Three Canadian men have blasted an inquiry into possible Canadian involvement in their overseas cases of torture as being secretive and inadequate.
"I am asking the prime minister and (Public Safety Minister) Stockwell Day to open up this process," Muayyed Nureddin told a news conference in Ottawa on Friday.
"If Mr. Harper's government is serious about accountability and transparency, it must change and make this a true public inquiry," added Abdullah Almalki, another victim.
"We have been unable to participate in this inquiry in any meaningful way," said lawyer Paul Copeland, who represents Almalki.
However, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told a separate news conference that his government won't interfere in how the inquiry is being run.
Justice Frank Iacobucci, the former Supreme Court judge heading the review, has been given a wide mandate, he said.
"He obviously has to look at considerations of what needs to be held in private for various reasons of either national security or protection of individuals," he said.
"Justice Iacobucci has all the power necessary to decide whether something should be held in private or whether it can be held in public."
The inquiry was launched last December to investigate the cases of Almalki, Nureddin, and Ahmad El Maati.
The review came about in the wake of the Maher Arar case, a Canadian citizen sent to Syria by the United States where he was tortured. Justice Dennis O'Connor issued a report last year exonerating Arar.
Threat of torture
All three men claim to have been falsely labelled as terrorists, imprisoned in Syria or Egypt and tortured. They further claim this occurred with the complicity of Canadian security officials.
El Maati noted that he stood accused of terrorism merely for possessing a tourist map of Ottawa.
"But it turned up in the hands of my Syrian and Egyptian torturers," he said. "How did this happen and why? ... What was the role the Canadian government played in my torture?"
El Maati said he's not allowed to attend the inquiry, hear witnesses or ask questions.
"Is this to protect the reputation of CSIS?" he asked.
Nureddin said when he was tortured by Syrian military intelligence, "I was asked questions that only could have come from Canada. ... I want to know why this happened."
The men noted they asked for an inquiry exactly one year ago.
"All I want is a fair and open process that I can be a part of," he said, noting he still can't return to Iraq to visit his elderly parents.
Not knowing what happened to him "makes this limbo another form of torture," Nureddin said.
Access to evidence
Justice for Mohamed Harkat spokesperson Jessica Squires says the security certificates process needs to be abolished and not strengthened or reviewed.
"This furious claim is a complete denial of even the meagre protection that immigrants and refugees have in this country from being deported for torture and death," Squires said on Friday.
CSIS maintains Harkat, who came to Canada as a refugee from Algeria, is an Islamic extremist and member of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.
Since first detained on security certificates in 2002, Harkat has maintained his innocence and says if he is deported to Algeria he will be tortured.
Harkat said he is terrorized by the threat of deportation and is demanding access to the evidence against him to ensure he receives a fair trial.
"I could be deported to face jail, torture or death. I fear for my life and I'm scared. I fear deportation because I could return to a brutal military regime," Harkat said on Friday.
"I'm outraged by the fact that my case is based on secret evidence. I'm also shocked that the Canadian government is attempting to deport me under the old law after it was found unconstitutional in February by the Supreme Court of Canada."
CTV's Roger Smith told Newsnet the Iacobucci process was conceived as a mainly closed-door review rather than a full public inquiry.
The plan was to conduct some of it in public where possible, he said.
"The commission itself says these three gentlemen, while the review is of their cases, what they're looking at primarily is the role Canadian officials played," he said.
To date, the inquiry has held no public sessions since its opening day, Smith said.
