Terror Suspects Being Tortured, Lawyers Say

"...the court imposed a blanket publication ban on the legal proceedings, preventing the public from learning of any further evidence..."

Does this mean the "secret trials" have begun? What happened to the people's right to know?

Re: Fair Trial - If Paul Bernardo can receive a fair trial after the media madness that preceded the event, which he did, then certainly these 17 men can as well.

Re: Publication Ban – Some of the defense lawyers were for the ban, some against. The funny part (to me) is they claim that the government has tainted the media, but who was the smiling lawyer outside the courtroom that made the most stunning allegation? Why, it was none other than Mr. Shand’s lawyer, Gary Batasar, who stated "There's an allegation apparently that my client personally indicated that he wanted to behead the prime minister of Canada. It's a very serious allegation. My client has said nothing about that." Yeah, it’s horrible the way the government is playing the media, isn’t it Mr. Batasar.

Re: Torture –Poked in the cheek after giggling because you’re ticklish and a cop was touching your ribs? Classic. World’s smallest violin. Hang on...I want to read that again:

"My client, when he was being searched by a guard, was pinned into the ground. He had the guard's finger drilled into his cheek and the guard flicked him quite hard in the eye," he said.

Whoa! I totally missed the “eye flick” the first time. Is my older sister circa 1980 the guard there? How long until someone gets a Wet Willy or a Purple Nurple?

"That torture includes being kept in a room that's lit 24 hours a day, being woken up every half-hour, being beaten by the guards, on and on and on," said Galati.

Eye-flick and cheek poke = “being beaten by the guards”. Classic. And 24 hour a day light? I'm sure someone can addressd this "torture" (see below).

”The solitary confinement cells in which the men and youths are housed at the Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton are a scant 3.4 metres by 1.8 metres, are sealed by a concrete door with only a small slit for meal delivery, and have no windows, said lawyer David Kolinsky”

So what? I work in a cube way smaller than that with no windows and flickering fluorescent lights that never turn off. And I’m not charged with a crime!

Many of the conditions outlined by lawyers are standard practice, said Community Safety and Correctional Services Ministry spokeswoman Julia Noonan.

"All our institutions are lit 24 hours a day," said Noonan, who added the lights are dimmed in the evenings. "For security reasons, we need to ensure that proper supervision is possible."

Twenty minutes of "fresh air and/or exercise" is also standard, and the "standard dimension" solitary cells are expressly built for "one person."

Oh, so you mean, it’s standard conditions for people charged with a crime of this order and sitting in jail until their bail hearing? Oh…well…um…ok then…but how do you explain the eye flick and the cheek poke? Everyone knows those are the torture trademarks of the imperialist neo-fascist BusHarper regime!

This is standard practice:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/jihad18chap1.html">http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/jihad18chap1.html</a><br />
<br />
Although I will admit, most do better than the "cheek poke" and "eye flick" bullshit. At least give yourself a black eye or something. Sheesh.

Inmates equal, official says
Ontario rejects claims terrorism suspects treated differently than other prisoners
GLORIA GALLOWAY
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

The lights never go out in the cells being inhabited by the 12 adult men charged in Canada's largest terrorism bust. They are dimmed at night to promote sleep. But they are never completely extinguished.

Rocco Galati, a lawyer for one of the accused men, has likened that to torture. And human-rights groups say that leaving lights on 24 hours a day can lead to sleep deprivation, which is nothing short of cruel.

But Ontario prison officials say it's not just terrorism suspects who must sleep without the comfort of darkness.

Nor is it a condition peculiar to the segregation unit of the Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton, west of Toronto, where lawyers say the men are being held.

In fact, says Julia Noonan, a spokeswoman for the Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, the lights are kept on around the clock in all parts of every Ontario institution.

At night they are "dimmed to a night light," she said. "But they have to have some light because correctional officers have to see in cells."

Elizabeth White, the executive director of the St. Leonard Society, which promotes the humane treatment of prisoners, said she has not received complaints about the lights being on at all times.

"Some people actually don't mind having lights on," Ms. White said. "The fact is, it's not unusual treatment they're receiving in that regard."

But Maplehurst is not a nice place to spend time. And segregation is not pleasant place to be.

"Individuals could be in segregation for a number of different reasons," said Ms. Noonan, who would not discuss the living conditions of the terrorism suspects directly.

In addition to medical and disciplinary matters, an accused person could be segregated if "there is any perceived danger to themselves or others, and sometimes that could be due to the notoriety of their charges," she said.

Or they could find themselves in a solitary cell because the authorities do not want them mingling with alleged co-conspirators.

Segregated cells are generally closed with a solid door rather than bars, Ms. Noonan said. And their furnishings are meagre: a bed, a toilet and a sink.

Those in the general population have access to television in a common room and a communal phone.

Those in segregation do not -- although they may ask to use the telephone when they need it.

But what concerns Ms. White most is the lack of recreation time. For all prisoners who are in custody awaiting court proceedings, even those in the general population, that is limited to 20 minutes a day.

"That's a very minor amount of time to move around, and it's far healthier to have more time," she said.
Ms. White said the loudest complaints have come from prisoners being held in very old detention centres -- a number of which have been closed in Ontario during the past several years.

Maplehurst is, by comparison, relatively new, and the older sections have been refurbished.

"It's definitely not some old dungeon-like setting that some people might conjure up when they think of someone in custody," Ms. Noonan said.

But it is not without problems.

"Maplehurst is a horror. Maplehurst is just an awful institution, in that it's all about profit," said one criminal-defence lawyer who asked not to be named because she has clients behind the centre's walls and is afraid they would be punished for her statements.

"What's been happening over the last couple of years at Maplehurst is that they just have lockdowns and they lock down the jail for 23 hours a day, and what that means is the guys are locked in their cells," she said.

"It isn't happening in a lot of other institutions."

Of course, the men in segregation spend that time in their cells with or without a lockdown.

Ontario Community Safety Minister Monte Kwinter said yesterday that the government plans to look into accusations that the terrorism suspects are enduring cruel punishment while detained.

"All they are is allegations," Mr. Kwinter told reporters.
"I feel comfortable that this is our normal procedure," he added, noting that the courts have ordered that the suspects be segregated and have no contact with anybody.

"We just carry out the court's instructions," he said. "We don't determine what these instructions should be."

Mr. Kwinter also denied allegations from some of the suspects' lawyers that their clients are being woken up every 30 minutes and given only five minutes to eat meals.

He said the suspects have 30 minutes for meals, and also have access to a canteen for snacks.

He also said "nobody goes in to wake them up."