Protesters decry treatment of bomb plot suspects
TORONTO, ONTARIO – Zealous prosecutors seeking convictions against terrorism suspects dubbed the “Toronto 18″ have trampled due process and the presumption of innocence, sanctioning lengthy solitary confinement that amounts to torture, a group of demonstrators said yesterday.
About 150 people descended on a Brampton courthouse as 20-year-old Saad Gaya’s second bail hearing began inside. Mr. Gaya is charged in an alleged explosives plot, and remains in custody after spending a year in solitary confinement.
Charges against seven of those arrested have been stayed, leaving 10 adults and one youth facing trial.
Demonstrators led by members of the Presumption of Innocence Project, a coalition formed in response to this case, decried the imposition of lengthy stints in solitary confinement and refusals to grant most suspects bail.
Amid a chanting crowd, a few protesters brandishing a megaphone delivered their message that even terrorism suspects deserve the full protections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the justice system.
“It’s one thing to say that you support these rights, that you’re prosecuting this case in order to defend our way of life, but if we can’t defend the basic civil liberties that should be afforded to every Canadian citizen, then we’ve already lost ground,” said James Clark, a PIP organizer.
The solitary-confinement issue dominated the rally. Many denounced the continued isolation of three suspects held separately for more than 600 days. Others among the accused spent 23½ hours a day for up to 14 months alone in their cells, which some said amounts to psychological torture.
Yesterday’s rally coincided with the issue of an open letter by the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations and 16 other Muslim and Arab community groups that asked that the use of solitary confinement and the reasonable standards for winning bail be reconsidered.
“Extreme isolation, conditions more severe than the majority of Canada ’s convicted murderers and rapists are subject to, is hardly appropriate for persons who have not been found guilty by our justice system,” the letter argues.
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