| Supreme Court rules dangerous refugees can be deported to face torture risk..........
This Kangarroo Court Is NOT...repeat NOT.. an elected body and DOES NOT represent the democratic principals of our society!!
PLEASE.Don't Let MY county Go To Hell Like This.
AMERICA..Please invade Canada and Set us free from this.THIS IS WORST THAN THE USSR FOR F*CK SAKES!!
OTTAWA (CP) - Refugees who threaten Canadian security can be deported only in rare cases to countries where they might be tortured, the Supreme Court said in a ruling that tries to balance looming terrorist concerns against individual rights.
GAWD F*CKING HELP US ALL!!
The high court leaves it to the Immigration minister to decide - on reasonable grounds backed by evidence - when an overriding security threat exists.
But it cites as possible examples "the outbreak of war, epidemics" and similar risks.
The 9-0 landmark judgment Friday allows defendants fuller disclosure of the case against them, and a greater chance to defend themselves in deportation hearings.
Moreover, the security threat must outweigh the risk of torture when refugees are ordered out.
While the high court upheld the constitutionality of immigration law, it put more onus on authorities to make their case.
Governments need the legal tools to combat "the manifest evil of terrorism and the random and arbitrary taking of innocent lives," the court said.
"On the other hand stands the need to ensure that those legal tools do not undermine values that are fundamental to our democratic society - liberty, the rule of law and the principles of fundamental justice."
The judgment strikes a balance that hints at how the court will weigh anticipated challenges of the government's post-Sept. 11 anti-terrorism measures, said Errol Mendes, a law professor at University of Ottawa.
"I would say it's more skewed toward security - but security bounded by fundamental due process ... It's potentially a model for other jurisdictions around the world for how to handle this new reality."
The judgment allows an appeal by Manickavasagam Suresh, 46, accused of raising funds for terrorists in Sri Lanka. He will get a new deportation hearing.
At his first hearing, Suresh was not allowed to see an Immigration memo on the case against him, nor was he allowed to respond to it, the high court noted.
Where refugees can show they face a real threat of torture, more procedural safeguards are needed, the judgment says.
"The minister must provide the refugee with all the relevant information and advice she intends to rely on," permit the defendant to respond in writing, and issue written reasons for the decision, said the court.
Mansour Ahani, suspected of being a trained Iranian government assassin, can be deported to Iran, the court ruled in a separate 9-0 judgment.
Ahani had a greater opportunity to present his case to the minister and offered less evidence that he faces torture, the court said.
But Barbara Jackman, the lawyer for both Suresh and Ahani, said that's not true. "There's no way you could say it was a fair or fuller (process)," she said in an interview Friday.
Jackman called the rulings an inconsistent "political saw-off."
"It's clear that Sept. 11 affected them," she said. "I'm pleased for Suresh that he's going to be protected. I'm petrified for Mr. Ahani."
Ahani says he defected from his native Iran after refusing a covert mission ordered by the government.
He is "truly likely to be executed" if he's returned, said Jackman, who will seek an "international remedy," possibly a United Nations review of the case, to stall his removal.
Immigration officials say they won't deport Ahani until at least next Tuesday, Jackman said.
Ahani, 37, has been locked up for eight years while his case drags on. He watched news of his fate on television from a provincial jail in Hamilton.
"I've never seen this kind of justice anywhere else in the world," he said in an interview. "I believe Afghanistan is more fair.
"I'm sorry for my son and his mom. I'm sorry for the Canadian people too, because this could happen to anyone - especially with the new (anti-terrorism) laws."
Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan welcomed Friday's judgments.
"Today the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed that Canada is not a safe haven for terrorists," she told a news conference.
Her department will deport Ahani and continue its case against Suresh, she said.
"These situations require a delicate balance between the safety and security of Canadians and our commitment to human rights. But rest assured the safety and security of Canadians is and will remain the priority of this government."
Immigration lawyer David Matas says Ottawa would be "foolhardy" to try to construe Suresh's fundraising activities as an exceptional condition that justifies his removal to face torture.
The high court has essentially upheld international legal principles that prohibit deportation where torture is a risk, he said.
"The (judges) gave themselves some wiggle room for circumstances which they just can't imagine right now. But if the government takes comfort from that, they're just deluding themselves."
Suresh was free on bail and living in Toronto pending the high court judgment.
He and Ahani were originally granted refugee status but were later pegged as security threats.
Vic Toews, justice critic for the Canadian Alliance, applauded Ahani's deportation.
But the Suresh ruling rankled critics.
"The (lower) courts found that Mr. Suresh has been involved in serious terrorist activity while abusing Canada's protection and freedoms," Toews said. "We must ensure that the safety of Canadians is paramount to any other concerns, including any potential consequences to the claimant."
Suresh was ordered deported in 1997. He is suspected of raising funds for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a rebel army that has used terror tactics in his native Sri Lanka, to fight for independence for Tamils.
A Federal Court trial judge found in 1997 that Suresh has been a "dedicated and trusted member, in a leadership position with the LTTE," and that he gained refugee status by lying under oath.
Suresh's lawyers say he merely helped run a community centre that supported the Tamil independence movement.
Federal lawyers, in submissions to the high court, described Ahani as "a trained assassin and terrorist who has been found by . . . the Federal Court to be a danger to Iranian dissidents living in Canada."
Ahani has always denied the allegations |
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