20th 'Mohammad' arrested in TORONTO
Sep 2nd 2003, 8:17 pm
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20th 'Mohammad' arrested in TORONTO
20th man arrested in suspected terrorist probe set for first detention
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
TORONTO -- A 20th man arrested in a probe of a suspected terrorist cell is
set for his first detention review as police and immigration officials
continue an investigation that's put the focus on a controversial new
provision in Canada's immigration laws.
Muhammad Nouman, 24, was to appear Wednesday at his first detention review,
which under immigration law must be held within 48 hours of an arrest,
Charles Hawkins, a spokesman with the Immigration and Refugee Board, said
Tuesday.
Nouman will join three other men _ Muhammed Naeem, Manzoor Qadar Joyia and
Imran Younas Khan _ in reviews that were adjourned last week when the
immigration board began assessing 19 men arrested Aug. 14. They were picked
up as part of Project Thread, a probe that some experts have hailed as the
first real test of Canada's new immigration laws .
The 20 are among 31 men that immigration officials and RCMP have been trying
to round up on suspicions of al-Qaida terrorist links. A federal background
document said some of the men were attempting to get schematics and drawings
of the CN Tower and other landmarks and were engaging in other suspicious
activity.
Hawkins said he couldn't release any further information about Nouman until
his review.
Giovanna Gatti, a spokeswoman for Immigration Canada, also refused to give
further details about Nouman until his review except to say he was arrested
late last week.
The reviews involving all the men _ who are being held at the Maplehurst
correctional facility in Milton, Ont. _ are being held out of a downtown
Toronto immigration centre. Some of the men appear in person, while others
are heard during video teleconferences.
Two of the men _ Saif Ullah Khan, 41, and Mohammad Akhtar, 30 _ were
released on bail following public reviews last week. Others _ including
student pilot Anwar ur Rehman Mohammed, deemed suspicious because he
regularly flew over the Pickering, Ont., nuclear power plant _ were told
they would remain in detention.
The hearings of three other men became private, so details of their cases
couldn't be released.
Hawkins noted the unusualness of hearing so many cases at one time last week
as a result of Sec. 58 (1), a 15-month-old provision of the Immigration Act
that's made it easier for federal authorities to make arrests.
"The thing that is so unusual is the sheer volume of doing so many (reviews)
in such a short period,'' he said.
No charges have been laid against the 20 men, most of whom are originally
from Pakistan and are in Canada on student visas. Under the new section,
even "reasonable suspicions'' that someone may pose a security threat are
enough to execute an arrest.
Gatti wouldn't comment on reports that a 21st accused man, Muddasar Awan,
26, had been trying to surrender since Friday, but couldn't because neither
he nor his lawyer could contact Immigration Canada.
As of late Tuesday afternoon, Gatti would only say "we don't comment on
ongoing investigations,'' and that no other arrests had been made.
However, Tariq Shah, a lawyer who represents six of the detainees, told the
Toronto Star that Awan came to his office Friday wanting to turn himself in
to authorities. Shah says he made repeated calls to authorities, but got no
response over the Labour Day weekend.
These cases are the first real test of the new immigration provision, which
broadened the grounds on which the government can have suspicions of
security threats, said Howard Adelman, founder of York University's Centre
for Refugee Studies in Toronto.
The provision is so new that it may be the first time adjudicators hearing
the current detention reviews are dealing with it _ possibly one reason why
some of their decisions have been so varied, said Adelman, a former
professor in York's philosophy department who's on a visiting fellowship at
Princeton University in New Jersey this year.
"Most laws are written about what you do _ i.e. committing a harmful act,''
he said in an interview. "They're not written about what you might do.''
Adelman added that adjudicators are ``political appointees'' who may be
versed on the new provision, but who may not have experience ``putting it
into practice.''
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
TORONTO -- A 20th man arrested in a probe of a suspected terrorist cell is
set for his first detention review as police and immigration officials
continue an investigation that's put the focus on a controversial new
provision in Canada's immigration laws.
Muhammad Nouman, 24, was to appear Wednesday at his first detention review,
which under immigration law must be held within 48 hours of an arrest,
Charles Hawkins, a spokesman with the Immigration and Refugee Board, said
Tuesday.
Nouman will join three other men _ Muhammed Naeem, Manzoor Qadar Joyia and
Imran Younas Khan _ in reviews that were adjourned last week when the
immigration board began assessing 19 men arrested Aug. 14. They were picked
up as part of Project Thread, a probe that some experts have hailed as the
first real test of Canada's new immigration laws .
The 20 are among 31 men that immigration officials and RCMP have been trying
to round up on suspicions of al-Qaida terrorist links. A federal background
document said some of the men were attempting to get schematics and drawings
of the CN Tower and other landmarks and were engaging in other suspicious
activity.
Hawkins said he couldn't release any further information about Nouman until
his review.
Giovanna Gatti, a spokeswoman for Immigration Canada, also refused to give
further details about Nouman until his review except to say he was arrested
late last week.
The reviews involving all the men _ who are being held at the Maplehurst
correctional facility in Milton, Ont. _ are being held out of a downtown
Toronto immigration centre. Some of the men appear in person, while others
are heard during video teleconferences.
Two of the men _ Saif Ullah Khan, 41, and Mohammad Akhtar, 30 _ were
released on bail following public reviews last week. Others _ including
student pilot Anwar ur Rehman Mohammed, deemed suspicious because he
regularly flew over the Pickering, Ont., nuclear power plant _ were told
they would remain in detention.
The hearings of three other men became private, so details of their cases
couldn't be released.
Hawkins noted the unusualness of hearing so many cases at one time last week
as a result of Sec. 58 (1), a 15-month-old provision of the Immigration Act
that's made it easier for federal authorities to make arrests.
"The thing that is so unusual is the sheer volume of doing so many (reviews)
in such a short period,'' he said.
No charges have been laid against the 20 men, most of whom are originally
from Pakistan and are in Canada on student visas. Under the new section,
even "reasonable suspicions'' that someone may pose a security threat are
enough to execute an arrest.
Gatti wouldn't comment on reports that a 21st accused man, Muddasar Awan,
26, had been trying to surrender since Friday, but couldn't because neither
he nor his lawyer could contact Immigration Canada.
As of late Tuesday afternoon, Gatti would only say "we don't comment on
ongoing investigations,'' and that no other arrests had been made.
However, Tariq Shah, a lawyer who represents six of the detainees, told the
Toronto Star that Awan came to his office Friday wanting to turn himself in
to authorities. Shah says he made repeated calls to authorities, but got no
response over the Labour Day weekend.
These cases are the first real test of the new immigration provision, which
broadened the grounds on which the government can have suspicions of
security threats, said Howard Adelman, founder of York University's Centre
for Refugee Studies in Toronto.
The provision is so new that it may be the first time adjudicators hearing
the current detention reviews are dealing with it _ possibly one reason why
some of their decisions have been so varied, said Adelman, a former
professor in York's philosophy department who's on a visiting fellowship at
Princeton University in New Jersey this year.
"Most laws are written about what you do _ i.e. committing a harmful act,''
he said in an interview. "They're not written about what you might do.''
Adelman added that adjudicators are ``political appointees'' who may be
versed on the new provision, but who may not have experience ``putting it
into practice.''
