Another article on Benamar Benatta

It will be interesting to see if Benatta's case is investigated by the Iacobucci inqiry. The terms of reference refer only to three other cases and all involve Syria, none the US. However, the case does involve what seem to be inappropriate action by Canadian authorities.

Algerian beaten in U.S. custody
By: Reuel S. Amdur / The Arab American News
2007-03-31

Benamar Benatta is asking for standing at the Commission of Inquiry headed by Judge Frank Iacobucci. The commission is looking into Canada's possible role in the mistreatment of three Muslim men in Syria and Egypt, a project strongly recommended in the report of the Arar judicial inquiry.

Bematta's story does not involve Syria or Egypt. He claims to have been beaten and otherwise mistreated while in American custody, having spent close to five years in the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center. His misadventures began back in his native Algeria.

Benatta was an air force lieutenant who says he was jailed for refusing to take part in brutalizing civilians. When released, he was sent to the United States for training on aviation electronic equipment. Rather than return to Algeria, he made his way to Canada, where he was put in an immigration holding center, just before 9/11.

Shortly after, he was returned to the United States, willingly according to the Canadian government, but otherwise according to Benatta. Canadian officials acknowledge sheepishly that they have lost the documentation on his return to American soil.

Once he was cleared by the FBI of terrorism-related suspicions, he was allowed to return to Canada, where he is pursuing a refugee claim and living in Toronto.

Iacobucci Inquiry Website

The website is here. Unfortunately it looks as if most of the inquiry will be out of the public eye even though some of the lawyers want public hearings as well. I am already a bit skeptical of the whole inquiry.


About the Inquiry
The Internal Inquiry was established on December 11, 2006 under Part I of the Inquiries Act on the recommendation of the Minister of Public Safety. The Honourable Frank Iacobucci has been appointed Commissioner. In that capacity, the Commissioner has all the powers set out in the Act, including the authority to hold hearings, summon witnesses and gather evidence needed to conduct the Inquiry.

As Commissioner of the Inquiry, Mr. Iacobucci’s mandate will be to determine:

whether the detention of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin in Syria or Egypt resulted, directly or indirectly, from actions of Canadian officials, particularly in relation to the sharing of information with foreign countries and, if so, whether those actions were deficient in the circumstances,

whether there were deficiencies in the actions taken by Canadian officials to provide consular services to Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin while they were detained in Syria or Egypt, and

whether any mistreatment of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin in Syria or Egypt resulted, directly or indirectly, from actions of Canadian officials, particularly in relation to the sharing of information with foreign countries and, if so, whether those actions were deficient in the circumstances;

This Inquiry is expected to deal with sensitive national security matters. While public hearings are possible, it is likely the Inquiry will be carried out largely in private.

The report resulting from the Inquiry is to be submitted to the Government by January 31, 2008.

Iacobucci Inquiry an internal inquiry.

If the inquiry is mainly private there will probably be little news from it and little press or public interest. This is no doubt exactly what the government wants.
This inquiry could be much more damaging to Canadian intelligence services than the Arar inquiry. The Canadians not the US look to be the parties that caused Syrian authorities to arrest and torture these three suspects.


Lawyer demands Iacobucci inquiry be open to public

Andrew Mayeda
CanWest News Service


Saturday, February 17, 2007


OTTAWA -- The seal is barely off the Iacobucci inquiry, but the debate has already begun on how much of the judicial sequel to the Maher Arar inquiry should be made public.

The federal government announced in December that former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci would lead an inquiry into the cases of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou El Maati and Muayyed Nurredin. Like Maher Arar, the three men allege they were imprisoned and tortured in Middle East prisons.

On Friday, the inquiry announced key legal and administrative staff who will assist with the review.

But in a sign of possible friction to come, Paul Copeland, a lawyer for Almalki, is already calling for the inquiry to be heard in public.

"My very strong preference would be one, that it be in public. Two, if it's not in public, that I be security cleared and can be in there," Copeland said.

"I'm not all that trustful of some of the government officials and some of their willingness to be forthright about what they did. There's a lots of people, I think, who may have things to hide, like Foreign Affairs, the Department of Justice, CSIS and the RCMP."

The inquiry was announced on the same day that Justice Dennis O'Connor tabled his second report into the Arar affair.

Much of the evidence in the Arar inquiry, which took nearly three years and about $16 million to complete, was heard in public.

The Iacobucci probe, however, is considered an "internal" inquiry. Under the terms of reference, Iacobucci has been directed to take "all steps necessary to ensure that the inquiry is conducted in private."

However, he is authorized to conduct parts of the inquiry in public "if he is satisfied that it is essential to ensure the effective conduct of the inquiry."

In calling an internal inquiry, the government cited a comment by O'Connor that there are more "appropriate" ways than a full-blown public inquiry to investigate national-security cases. The Arar inquiry was marked by delays and disputes over the disclosure of national-security evidence.

But skeptics fear the government may rush through a lightweight version of the Arar inquiry to avoid the same level of public scrutiny.

John Laskin, named on Friday as the inquiry's lead counsel, said Iacobucci will eventually decide how much of the inquiry will be public.

"The terms of reference basically say, "Do this in private unless there's a very, very compelling reason for having parts of it in public.' It'll be up to (Iacobucci) to decide if that kind of reasoning exists," said Laskin.

Another issue could be the timeline. The inquiry is under a tight deadline to report its findings to the government by Jan. 31, 2008.

Some experts have questioned whether that is enough time to sift through thousands of sensitive national-security files.

"We're acutely aware of the deadline and we are proceeding as expeditiously as we can," said Laskin.

The inquiry will begin accepting applications near the end of next month from groups, such as civil-liberties organizations, wishing to participate. It will then hear arguments on how the inquiry should proceed.

Almalki and El Maati were suspects in the same RCMP investigation that identified Arar as a "person of interest." Neither Almalki or El Maati have been charged. Nurredin was also questioned by Canadian security officials but hasn't been charged. All three were detained in Syria around the same time as Arar. El Maati was also imprisoned in Egypt. A fact finder who verified Arar's claims of torture also found the three men had been tortured.

The inquiry will investigate what role Canadian officials may have had in the detention of the three men.

© CanWest News Service 2007

No news on Iacobucci Inquiry

This is a response to my latest inquiiry. My own MP's office is the only one to even acknowledge my inquiry. Stockwell Day's office just ignores the original and several followup messages as has the NDP justice critic. The government does not seem very responsive but I will keep at them! The inquiry is into three Canadian citizens jailed in Syria possibly on the basis of Canadian intelligence.


Why would you need any background? Why is Stockwell
Day's office not answering? They surely know the
details. The inquiry was announced last fall. It is
due to report in less than a year. There were two
questions:
1)When does the inquiry begin?
2)Will there be a website?

The original request was sent to Stockwell Day's
parliamentary email on January 11. I am covering this
to the Liberal justice critic. The NDP justice critic
doesn't answer emails either but I am also sending a
CC to him.




--- "Mark, Inky - M.P." wrote:

> 6 February 2007
>
> To: Ken Hanly
>
> From: Glenda Garrison
> Executive Assistant to Inky Mark, M.P.
> Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette Parliamentary Office
>
> Thank you for your letter. Debby Sorochynski, who
> has the background to
> your previous message is currently away.
>
> Once she returns on February 14th, I will forward
> your email to her and
> ask that she look into this matter.
>
> Glenda Garrison
> Executive Assistant
> Room 686, Confederation Building
> House of Commons
> Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
>
> t | 613.992.3176
> f | 613.992.0930
>
> www.inkymark.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Inky Mark, M.P. [mailto:inkymark@mts.net]
> Sent: February 5, 2007 11:35 AM
> To: Mark, Inky - M.P.
> Subject: Fw: Question re Iacobucci Inquiry
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "ken hanly"
> To: "stockwell day"
> Cc: "Inky Mark M.P." ; "j comar"
>
> Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 8:01 AM
> Subject: Question re Iacobucci Inquiry
>
>
> > Back on January 11th I sent a message concerning
> the
> > Iacobucci inquiry:
> > 1) When will the inquiry begin?
> >
> >
> > Blog: http://kenthink7.blogspot.com/index.html
>

Stockwell Day: Slow Response Time

I have been trying to get two simple bits of information for almost a month now. I also sent a followup to the NDP justice critic but with no luck there either. I thought at least these people would be concerned with PR. My own MP Inky Mark's office responded within hours but only by sending my request on to Stockwell Day. The inquiry is to report by next January.


Back on January 11th I sent a message concerning the
Iacobucci inquiry:
1) When will the inquiry begin?
2) Will there be a website as there was with the
O'Connor inquiry?

I also sent two followup messages including one from
Inky Mark's office.

Cheers, Ken Hanly

Blog: http://kenthink7.blogspot.com/index.html

Arar's Torture: The Toope report

I have actually seen posts about the Arar case questioning whether Arar was actually tortured. Of course the RCMP investigator who received Arar's confessions from the Syrian authorities also thought that they were not the result of torture. He by the way had absolutely no training in assessing this according to the O'Connor report.
The Arar inquiry appointed Prof. Stephen Toope as a fact finder to ascertain if Arar was tortured and to what degree. His 27 page report is readily available in PDF format on line free!
http://www.ararcommission.ca/eng/ToopeReport_final.pdf

Toope also heard testimony from Al Malki, el Maati, and Nurredin(sp?) who also claimed to be tortured in the same jail. THe Iacobucci inquiry is set up to inquire into their cases.

Abdullah Al Malki Website

http://www.abdullahalmalki.ca/

THis is a website concerning one of three Canadians who were imprisoned in Syria. AlMalki was a target of a project called A O Canada a group that also targetted Maher Arar. Almalki was kept in a Syrian jail and tortured even longer than Arar. There is an upcoming inquiry into AlMalki's case and two other Canadians with Frank Iacobucci heading the inquiry.

Ahmad Abou El-Maati Chronology

This is the chronology of events that happened to El-Maati, one of the three Canadians who were imprisoned in Syria and whose imprisonment is the subject of the Iacobucci inquiry.


http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:SwoOU5A_ADQJ:www.mun.ca/serg/elmaatichronology.pdf+El+Maati&hl=en&gl=ca&ct=clnk&cd=1

Iacobucci Inquiry: Terms of Reference

Terms of reference
Whereas the Report of the Events Relating to Maher Arar of September 18, 2006 recommends that the cases of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abouž-žElmaati and Muayyed Nureddin should be reviewed and that the review should be done through an independent and credible process that is able to address the integrated nature of the underlying investigations and inspires public confidence in the outcome;
Whereas that report states that there are more appropriate ways than a fullž-žscale public inquiry to investigate and report on cases where national security confidentiality must play a prominent role;
And whereas the Government of Canada, the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs have committed to full cooperation with the review process;
Therefore, Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, hereby directs that a Commission do issue under Part I of the Inquiries Act and under the Great Seal of Canada appointing the Honourable Frank Iacobucci as Commissioner to conduct an internal inquiry into the actions of Canadian officials in relation to Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abouž-žElmaati and Muayyed Nureddin (the “Inquiry”), which Commission shall:
(a)direct the Commissioner to conduct the Inquiry in order to determine the following:
(i)whether the detention of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abouž-žElmaati and Muayyed Nureddin in Syria or Egypt resulted, directly or indirectly, from actions of Canadian officials, particularly in relation to the sharing of information with foreign countries and, if so, whether those actions were deficient in the circumstances,
(ii)whether there were deficiencies in the actions taken by Canadian officials to provide consular services to Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abouž-žElmaati and Muayyed Nureddin while they were detained in Syria or Egypt, and
(iii)whether any mistreatment of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abouž-žElmaati and Muayyed Nureddin in Syria or Egypt resulted, directly or indirectly, from actions of Canadian officials, particularly in relation to the sharing of information with foreign countries and, if so, whether those actions were deficient in the circumstances;
(b)direct the Commissioner to conduct the Inquiry as he considers appropriate with respect to accepting as conclusive, or giving weight to, the findings of other examinations that may have been conducted into the actions of Canadian officials in relation to Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abouž-žElmaati and Muayyed Nureddin;
(c)direct the Commissioner to conduct the Inquiry under the name of the Internal Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abouž-žElmaati and Muayyed Nureddin;
(d)authorize the Commissioner to adopt any procedures and methods that he considers expedient for the proper conduct of the Inquiry, while taking all steps necessary to ensure that the Inquiry is conducted in private;
(e)despite paragraph (d), authorize the Commissioner to conduct specific portions of the Inquiry in public if he is satisfied that it is essential to ensure the effective conduct of the Inquiry;
(f)authorize the Commissioner to grant to any person who satisfies him that they have a substantial and direct interest in the subjectž-žmatter of the Inquiry an opportunity for appropriate participation in it;
(g)authorize the Commissioner to recommend to the Clerk of the Privy Council that funding be provided, in accordance with approved guidelines respecting rates of remuneration and reimbursement and the assessment of accounts, to ensure the appropriate participation of any party granted standing under paragraph (f), to the extent of the party's interest, where in the Commissioner’s view the party would not otherwise be able to participate in the Inquiry;
(h)authorize the Commissioner to rent any space and facilities that may be required for the purposes of the Inquiry, in accordance with Treasury Board policies;
(i)authorize the Commissioner to engage the services of any experts and other persons referred to in section 11 of the Inquiries Act, at rates of remuneration and reimbursement approved by the Treasury Board;
(j)direct the Commissioner to use the automated document management program specified by the Attorney General of Canada and to consult with records management officials within the Privy Council Office on the use of standards and systems that are specifically designed for the purpose of managing records;
(k)direct the Commissioner, in conducting the Inquiry, to take all steps necessary to prevent the disclosure of information to persons or bodies other than the Government of Canada that, if it were disclosed to those persons or bodies, would be injurious to international relations, national defence, national security, or the conduct of any investigation or proceeding, if the information, in the opinion of any of the following persons, falls into that category:
(i)the Commissioner, or
(ii)the Minister responsible for the department or government institution in which the information was produced or, if not produced by the government, in which it was first received;
(l)direct the Commissioner that, if he disagrees with the opinion of the Minister referred to in subparagraph (k)ž(ii) that the disclosure of the information would be injurious to international relations, national defence or national security, he shall, without adjudicating the matter, so notify the Attorney General of Canada, which notice shall constitute notice under section 38.ž01 of the Canada Evidence Act;
(m)direct the Commissioner to submit, on or before January 31, 2008, both a confidential report and a separate report that is suitable for disclosure to the public simultaneously in both official languages to the Governor in Council;
(n)direct the Commissioner, in preparing the separate report, to take all steps necessary to prevent the disclosure of information that, if it were disclosed to the public, would be injurious to international relations, national defence, national security or the conduct of any investigation or proceeding, if the information, in the opinion of any of the following persons, falls into that category:
(i)the Commissioner, or
(ii)the Minister responsible for the department or government institution in which the information was produced or, if not produced by the government, in which it was first received;
(o)direct the Commissioner that, if he disagrees with the opinion of the Minister referred to in subparagraph (n)ž(ii) that the disclosure of the information would be injurious to international relations, national defence or national security, he shall, without adjudicating the matter, so notify the Attorney General of Canada, which notice shall constitute notice under section 38.ž01 of the Canada Evidence Act;
(p)direct that nothing in the Commission shall be construed as limiting the application of the provisions of the Canada Evidence Act;
(q)direct the Commissioner to follow established security procedures, including the requirements of the Government Security Policy, with respect to persons engaged under section 11 of the Inquiries Act and the handling of information at all stages of the Inquiry;
(r)direct the Commissioner to perform his duties without expressing any conclusion or recommendation regarding the civil or criminal liability of any person or organization;
(s)direct the Commissioner to perform his duties in such a way as to ensure that the conduct of the Inquiry does not jeopardize any ongoing investigation or criminal proceeding, and to consult with the government institution responsible for any ongoing investigation or proceedings about any jeopardy that could result from the conduct of the Inquiry;
(t)direct the Commissioner to file the papers and records of the Inquiry with the Clerk of the Privy Council as soon as reasonably possible after the conclusion of the Inquiry; and
(u)direct the Commissioner, in respect of any portion of the Inquiry conducted in public under paragraph (e), to ensure that members of the public can, simultaneously in both official languages, communicate with the Commission, and obtain from it services including any transcripts of proceedings that have been made available to the public.

Iacobucci Inquiry may face time crunch

Well at least I received some info from the press if not Day! There is no mention of a website.


Torture inquiry faces time crunch
Iacobucci's deadline is cause of concern
JEFF SALLOT
OTTAWA -- Security experts question whether the commission of inquiry investigating the case of three Canadians who say they were tortured in the Middle East can meet its tight deadline of a little more than a year from now.
Appointed by a cabinet order on Dec. 12, Frank Iacobucci, the former Supreme Court of Canada judge who heads the inquiry, has yet to announce names of the key members of his staff -- they haven't received security clearances -- or to indicate when hearings will begin.
Yet the federal government expects Mr. Iacobucci to have his report into the cases of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati and Muayyed Nureddin completed by Jan. 31, 2008.
"It's a very tight deadline, and it may be doable. But I wouldn't be surprised, at the end of the day, if he'll have to ask for an extension," says Reid Morden, the former director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service who served as an adviser on security issues to an earlier federal inquiry into the Maher Arar case.
The Arar inquiry, which looked at the conduct of the RCMP and other federal agencies in relation to the torture case of just one Canadian Muslim, took almost three years to complete a final report. The Arar commission is still technically active because of the government's challenge to the efforts by chairman Mr. Justice Dennis O'Connor to publish alleged security-related information that he believes is in the national interest to make public.
In some ways, Mr. Iacobucci's task is simplified by the fact that the Conservative government has directed that this be an "internal inquiry," says lawyer Ron Atkey, a former cabinet minister who was the chairman of the Security Intelligence Review Committee.
On the other hand, Mr. Iacobucci is dealing with important issues involving the treatment of three individuals, and testing the reliability of the evidence "is a very slow, painful but necessary process in the interest of fairness," he said. Mr. Atkey served as a special advocate at the Arar commission.
The paper trail in these three cases leads to and from the RCMP and CSIS, and much of it is classified.
This means the independent legal and investigative staff Mr. Iacobucci employs will need top-secret security clearances.
It can take about two months for CSIS to complete the background checks and other work needed to provide an individual with a security clearance, says Paul Cavalluzzo, the chief counsel for the Arar commission.
The similarities between the Arar case and these three others prompted the Conservative government to announce the Iacobucci commission. All were held at a Syrian military intelligence prison; all say they were tortured; and all said their interrogators asked questions on the basis of information that they believe came from Canadian officials.
The government is asking Mr. Iacobucci to determine if the detention of Mr. Almalki, Mr. El Maati and Mr. Nureddin resulted directly or indirectly from actions by Canadian officials.

Email to Stockwell Day

On Jan. 11 I sent an email to Stockwell Day asking two questions:
1) Is the Iacobucci inquiry already underway?
2) Will there be a website as with the Arar inquiry?
I will update the blog with any reply

Iacobucci Inquiry

No news about the Iacobucci inquiry into the three Canadian citizens imprisoned and tortured in Syria probably on the basis of information provided by Canadian intelligence sources. Here is the URL of an article on the hearing:
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/War_Terror/2006/12/12/2754165-cp.html

It sounds as if the hearings will mostly be in camera. There is still an ongoing investigation by police. No doubt the intelligence agencies will do their best to keep as much under wraps as possible. If Iacobucci does his job this could be an even more revealing inquiry than O'Connor's on Maher Arar. Iacobucci will no doubt be well paid. More on that later.