Protesters Pan Security Jail
Published in the Kingston Whig-Standard April 26, 2006
Protesters took to the streets yesterday to voice their objection to the new high-security prison that opened Monday morning at Millhaven.
Mohamed Harkat, one of the four suspects transferred there Monday, had been held since December 2002 at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre under a security certificate, a provision of the Immigrants and Refugee Protection Act that allows suspected terrorists to be held without being formally charged.
He was moved without advance notice Monday by a heavily armed RCMP tactical squad. His wife, Sophie Harkat, only learned of the transfer when she received a call from another inmate.
"I felt like it was some kind of James Bond mission," she said, standing among about 20 supporters outside Citizenship and Immigrations Canada offices. "I just can't wait to talk to him to find out what kind of process he went through."
She said she plans to head for Kingston on Sunday to visit her husband, but is concerned about the restrictions that will be placed on her once she arrives from her two-hour trip. She'll be able to see him from 9 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m.
However, at the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre, she will be able to be in the same room as her husband, unlike in Ottawa where she was limited to seeing him 20 minutes at a time behind glass.
But she's still not impressed. She said there will be no conjugal visits and no real privacy. In respecting the religious beliefs of the other men being held at the facility, she said she can't be very affectionate around her husband.
She added she's also worried about these men being isolated, since they are being kept separate from the rest of the Millhaven inmates.
"Canada has opened its own Guantanamo," she said, comparing the facility to the American military prison in Cuba. "People will be forgotten there, and the government will use this to let them rot."
Along with Mohamed Harkat, Syrian Hassan Almrei and Egyptians Mohamed Mahjoub and Mahmoud Jaballah were transferred.
"I feel like we've been getting back-stabbed for the last three years and the knife keeps getting bigger," said Sophie.
She said she figures she'll only be able to travel to Kingston three times a week, while she continues to work on her husband's appeal at the Supreme Court of Canada.
"This is my job now," she said.
Members of the Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee stood with Sophie in support.
"It's sad that we have to be here," said Colin Stewart. "If they feel they have charges against him, he should be given a fair trial. Otherwise, let him go."
Chants were led against the use of security certificates and the government's spending of $3.2 million to build the facility.
In June, Harkat's case and those of Charkaoui and Almrei will go to the Supreme Court, where their lawyers will challenge the ability of the federal government to use the certificates to hold indefinitely - without charges - suspected terrorists who are not Canadian citizens.
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