SIX ARRESTS MADE AT CSIS AS SIT-IN DEMANDS SECRET EVIDENCE BEING USED TO DETAIN CANADA'S SECRET TRIAL FIVE

SIX ARRESTS MADE AT CSIS AS SIT-IN DEMANDS SECRET EVIDENCE BEING USED TO DETAIN CANADA'S SECRET TRIAL FIVE

TORONTO, OCTOBER 20, 2004 -- Six people were arrested today following a
sit-in in the lobby of the building that houses the Toronto offices of
Canada's national spy agency, CSIS. The group, made up of folks from
Burlington, Hamilton, Dundas, Durham, and Toronto, had been seeking a
meeting to discuss the secret "evidence" which has been used to detain five
Muslim men a collective 164 months, or 13 and a half years, behind Canadian
prison bars without charge or bail.

Sponsored by the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, the
group chose the date of October 20 because it marks three years in solitary
confinement for secret trial detainee Hassan Almrei, a Syrian refugee held
in Toronto's Metro West Detention Centre and one of the five Muslim men
currently detained without charge or bail. Next week in Ottawa, secret
trial detainee Mohamed Harkat will attend the public portion of his secret
trial, after which the judge will retire with CSIS and government lawyers
to discuss the evidence -- if any exists -- without Harkat and his lawyer
present. Mohammad Mahjoub, held since June 2000 in Toronto, is currently
in solitary confinement; Mahmoud Jaballah has been detained since August,
2001, and Adil Charkaoui detained since May, 2003.

"We sit here because we have tried just about every channel
available to us," the group wrote in a statement. "But time is not on our
side. These men are shadows of their former selves, often broken in body,
and scarred in spirit. Their families are traumatized, their communities
fearful. And each day they wake brings the same nagging question: why are
they being held behind bars, and why is Canada attempting to deport them to
torture?

"We sit here not because we despair, but because we hope. Perhaps
our willingness to take some risk, to practice some truth-seeking, Gandhian
nonviolence, will open some minds, some hearts, some souls, to the crime of
secret trials in Canada and the pain they have inflicted on individuals,
families, communities."

The group were charged with failure to leave premises when directed
as well as engaging in a prohibited activity on private property and
released shortly after their arrests. Those arrested and charged are
Kirsten Romaine, Rae Mitchell, Diana Ralph, Chris Shannon, Barney
Barningham and Matthew Behrens.

About ten people entered the lobby shortly after 11 am and sat on
benches that they imagined were for...well...sitting. Security came within
a few minutes to ascertain why we were sitting on those benches.

"Because benches are made to be sat upon," explained one. A member
of the group called upstairs to CSIS requesting that a meeting be held
immediately to discuss transfer of the secret "evidence" to the lawyers of
the detainees, so they can defend their clients. Other security officials
showed up to make extensive explanations about the fact that, even though
CSIS is a federal government agency, it is housed in a building that is
"private property."

Police were eventually called in and, after asking us almost a
dozen times to leave, were eventually forced to make arrests.

One particularly interesting exchange between a resister and a
police officer went like this:

OFFICER: Well, you'll have your 15 seconds on the news tonight.
RESISTER: I hope these men will be released
OFFICER: Are they illegal immigrants? What are the charges?
RESISTER: No Charges. They're refugees and permanent residents, and
this could now be done to citizens.
OFFICER: Well, it could be me or you next.
RESISTER: Yes, it could be, that's why we're doing this. We're
trying to generate public support for these men.
OFFICER: I think it's very important tthat you're doing this. If
the public doesn't know about this, these men could just disappear. It
happened in Chile, it could happen here.
RESISTER: We think they should get a fair and open trial so they
can defend themselves. There must be checks and balances.
OFFICER: I agree, there must be checks and balances.

Another arrestee reports that the arresting officer apologized for
having to make the arrest, for after having heard about the reason for the
protest, the officer felt a sense of shame that he would be hauling such
folks out of the CSIS building.

The six plan to contest the charges, a right that thusfar remains
unavailable to the five secret trial detainees.

Below is a statement the group presented during the sit-in.

For more info. call (416) 651-5800.



Campaign to Stop Secret
Trials in Canada,
PO Box 73620,
509 St. Clair Ave. West
Toronto, ON M6C 1C0, www.homesnotbombs.ca, tasc@web.ca

STATEMENT FOR THE
CSIS SIT-IN,
October 20, 2004

Today is a sad anniversary. It marks three years in solitary
confinement for Hassan Almrei, a Syrian refugee held at Metro West
Detention Centre without charge or bail on secret evidence neither he nor
his lawyers are allowed to see.

Hassan is one of five Muslim men collectively held 164 months, or
13 and a half years, on CSIS secret trial security certificates. They are
Mohammad Mahjoub, father of two, held since June, 2000; Mahmoud Jaballah,
father of six, held 9 months in 1999, cleared of allegations, re-arrested
in August 2001, held since then despite CSIS admitting there's no new
evidence; Mohamed Harkat, married, held since December, 2002; and Adil
Charkaoui, father of two, held since May, 2003.

None of these men has been charged with, much less convicted, of
any crime here in Canada. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and
other human rights experts agree that all their lives are at risk if
deported. Their lives continue to be degraded by the indefinite
incarceration which has led one Federal Court judge to conclude we have a
Canadian version of Guantanamo Bay.

All the men have called on the government to charge them if there
is a case, and to try them in an open, fair trial with full disclosure of
the case against them. Otherwise, they should be released immediately.

* We sit here because we want CSIS to hand over the secret
"evidence" to us, which we will pass on to the lawyers of the detainees.

* We sit here because we cannot do otherwise. These men are our
brothers, as they are yours. And as Martin Luther King, Jr., said, no piece
of paper can make them any less so. We are obligated to be here, in respect
of international laws and covenants Canada has signed and the Charter of
Rights and Freedoms, and in honour of that human bond which calls us to
respect and cherish one another's dignity and humanity.

* We sit here because we are rapidly running out of options. We
have tried many times to meet with representatives of CSIS, but each time
we have been met with locked doors and cordons of police, whether here in
Toronto or in Ottawa. We have organized long-distance walks, educational
fora, countless vigils and letter campaigns; met with MPs, sought meetings
with the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister; spent countless hours in
court during the open portions of the secret trials; written many letters
to and received many phone calls from the detainees themselves. We have
fasted with the detainees; we have laughed with them, cried with them,
shared their hopes and dreams.

* We sit here because we have tried just about every channel
available to us. But time is not on our side. These men are shadows of
their former selves, often broken in body, and scarred in spirit. Their
families are traumatized, their communities fearful. And each day they
wake brings the same nagging question: why are they being held behind bars,
and why is Canada attempting to deport them to torture?

* We sit here not because we despair, but because we hope. Perhaps
our willingness to take some risk, to practice some truth-seeking, Gandhian
nonviolence, will open some minds, some hearts, some souls, to the crime of
secret trials in Canada and the pain they have inflicted on individuals,
families, communities.

Perhaps it may be considered a tad indelicate for us to be sitting
where we are. But too often, we have been locked outside of the building,
and our pleas for a meeting ignored. Today we are here to say we cannot, we
must not, be ignored. Too many lives are on the line, and concepts like
conscience and rule of law in Canada are in danger of being disappeared
just as these men have been.

Together, let us find a humane solution.











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