto-area physician who has attended to one of the men during a prior hunger strike says that low potassium or sodium could be one cause, coupled with dehydration and possible heart arrhythmia," says Matthew Behrens of the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada. "Needless to say, all of these can lead to a sudden life-threatening drop in blood pressure that could place any of the men in a coma."

DETAINEES VERY WEAK

Daily calls from the detainees indicate they are so weak that they spend most of the day lying down. One has blood in his urine. Another is suffering the severe effects of high blood pressure. Another has broken out in severe skin rashes causing incessant itching, while a severely swollen
tongue has not been dealt with either. All are weak and dizzy from two months without food.

And there is no end in sight.

The detainees, their families, and friends and supporters are concerned that Stockwell Day used his trip to KIHC to justify his preconceived notion of the situation, rather than use the occasion as an opportunity to actually learn the real reasons behind the hunger strike.

STOCKWELL DAY NOT GETTING FULL PICTURE

Stockwell Day did not get a full picture when he visited Guantanamo North. He was unable to taste the daily humiliation the men face at the hands of guards, nor to hear what it is like to be denied medical treatment for things like Hepatitis C, blood in the urine, or a double hernia. Day
needed to hear what it is like to be held indefinitely, without charge, on secret evidence, for upwards of seven years, as these men are living through, to understand that having a microwave and a TV in your facility does nothing to ease the pain of lengthy separation from families, the mental torture of being held on secret 'evidence' neither you nor your lawyer will ever get to challenge, and the daily fear of deportation to torture in Syria or Egypt.

PROBLEM ALREADY FLAGGED BY CORRECTIONAL INVESTIGATOR

Day also did not get a taste of what it's like when there is no oversight agency or ombudsperson to deal fairly with complaints, a key reason for the hunger strike that was in fact flagged by the federal government's 2005/2006 Annual Report of the Correctional Investigator, which concluded "The transfer of detainees from Ontario facilities to the Kingston holding centre means that the detainees will lose the benefit of a rigorous ombudsman's legislative framework to file complaints about their care and humane treatment while in custody. The Office of the Correctional Investigator is concerned that the detainees will no longer have the benefits and legal protections afforded by ombudsman legislation. Pursuant to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, a non-profit organization with no legislative framework, such as the Red Cross, is unlikely to meet the protocol's requirement for domestic oversight." (See below for full text of relevant section of the report)

INITIAL HOPES DASHED

Mahmoud Jaballah explains that despite initial hope that things might be better at KIHC than they were at Metro West Detention in Toronto, the punitive, mean-spirited atmosphere that has taken hold of the facility, especially after they initially raised minor complaints about guards'
behaviour, has become intolerable. Guards are regularly slamming cell doors, making rude comments, and making daily life difficult for the men, who are not allowed to speak to pre-approved media without those same guards present.

The threat they feel to their personal safety, and the even greater fear of false allegations being made against them, means they are now trapped in an Orwellian nightmare that could cause them their lives.

The men are told that health care, which used to be available to them in their living unit, can now only be delivered in the next building. The men say they do not feel safe going to the next building without a supervisor present so there is a witness to possible false allegations that could
harm their chances for bail. [The facility is top-heavy with staff, including two directors, two secretaries, seven supervisors, 12 guards -- all for the three men] So unless they comply with petty and unreasonable prison rules, they are denied a basic human right.

MEDICAL STAFF AND DUTY TO CARE

Last week, a group of some 70 health workers across Canada challenged the lack of ethical standards at KIHC, and campaign representatives point out that the World Medical Association Declaration on Hunger Strikers (adopted by the 43rd World Medical Assembly Malta, November 1991 and editorially revised by the WMA General Assembly, Pilanesberg, South Africa, October 2006) states at point #5 that "Physicians attending hunger strikers can experience a conflict between their loyalty to the employing authority (such as prison management) and their loyalty to patients. Physicians with dual loyalties are bound by the same ethical principles as other physicians, that is to say that their primary obligation is to the
individual patient."

As each minute ticks by, the spectre of the Criminal Code of Canada looms larger, which defines as criminally negligent anyone who "in doing anything or, in omitting to do anything that it is his duty to do, shows wanton or reckless disregard for the lives or safety of other persons."

TAKE ACTION

1. WRITE /CALL/FAX Day, Finley and Harper. It is crucial that public
pressure continue to be felt in Ottawa. It is such pressure that forced
Day to go to KIHC; such pressure will be required to get negotiations going.

Specific points to raise:

a. The men be should provided with immediate and daily medical care in
their living unit.

b. If the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre will not send in health
care staff (something they did before September), the government must allow an
independent outside doctor in to check on the men.

c. The federal government must immediately appoint a neutral mediator to
deal with the problems, and set up a system to deal with ongoing issues
that is balanced and fair (as per the concerns raised by the federal
government's own Office of the Correctional Investigator)

d. The men should not have to die for a little bit of dignity.

*Stockwell Day, MP
House of Commons, Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Phone: (613) 995-1702
Fax: (613) 995.1154
day.s@parl.gc.ca
communications@psepc.gc.ca

NOTE: Stockwell Day is the Minister responsible for the Canadian Border Services Agency (which runs the KIHC). Demand that he meet immediately with the detainees or appoint a neutral party to immediately resolve the crisis at KIHC.

*Diane Finley, MP
Phone (866) 496-3400 (Simcoe constituency office).
Finley.D@parl.gc.ca

NOTE: Finley is the new immigration minister. Ask that, as one of the two ministers responsible for signing security certificates, she meet with the families of the detainees (who have requested a meeting) and that she also take action to meet the reasonable demands of the detainees.

* Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
Phone: (613) 992-4211
Fax: 613-941-6900
pm@pm.gc.ca


2. SOLIDARITY LETTERS.
Write a support card to the detainees (let us know at tasc@web.ca if you
have so we can monitor if mail is getting through). Mohammad Mahjoub,
Mahmoud Jaballah, and Hassan Almrei can be reached:

Kingston Immigration Holding Centre
c/o CSC RHQ Ontario Region
440 King Street West
PO Box 1174
Kingston, Ontario K7L 4Y8


Further info: Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, (416) 651-5800,
tasc@web.ca, www.homesnotbombs.ca

+++++++
Annual Report of the Correctional Investigator, 2005/06 (with respect to
Kingston Immigration Holding Centre)
The second policy issue that concerns my Office is the situation of
individuals detained pursuant to national security certificates. A
national
security certificate is a removal order issued by the Government of
Canada
against permanent residents and foreign nationals who are inadmissible to
Canada on grounds of national security. A recent decision has been made
by
the federal government to transfer security certificate detainees held
under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act from Ontario facilities
to a federal facility, pending their removal from Canada.
In Ontario facilities, the detainees could legally file complaints
regarding conditions of confinement with the Office of the Ontario
Ombudsman. That Office had the jurisdiction to investigate complaints
filed by the detainees pursuant to the Ontario Ombudsman Act.
The Immigration Holding Centre has been built in Kingston within
the perimeter fence of Millhaven Penitentiary. The Canadian Border
Service
Agency entered into a service contract with the Correctional Service to
provide the Border Service Agency with the physical detention facility
and
with security staff. The Border Service Agency has a contract in place
with the Red Cross to monitor the care and treatment of detainees in
immigration holding centres, including the new Kingston holding centre.
The Red Cross, a non-government organization, has no enabling legislation
to carry out a role as an oversight agency. The transfer of detainees
from
Ontario facilities to the Kingston holding centre means that the
detainees
will lose the benefit of a rigorous ombudsman's legislative framework to
file complaints about their care and humane treatment while in custody.
The Office of the Correctional Investigator is concerned that the
detainees
will no longer have the benefits and legal protections afforded by
ombudsman legislation. Pursuant to the Optional Protocol to the
Convention
against Torture, a non-profit organization with no legislative framework,
such as the Red Cross, is unlikely to meet the protocol's requirement for
domestic oversight. (full report available at
http://www.oci-bec.gc.ca/reports/AR200506_e.asp)





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Urgent Update from the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, re Hunger
Strike at Canada's Guantanamo Bay

Friends:

Tomorrow (Friday, February 2), family members of the detainees will be in
Ottawa to plead with the government to intervene and bring an end to the
hunger strike. Below is a brief update from a press release that is going
out today.

You can help!

At 11 am central standard time, we will be in front of the Prime Minister's
office seeking an emergency meeting. From wherever you are, please start
calling at 11 am-11:30 am to (613) 992-4211 and urge:

1. That family members of the hunger strikers and one supporter be allowed
in.

2. That Mr. Harper intervene immediately to meet the demands of the secret
trial detainees and help end the hunger strike.

3. That Mr. Harper instruct Stockwell Day to immediately appoint the
Correctional Investigator (an independent ombudsperson responsible for
federal prisons) to assume jurisdiction over the Kingston Immigration
Holding Centre, as per Mr. Day's discretion in Section 170 of the
Corrections and Conditional Release Act ( 1992, c. 20 ) (ie, 170. (1) The
Correctional Investigator may commence an investigation: (a) on the receipt
of a complaint by or on behalf of an offender; (b) at the request of the
Minister; or (c) on the initiative of the Correctional Investigator.)

If you can please also call Stockwell Day or email him the same message as
in point # 3 above:
Stockwell Day, MP
House of Commons, Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Phone: (613) 995-1702
Fax: (613) 995.1154
day.s@parl.gc.ca
communications@psepc.gc.ca


Update below...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Families of Secret Trial Detainees To Seek 11th Hour Solution to End Hunger
Strike;
Former Solicitor General Proposes Solution to Life-and Death Situation at
Canada's Guantanamo Bay as Facility Rejects Outside Negotiating Team

PRESS CONFERENCE: 10:15 am, Charles Lynch Room, Centre Block, Parliament
RALLY: Steps of Parliament Hill, 10:30 am

FEBRUARY 1, 2007 -- On Day 70 of a hunger strike for secret trial detainee
Mohammad Mahjoub and day 59 for detainees Mahmoud Jaballah and Hassan
Almrei, friends, family, and supporters of the men will converge on
Parliament Hill Friday, February 2 at 10:30 am to call on the federal
government to immediately intervene and bring about an end to the crisis
situation at Canada's Guantanamo Bay (aka Kingston Immigration Holding
Centre, or KIHC)

Mona Elfouli, whose husband is Mohammad Mahjoub, and Ahmad
Jaballah, the eldest of six Jaballah children, will be among MPs, a medical
professional, and supporters addressing the media at a 10:15 am press
conference in the Charles Lynch Room in Parliament. MP Bill Siksay will
also participate. They will then proceed to the rally.

This 11th hour appeal to the government comes on the heels of the
rejection of a special negotiating team that was prepared to go to the
Millhaven Penitentiary today and work out a framework to resolve the many
outstanding issues. Team members were to have included former Solicitor
General Warren Allmand, internationally renowned refugee advocate Mary Jo
Leddy, OC, Montreal imam Salam El Manyawi, and Karl Flecker, the national
human rights and anti-racism director of the Canadian Labour Congress.
Former NDP leader Ed Broadbent expressed a willingness to be part of the
team, and has said he is available next week should the government change
its mind.

"Is the government going to let our loved ones die?" Elfouli asks.
"We are very, very concerned that the men are not receiving medical care,
and that no one is talking with them about their demands."

In addition to being denied medical care, the men are also
concerned about a punitive atmosphere at the Kingston Immigration Holding
Centre, and the lack of an objective ombudsperson to deal with the many
grievances that continue to arise.

Warren Allmand, meanwhile, is calling for the Correctional
Investigator, the ombudsperson for all federal inmates except the three men
on hunger strike, to assume jurisdiction over the KIHC, investigate the
complaints, and "prepare an independent set of recommendations to assist in
resolving this emergency situation. Unfortunately, there is no other
independent ombudsman for these detainees and the Correctional Investigator
provides the only hope of resolving the crisis. I urge the government to
act quickly."

Last week, a group of 70 medical professionals called on Ottawa to
immediately provide medical care for the detainees and ongoing monitoring
of their vital signs as the hunger strike drags on. To date, they have yet
to receive any medical care.

For more information: The Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada,
(416) 651-5800


(In this email are a callout for vigils on Wednesday, February 7, a guide
to MPs who need to be contacted before Tuesday morning, and an update on
the hunger strike and events of the past two days)


1. CALL FOR "LET THEM EAT CHOCOLATE SAUCE" ACTIONS WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7

2. LATEST EVENTS (Families Face Slammed Door at Prime Minister's Office;
Outside Physician Rejected by Kingston Immigration Holding Centre)

3. BACKGROUND. Documents, letters, statements, and more on the hunger
strike are all available at http://www.homesnotbombs.ca/gitmonorthstrike.htm


1. URGENT CALL TO ACTION FOR WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7
The hunger strike at the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre (KIHC)
continues with no end in sight. The government of Canada is refusing to
negotiate. As Mohammad Mahjoub, Mahmoud Jaballah, and Hassan Almrei try to
hang on (today is day 72 for Mahjoub, 61 for Jaballah and Almrei), Public
Sadism Minister Stockwell Day continues to spew an atrocious string of lies
about the men and their circumstances, going so far as to state to Canadian
Press, "[They have a] refrigerator stocked with a variety of juices, soy
milk, honey and chocolate sauce."

Well then, it must be okay to deny these men their Charter rights, to deny
them their rights under the Convention Against Torture, under countless
other covenants and treaties Canada has signed, because, after all, their
unit at Guantanamo Bay North has chocolate sauce in the refrigerator!

The Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada is calling for nationwide
vigils and pourings of chocolate sauce on Wednesday, February 7, which will
be day 75 of Mohammad Mahjoub's hunger strike, day 64 for Hassan Almrei and
Mahmoud Jaballah. In Toronto, for example, from 5-6 pm, we plan to pour
chocolate sauce over a copy of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in front
of the Toronto offices of the organization that regularly tramples those
rights and freedoms, CSIS. We will also pour chocolate sauce over the
Convention Against Torture, also being violated in the cases of Canada's
secret trial detainees.

(If you have issues with chocolate sauce and prefer another form of public
vigil, perhaps with maple syrup, or without any sauces, condiments, or
juices, that's fine too. Just email tasc@web.ca if you can do something
publicly on day 75 of the hunger strike)

Please join us in this display of outrage over the callousness and reckless
disregard for human life that is being shown by the Canadian government
towards Canada's secret trial detainees. And keep calling the government
(see update below). They ARE feeling the pressure.


TWO THINGS THAT NEED TO BE DONE IMMEDIATELY
1. On Tuesday, two separate House committees will consider emergency
resolutions calling for the government to recognize the emergency nature of
the crisis and to immediately appoint the Office of the Correctional
Investigator to assume jurisdiction over the Kingston Immigration Holding
Centre to investigate current and ongoing complaints of those currently on
hunger strike, and prepare an independent set of recommendations for
resolution of grievances.

One is the Standing Committee on Public Safety (whose members are Garry
Breitkreuz, Joe Comartin, Roy Cullen, Sue Barnes, Gord Brown, Raymond Chan,
Irwin Cotler, Laurie Hawn, Dave MacKenzie, Serge Ménard, Maria Mourani, and
Rick Norlock).

The other is the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration (whose
members are Norman Doyle, Meili Faille, Andrew Telegdi, Omar Alghabra,
Barry Devolin, Raymond Gravel, Nina Grewal, Rahim Jaffer, Jim Karygiannis,
Ed Komarnicki, Bill Siksay, Blair Wilson)

Please call the MPs and urge them to support the resolution on resolving
the hunger strike that will be introduced. If one of these MPs represents
your riding, please let them know that too. If you do not know how to
contact your MP, go to
http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/house/mpscur.asp?Language=E&p
aram
=c

Find the name of the MP, and the contact information will follow.

2. Call Stockwell Day's office and send him an email with the same message:
resolve the hunger strike, appoint the Correctional Investigator
Phone: (613) 995-1702
Fax: (613) 995.1154
day.s@parl.gc.ca
communications@psepc.gc.ca

3. Call Stephen Harper with the same message: resolve the hunger strike,
appoint the Correctional Investigator
(613) 992-4211
Fax: 613-941-6900
pm@pm.gc.ca


+++++++++++++++

Hunger Strike Update February 4, 2007

A. Harper, Day Refuse to Meet with Families in Ottawa
B. Independent Physician Denied Entry to Guantanamo North
C. Harper checking with lawyers over lawsuits?
D. Why the Red Cross is an Inappropriate Oversight Body
E. KIHC Directors Finally "Meet" with the Men on Day 70 of Hunger Strike
F. "These Men are Being Tortured."

a. Harper, Day Refuse to Meet with Families in Ottawa
At the conclusion of a well-attended press conference during which friends
and family of Canada's secret trial detainees asked whether the government
was willing to let their loved ones die, the answer came back to them in
the form of a slammed door and a refusal to meet from prime minister
Stephen Harper and "public safety" minister Stockwell Day.
About 40 people quickly came together for a rally on Parliament
Hill and a march to the prime minister's office, where they were met by
frowning security and, eventually, a spokesperson who said he could not do
anything.
Mona Elfouli eloquently pleaded the case of her husband, Mohammad
Mahjoub, saying this was the last time she wants to be in Ottawa, because
she wants her husband released and an end to the torture of the secret
trial process that has plagued their family since June, 2000.
Ahmad Jaballah told reporters that the men are being treated like
caged animals and, indeed, that was exactly how Stockwell Day treated them
when he visited the facility almost two weeks ago, peering in at them but
refusing to speak with them or hear their concerns.
Afnan Jaballah, 13, the youngest daughter of Mr. Jaballah and
Husnah Al-Mashtouli, held a picture of her dad. She talked about how
difficult it has been for her and her siblings to not have their dad with
them, how much she wants him home, how unfair it is to keep him in jail
because of secrets.
While reporters seemed interested in minute details of the
conditions at KIHC, they were reminded that the men do not want fresh
newspaper clippings to line the bottom of their cage; it is time to open
the doors of that cage and end the psychological torture of indefinite
detention and deportation to torture.
Strong statements were also issued by Montreal nurse Scott
Weinstein, the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, and NDP MP Bill
Siksay, who has worked tirelessly on this issue. For statements at the
press conference see http://www.homesnotbombs.ca/statements.htm
Media coverage was widespread (though very belated, finally
covering the issue after 70 days of hunger striking!). A good chunk of the
press conference was carried live on CBC Newsworld, and dozens of
newspapers, radio stations, and TV news shows carried the story all day
Friday and Saturday.
Meanwhile, former Solicitor General Warren Allmand called for the
appointment of the Office of the Correctional Investigator, an independent
ombudsperson, to help resolve the crisis.


b. Independent Physician Denied Entry to Guantanamo North
Today Mohammad Mahjoub reports trouble breathing, chest pain (as if
something hard is pushing down on his chest), and pain in his left arm.
This has happened to him repeatedly throughout the hunger strike. However,
the nurse who "presents" daily did not check his pulse, blood pressure,
blood levels, or any other vital sign.
Since day 1 of the hunger strike, medical staff at Canada's
Guantanamo Bay have refused to monitor the vital signs of the men, a
serious breach of medical ethics. Despite repeated requests for health
care, the men are told they can only receive such care if they move to
another part of the facility. Known as the "treatment room," there is
nothing particularly special about it. All it has, in essence, are the
portable tools of the trade that are easily enough carried to the cells or
living unit of the men.
The men are happy to go to the "treatment room" if provided with a
supervisor (to protect against false allegations being made against them by
the guards). A supervisor is never provided, so medical care is denied,
with medical staff claiming they do not have the "consent" of the detainees
to treat them. This is Orwellian nonsense. Daily, the men have made written
and oral requests for health care, but it is denied until they stop
insisting on their right not to be falsely accused (not too much to ask,
given that their whole 6.5 years of incarceration is based on false
allegations!).
The promise of medical care if the men comply with inexplicably
petty prison rules is unconscionable, especially when such care was
provided in the living unit before September. It is punitive, and reckless.
A week ago, Mahmoud Jaballah suffered a severe medical emergency
during which he was rendered unconscious. He woke up in another section of
the KIHC, screaming in pain. He was eventually dumped back in his cell,
with no tests, no follow-up.
In response to this denial of care, supporters contacted a Kingston
physician who has been security cleared for other federal penitentiaries in
the area. This doctor was prepared to go into the living unit, provide an
assessment, and make recommendations. A letter rejecting the doctor was
given to Mohammad Mahjoub on Thursday. In it, the so-called head of "health
care" at Millhaven wrote that the proposed doctor was not to their mind
cleared for penitentiaries and that health care would be provided when they
"consented" to it. (See reference above to the Orwellian nature of consent)

c. Harper checking with lawyers over lawsuits?
One has to wonder if the federal government is consulting its
lawyers with respect to possible lawsuits over charges of criminal
negligence causing death. "The government is pursuing its actions according
to law," Harper said. "We are reassuring ourselves on a constant basis that
these people are being treated in a humane manner." They are not, however,
reassuring "these people" and their families!!!

d. Why the Red Cross is an Inappropriate Oversight Body
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day claims everything's fine because the
Red Cross has toured the facility. As nurse Scott Weinstein pointed out
Friday in Ottawa, "in order for the Red Cross to gain access, they must
make an agreement with the government to keep their findings confidential
between them and the government. This agreement to keep their findings
secret, which the Red Cross has also done with their access to prisoners in
the Guantanamo Bay and the Abu Ghraib prisons, means the Red Cross is not
able to be a public and accountable advocate and monitor for the prisoners.
We are demanding an open, public and accountable monitoring of the
prisoners. We agree with the call of former Solicitor General Warren
Allmand to appoint the Office of the Correctional Investigator to assume
jurisdiction. The detainees are the only three people in federal
penitentiaries without access to an independent ombudsperson.

e. KIHC Directors Finally "Meet" with the Men on Day 70 of Hunger Strike
On Day 70 of the hunger strike, the two directors of the Gitmo
North finally condescended to visit the men to find out what is going on
(this after much letter writing and phone calling in the previous weeks
reminding them of the urgency of communication!). But the visit was a
pathetic exercise. After all the suffering the men have gone through, they
were only asked, "So, what are your demands?"
Mohammad Mahjoub asked if the directors had heard from their
families, lawyers, and the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, all of
whom have been writing and calling about the demands for weeks on end. When
they said yes, he asked why they had to ask the detainees about the demands
when the former group of people had already been making this clear.
Mahmoud Jaballah said that the demands had been placed on their
desks 70 days ago, and that the men had already received a written
rejection of all of them. He asked if there was anything new for them to
offer.
There was nothing new to offer.
Hence, there was nothing to meet about. In the Orwellian way in
which Gitmo North operates, the meeting will no doubt be referred to by the
staff as "a refusal to talk" in the same manner that their urgent requests
for health care are being translated into "a refusal to consent to health
care."


f. "These Men are Being Tortured."
(From the press conference statement of the Campaign to Stop Secret trials
in Canada)
The men are constantly asked: why a hunger strike? Aren't you only
hurting yourselves? The answer to that is obvious. The hurting began long
ago. These men have already been deeply hurt by secrecy, by lies, by
unfounded and vicious allegations of so-called security agencies whose word
can hardly be believed, especially in light of the Arar Inquiry, by the
frustration of being allowed no meaningful opportunity to clear their
names, by indefinite detention, by the threat of deportation to torture.
This has gone on for between 5.5 and 6.5 years, and there is no end in
sight.
Torture experts have concluded that the ultimate sign of
successful, psychological torture is to have the subject of that torture
become self-abusing. If we can define two months of no food as
self-abusing, then it is clear that this government's effort to torture
these innocent men, whether in Syria and Egypt, or here at home, has been
successful.
All this for individuals who have never been charged with, much
less convicted of, a single offence.
We want an answer from the government today. Are we to assume that
you are hoping these three men will die? Is this so that you can finally
sweep under the rug the collateral damage of a system of judicial
inquisition that, through public exposure, has embarrassed Canada on the
world stage and become the object of intense criticism from the United
Nations, Amnesty International, and other human rights bodies? Unless you
can show us positive, concrete steps to immediately resolve the life and
death situation of the hunger strike, to stop blocking efforts to release
these men to their friends and families, and to end the process to deport
them to torture, we cannot assume otherwise." (full statement at
http://www.homesnotbombs.ca/statements.htm)



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE