Family of terror suspect Jaballah hopes for quick bail decision

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This article was published 13/02/2007 (7173 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO (CP) – The family of Mahmoud Jaballah is hoping for a quick decision on whether the suspected terrorist facing deportation should be freed on bail after a Federal Court hearing wrapped up Tuesday.

Justice Carolyn Layden-Stevenson said her ruling isn’t expected by the end of this week, but she pledged to make it a priority. “I intend to be as timely as I can possibly be,” she said.

Jaballah, a 44-year-old father of six, has been detained since 2001 on a security certificate – a controversial tool that allows federal authorities to detain suspects deemed to pose a threat to national security without having to lay charges or disclose evidence.

Jaballah, who has been on a hunger strike for 70 days to protest his detention conditions, looked and sounded weak as he appeared via video link from the Millhaven Institution in Bath, Ont.

His eldest son Ahmed, 20, said the family is in “legal limbo” and worried about the health of Jaballah and two other men at Millhaven – Mohammad Mahjoub, 45, and Hassan Almrei, 33 – being detained on security certificates who have also been on hunger strikes to protest their living conditions.

“None of us would want to see something happen to him or the other men,” Ahmed Jaballah said.

“My dad has a double hernia and he needs to have a surgery – he hasn’t been given that.”

On Monday, several MPs from the House Standing Committee of Immigration and Citizenship visited Millhaven as part of a fact-finding mission to investigate the detainees’ claims.

But Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day disputed the contention that Millhaven’s inmates aren’t being provided with adequate care.

“It is not the type of accommodation that would deprive people of human rights,” Day said in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

“It bothers me when I hear people saying there is no medical help available. A medical practitioner visits the cell area, visits that site, every morning at 10 a.m. to offer services.”

Day said the government can’t force Jaballah and the others to end their hunger strike.

“The fact is that in this country we cannot force a person to eat.”

A Federal Court ruling last fall stated that Jaballah cannot remain in Canada, but also deemed he cannot be deported to Egypt because of the risk of torture.

Canada Border Services Agency official Eugenie Hebert told court Tuesday that no efforts have been made to find a suitable third country.

Hebert told court that arrangements could be made to deport Jaballah within a week or two, but that Egypt is the only country that has been considered.

However, under cross-examination by Jaballah’s lawyers, Hebert admitted she was “confused” about the legal status of the case and admitted she hadn’t read the Federal Court decision.

Hebert, when questioned by Layden-Stevenson, said she was “not aware” whether any steps have been taken to investigate other possible destinations for Jaballah.

“It is frankly shocking that the ministers have done nothing other than pursue removal to Egypt,” Jaballah’s lawyer, John Norris, said in his final submission.

“We have now reached the point of indefinite detention.”

Crown lawyer Douglas McIntosh called Norris’s assertion “premature,” saying it was simply speculation that the government wasn’t looking for an alternate place to deport Jaballah.

However, McIntosh was sternly questioned by Layden-Stevenson when he suggested there was evidence of assurances regarding Jaballah’s possible passage to Egypt.

“I think if there is, you should point me to it,” Layden-Stevenson said.

Jaballah’s legal team also submitted e-mails from four MPs – Meili Faille, Omar Alghabra, Bill Siksay and Andrew Telegdi – containing their offers to act as sureties for Jaballah.

Jaballah’s wife Husnah said it’s been three weeks since she’s seen her husband, and called the length of his detention “a shame” on Canada.

“My kids every day ask, ‘Why my dad not give me call?”‘ she said.