An appeal from the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada...
Canada's Secret Trial Detainees on Hunger Strike at Guantanamo Bay North,
Kingston, Ontario
Denial of Medical Treatment, Lack of Personal Safety Among Key Issues
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2006 -- For the second time this year, three men held at the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre (KIHC) -- a $3.2 million facility within Millhaven Penitentiary for security certificate detainees -- have gone on hunger strike to protest their conditions of detention. As of today, December 15, Mohammad Mahjoub has been without food for 20 days, and Hassan Almrei and Mahmoud Jaballah for nine days.
Most pressing among many demands is immediate medical treatment for Mr. Mahjoub, who has been denied access to medical care for hepatitis C and high blood pressure since September. The men are also demanding that a supervisor (not a guard) escort them between the "living unit" and the administration building (where they receive visitors and exercise). The men
are concerned about the potential for mistreatment at the hands of some (not all) guards at the facility, as well as about the fact that false allegations have been made against the men by some (but not all) guards at the facility. The presence of a supervisor is the only way they have to
guarantee their safety, and there is no reason why one cannot be available during daylight hours (the facility, which imprisons three men, is top-heavy with staff: two directors, two secretaries, seven supervisors, 12 guards).
The detainees also feel that one way of ending the negative way in which they are often treated is to replace Corrections Service Canada guards with individuals from the Canadian Border Services Agency.
KIHC officials claim Mr. Mahjoub can get his medication if he goes to the administration building, but he refuses to go without a supervisory escort. Medical personnel often come to the "living unit," but they are not bringing his medication there. Because Mr. Mahjoub fears for his safety and refuses to go to the administration building without an escort, he is being
punished, and his health is subsequently impaired. Such bureaucratic pettiness at KIHC is something out of a Soviet Gulag, not a 21st century democracy.
OTHER DEMANDS
1. That the men have access to media, as they did when detained in Toronto. Currently, all media need to have prior approval, and interviews cannot be conducted in private. The men are justifiably uncomfortable having guards sit-in on interviews. They are also demanding that more time be granted to media interviews. Currently, one-hour blocs are available, but by the time media go through security and set up cameras, there is very little time to conduct proper interviews.
2. That an independent body or neutral mediator be appointed to deal with the many problems that continue to plague the KIHC. A translator must also be provided for any meeting where complaints are discussed and to assist with the documentation of written complaints. Currently, the men must submit lengthy written complaints (and all have limited written and spoken
English) that are almost always dismissed by staff at KIHC, with no route of appeal. The men currently have no one to appeal to who would play the role of independent ombudsperson.
3. Eliminate daily head counts. Given that there are only three men in the tiny unit, and they are constantly monitored, the men find that being told to stop throughout the day to stand and be counted is humiliating and unnecessary.
4. That the men be allowed to use phone cards to call family overseas. The KIHC is proposing that the men call through the most expensive plan available, which would be billed to their Canadian family (all of whom are on social assistance). Since calls are monitored, it makes no sense why a far less expensive calling card cannot be used.
5. That the men be granted the same rights as other federal inmates: access to a library, educational programs, and trailer visits with loved ones where they can stay together for three days every month.
6. That the men be permitted to leave their cells before dawn to bathe and pray, as required by their faith.
7. The men are not given a choice about what to have in their canteen, and the prices are triple what they are outside the facility. In the federal jail next door to KIHC, inmates choose what is in their canteen, and prices are lower.
Please send letters urging that Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) officials enter into serious, good faith negotiations, with a translator and neutral third party present, to meet these demands. (Sample letter below)
1. Write and Call Stockwell Day, Minister responsible for the Canadian Border Services Agency (which runs the KIHC).
Stockwell Day, MP,
House of Commons, Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Phone: (613) 995-1702
Fax: (613) 995.1154
Email: day.s@parl.gc.ca
2. Claudette Deschenes
VP, Enforcement, CBSA
Phone (613) 952-2531
Fax (613) 952-2622
3. Write a support card to the detainees (let us know at tasc@web.ca if you have so we can monitor if mail is getting through): Mohammad Mahjoub, Mahmoud Jaballah, and Hassan Almrei can be reached:
Kingston Immigration Holding Centre
c/o CSC RHQ Ontario Region
440 King Street West
PO Box 1174
Kingston, Ontario K7L 4Y8
4. Join the National Days to Close Guantanamo North and South, January 11-15, 2007. Consider organizing a vigil in your community at the office of an MP, CSIS, RCMP, or federal building. Already planned are a film screening in Ottawa, a demonstration January 13 in Montreal, and a Martin Luther King Day action in Toronto. To join the national day of action with
Sample letters:
Claudette Deschenes
VP, Enforcement,
Canadian Border Services Agency
Dear Ms. Deschenes,
I am writing to support the demands of the detainees currently on hunger strike at the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre . As you must know, the men were promised superior conditions to those they faced at the Metro West Detention Centre, but those promises have yet to become a reality.
As you may recall, the previous government forced two of the detainees, Mohammad Mahjoub and Hassan Almrei, to hunger strike dangerously long periods in 2005 (79 and 73 days, respectively) before any action was taken to meet what were, then as now, reasonable requests. This past summer, a number of hunger strikes occurred as well, a sign that conditions continue
to deteriorate.
I'm asking that you take the steps necessary to meet the very reasonable demands of these gentlemen so that the health-threatening hunger strike which they have undertaken may be brought to an end.
The requests of Mssrs. Jaballah, Mahjoub, and Almrei are eminently reasonable. Denial of medical treatment for whatever reason is illegal and immoral. To reduce access to medical care to an issue of compliance with petty prison rules is a scary reminder of the Soviet-era gulag. Mr. Mahjoub needs immediate access to his Hepatitis C and blood pressure medication either in the living unit or, if he is forced to go to another building to receive it, with the accompaniment of a supervisor. With 23 staff for the three detainees, there is no reason why this cannot occur.
It is clear as well that an independent third party needs to be appointed to deal with the daily problems that arise at the KIHC. In addition, a translator needs to be present during meetings between KIHC staff and the detainees.
I look forward to the immediate resolution of this problem.
Name, address
***********
Stockwell Day, MP
Minister Responsible for the Canadian Border Services Agency
Dear Mr. Day,
I am writing to demand that you intervene immediately to meet the reasonable demands of Canada's secret trial detainees who are once again on hunger strike at the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre. As you may recall, the previous government forced two of the detainees, Mohammad Mahjoub and Hassan Almrei, to hunger strike dangerously long periods in
2005 (79 and 73 days, respectively) before any action was taken to meet what were, then as now, reasonable requests. This past summer, a number of hunger strikes occurred as well, a sign that conditions continue to deteriorate.
People do not forgo food unless there are good reasons to do so, and these men obviously have cause to go to these extreme lengths to get you to negotiate with them in good faith. The denial of medical treatment to Mr. Mahjoub is outrageous; he needs immediate access to his Hepatitis C and blood pressure medication either in the living unit or, if he is forced to go to another building to receive it, with the accompaniment of a supervisor. With 23 staff for the three detainees, there is no reason why this cannot occur.
Your agency has claimed the new facility will present better conditions for the detainees, yet this is simply not the case. I again urge you to intervene immediately and take steps necessary to prevent a further deterioration in the health of the detainees and, by extension, that of
their loved ones, whose stress during this time remains extremely high.
It is clear as well that an independent third party needs to be appointed to deal with the daily problems that arise at the KIHC. In addition, a translator needs to be present during meetings between KIHC staff and the detainees.
I look forward to your immediate action to resolve this crisis.
Name, address
posted by Annamarie at
9:48 PM
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