Posted by: Tony Carson | 1 August, 2007

The Toronto 18 down to 15 … and dropping?

The 18 original suspects, charged under Canada’s anti-terrorism laws, were accused of hatching a plan to storm parliament and take hostages, hoping to force Ottawa to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

Remember them? That happened at about the same time as the group in Miami who had similar ‘terrorist’ plans in mind and were herded away never to be heard from again.

And that’s the problem: we get the great fanfare of the arrest and nothing much else — except the slow dribble of release announcements. The Toronto 18, at the time, sounded like they needed medical help more than they needed incarceration but we have been simply left to ponder what they were really thinking — and a year later we still don’t know, only that the Toronto 18 are now the Toronto 15 soon to be what? the Toronto 12 … 7… 3… 0?

The secretive nature of the Canadian court system has many attributes … for one, there is no equivalent in Canada of a Nancy Grace, reason enough for our laws, but when something is announced with such fanfare —is deliberately made so high profile, then we deserve an explanation about how the matter is proceeding, for without that explanation we are left to speculate. And the one obvious speculation is this: monumental over-reach to appease a US that demands Canada do something … anything to join the War on Terror.

And we did, we arrested a bunch of guys who were

charged under Canada’s anti-terrorism laws, accused of hatching a plan to storm parliament and take hostages, hoping to force Ottawa to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

If their demands were not met, the hostage-takers intended to behead their captives, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and also planned to bomb several public buildings in Toronto, according to court documents.

Police said the members of the group purchased what they thought was three tonnes of ammonium nitrate — a fertilizer that can be used to make explosives — but authorities tracking their moves had substituted a harmless substance.

In total, three of four youths taken into custody in the June 2006 police sting are now free, months before trials for any of the remaining 15 suspects are expected to begin.

The sorry story is here:  Toronto youth terror suspect released, charges dropped

Posted in Terrorism | Tags:

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Responses

Thanks :-)

By: Arzoo on 27 March, 2008
at 9:56 pm

The recently released tapes were not actual. They were re-dramatizations. Reproductions using non-suspect voices.

I am shocked that the court system has allowed for this. Using fake evidence, essentially, to substitute for the real evidence. We have a right to understand the context of the evidence in order to make a decision as to guilt or innocence. Why was this method used??

It is becoming more and more obvious as every day of this goes on, that the strategy of the prosecution is to withhold as much evidence as possible. And what evidence is provided, is put through a filter. This is fascism. We poke, prod, and criticise countries like China who jail citizens for misdemeanours, but then we run our courts like we have for the Toronto ’s.

What a joke!

By: David on 2 April, 2008
at 3:26 pm

This is sickening.History repeating itself,because some people don`t seem to be able to learn from history.Is this not a repetition of what happened to the Japanese Canadians during WWII?Maybe it scores political points in the Washington of today,but adversely affects the reputation of Canada as a just,free and compassionate country.I became nauseated,when I tried to put myself in the shoes of the Gaya family members.

By: Albert Willems on 6 April, 2008
at 2:27 pm

I would rather put myself in the shoes of people’s families who didnt suffer the tragic loss due to these people couldn’t carry on their insane motives. If the police arrested them for buying 3 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, they must have a valid reason. Do we need to wait and see people being killed before we start having a hard stance against these idiots against humanity.

All of a sudden families of these Toronto 18 are asking for fairness, where would have been the fairness if these idiots carried on their motives and killed people. Did they think of fairness to the public. I am the last one to think about their personal rights…

By: Aman K on 2 June, 2008
at 3:29 am

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