http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=d3f52fef-4d19-4624-a57 e-bd1d0d3a49c9 <http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=d3f52fef-4d19-4624-a5 7e-bd1d0d3a49c9&k=10261> &k=10261
Ottawa won't appeal anti-terror law ruling The federal government will not appeal a court ruling that struck down a key anti-terrorism law in the case of Ottawa Citizen reporter Juliet O'Neill. Justice Minister Vic Toews, in a statement announced that it "is not in the public interest" to appeal the Oct. 19 decision of an Ontario Superior Court striking down as unconstitutional parts of Section 4 of the Security of Information Act. Mr. Toews said the government will instead consider "legislative options" to deal with the impugned section within the context of reports expected soon from two parliamentary committees reviewing the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act, which included the Security of Information Act. Section 4 of the Information Act, formerly known as the Official Secrets Act, made it a crime to communicate, receive or retain "secret" government information without authorization. But the meaning of "secret" is not defined under the section. Ontario Superior Court Judge Lynn Ratushny ruled the section's wording "gives the state the unfettered ability to arbitrarily protect whatever information it chooses to classify as 'secret official' or 'official' or unauthorized for disclosure." As such, she ruled the "anti-leakage" provisions violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including freedom of the press. The case was launched after the RCMP raided Ms. O'Neill's home and office in 2004, to search for the source of leaked classified information she used to write an earlier story about Maher Arar. The Syrian-Canadian was arrested by U.S. authorities in September, 2002, and later deported to Syria, where he was held for almost a year and tortured. Judge Ratushny also found the RCMP abused proper process by using search warrants to threaten Ms. O'Neill with criminal prosecution unless she revealed the source of the alleged leak. Justice officials are now expected to return several items seized during the raids from Ms. O'Neill, including notebooks and computer files. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/