On June 2nd, 2006, 18 people in Toronto were arrested on terrorism charges.
Several have since been released on bail or had the proceedings stayed.
But activists have issues with the proceedings and treatment of the prisoners, citing lack of due process.
The Globe and Mail reported
Some of the suspects charged in Canada’s most high-profile terrorism case are innocent and should be released, according to a key RCMP informant and prosecution witness.
The Canadian legal community have raised concerns on related cases, but there are still others such as the Toronto 18 deserving further attention.
Although the Toronto18 case has been covered by a publication ban, a blog has been set up collecting information that has been release.
A Toronto artist, Critical Mood, created two songs criticizing issues surrounding the case, Built on Suspicion and Illegal Entrapment. We thought this was a quite creative way to advocate for legal reform and criticize contemporary issues in society.
Critical Mood said of the case,
It is impossible for someone to say that the burden of proof has been met, because everything is shrouded in mystery culminating on the refusal of the prosecution to have preliminary hearings.
That in itself should cast a shadow of doubt on the prosecution’s case.
…The defense has had zero opportunity to present their arguments in public, unlike the prosecution before the media ban.
Fulls songs (in player) and lyrics below, reproduced with permission of the author (as always).
Warning: contains explicit lyrics (as a manifestation of freedom of speech). :)
Updates
A website has been set up with more resources on the subject.
Another blog by family members Captive in Canada, shares information on one of the other suspects.
BUILT ON SUSPICION
Written by: Critical Mood
Engineered by: Apollo
Produced by: 6th Militant
Yeah, we have an inherent role in this struggle
Switch it up for the hopeless, rhymes are never worthless
Yeah, ugh, c’mon … yeah, yeah …
Tryin’ to lie but it won’t be me …
You wanna try but it won’t be me …
Who’s gonna be believin’ that shit (say what?)
Now check it …
Professional liars in uniforms that conforms …
To the norm in right form, makin’ a livin’ wit’ they chromes …
Pointed at your head with meaningless words of wisdom
From radical to jihadist, political Islam
What the fuck do these mean? These words blurry like phantom
When it’s clear you’re just holding people’s minds for ransom
Lockin’ brothers up in tight cells with anything but charges
Held in suspicion delaying proper judicial process
Facin’ a painful assassination from Don Jail to Guantanamo
Foiled plots that cocks cops from blastin’ out wit’ no stops
These jails been condemned with the most brutal of charges
Not the layman, by judges, closin’ ‘em down, so many urges
Check your sources, it’s been years since they laid down the gauntlets
They dodged and hid their cases cause of evident weaknesses
Then now … them justifying isolations
Corrupt like freemasons, paying zero care for torture
Chorus:
Dip your head in water buckets
Deprived of their yard time
Lights on 24-7 wit’ guards messin’ with your mind
For years facin’ no charges …
When they do, it’s built on suspicion
Seems achievin’ they mission to win upcoming elections
Convicted in the media, the masses nodding like sheeps
Ingrained wit’ fictional fear but lies rolling on steep …
Cliffs of empty accusations, stolen time from fams
You’ve just been victimized by these pig and government scams
As I write this, eight left in custody, check on they mission
Minimal information got ‘em strapped in strict isolation
Sensationalized, now minimized, fear evident demise
Cause the truth is seepin’ up the gutter to spit in your eyes
I’m gettin’ bored of the same old piss of propaganda
And those that’s comforted by their ignorance’s shelter
400 pigs littered the streets makin’ a scene …
Like a bunch of drunk sluts makin’ their titties seen
It’s spring break that’ll seek to demolish your lives
Make your daughter’s fatherless and soon widow your wives
If no charges stick just delay, they glad that it’s thick …
That in the beginning the media laid its large share of the bricks
Distracted public, the fabrics sown together by disgusting tactics
Most serious charges dropped, they continue their antics …
In silence, while these men are left to rebuild on their lives
From the destruction caused by these tenacious lies
(Chorus)
Bring on the karma and let it come and sprinkle disaster
On these uniformed bastards that are hijacking the order
Pistol whippin’ with words then straddle these evil forces
I’ll shove with the right noises, guide you to the proper choices …
Objectivity was anywhere but here my brothah
Try to see the stupidity in this case my sistah
It’s wild, it’s like they be professional liars
They’ve done it before but allowed to do it again
Kickin’ the sand, this media ban is straight preventin’ the trickle
The flow of humiliation for the cops with mind’s that’s proven little
Bunch of meatheads, concerned with the right of felatio …
Of that dick in that Bush, creating fictional scenarios
Playing paintball is now the root of the main charges
It doesn’t take a creative artist to see all the drastic changes
Star witnesses that are makin’ an ass of themselves …
Now a bomb plot brought down to a ridiculous sell
(Chorus)
Outro:
Look, you must be out of your fuckin’ mind if you can’t spot what’s wrong with this Toronto 18 bullshit. A couple of years ago, a bunch of Pakistani students were charged of being a part of an Al-Qaeda terrorist cell … 19 of them … in the end, they were charged with minor immigration offenses. CSIS, RCMP and the government was let off clean … 6 by 4 by 10 rooms, no human contact … 2 ½ years of solitary confinement … For someone innocent in the eyes of the law. Yeah … think about it, son. This is rebel’s doctrine … ugh … No bullshit can withstand the force of sustained thinking, naw mean … Can’t let ’em off clean … Today we gotta make ‘em accountable for acting like a bunch of paranoid bastard
ILLEGAL ENTRAPMENT
Lyrics by: Critical Mood
Produced by: 6th Militant
Album: Online Release
I spend the majority of my time tryin’ to fit into this puzzle
Holding back my fears that stays hidden by muzzle
I came to help and now I can’t remember the end of my mission
The thoughts and conviction that led to my decision
There’s days I long to go back to 40’s I guzzled
To feel the clammy hands of the demons I tussled
But one thing you’ll always get consistent from me …
Is my indignance and the way I scratch CD’s
With my opinions and you know I’ll never hold back
I’ll be the first to fiend the truth like I’m addicted to crack
And seeing prosecutors dodge preliminary hearings
Like leaving thieves in a store, something’s bound to be missing
It’s weak like the light that our sun gives off …
Viewed from Pluto, evidence not hard but soft
They can take viagra but this case is all but clear
The questions they dodge express clearly what they fearChorus:
Had enough-nuff-nuff them playin’ my mind (it’s my mind!)
Better step back (that’s back off!) when I’m thinkin’ of grind
(Whatchu say, whatchu say what!?) Is that a case of bullets!?
I’ll take that, it’s free, go ahead and shit, I’ll take it!
It’s illegal entrapment! (2x)
Hey look, I can’t decipher the truth ’till you lift that shit
And rip that shit, then I check that shit …
So like a cop hit, admit that, yeah, you’re bound to lose face
When the evidence you claim put the lives of many at waste
You accused a bunch of Pakistani’s on Al-Qaeda tickets
And then you boast your score like you defeated them in cricket
I’ll rhyme that will bullshit, it’s just a bunch of minor offenses
Only a couple of years back and you’re still climbing those fences
And now the Toronto 18, only one off from nineteen
Passin’ moles thousands of green and blur regardin’ the means
Thanks to the media that seems to be busy at suckin’
Revealing family addresses just to garner attention
CTV, they got to me, but kept loyal and wise like Frodo’s company
Heresy, speak out is anything but blasphemy
Media ban they got cookin’ keeps credibility from leavin’
Like a ball thrown at the wind it’s bound to lose momentum
(Chorus)
The truth will come to sooth like menthol to throat
Like the families of the suspect I’ll be able to cope …
With the blatant and sensational, hanging long like umbilical
I’ll be the scissor to cut it short without getting subliminal
I’ll condemn like the judges who saw abuses to mention
The suspects livin’ encaged still, inappropriate prisons
Sent off to Don Jail, it’s like a prison on crack …
And weed and E and cocaine addicted to whack …
Media reports and every RCMP fiasco
And every time Mubin Sheikh takes the stand for tomorrow
His rep is hidden because the government knows
If there’s a flaw in this new age sage all will be lost
I’ll plant in this garden that’s hardened by true disaster
I’ll let the pigs loose and spread their fertilizer
It’s unclear still, they don’t seem to be repentant
About hiding the possible fact of illegal entrapment
(Chorus)
And now we stand here …
In the beginning …
The beginning of the end for a bunch of ego driven pigs too proud to bow down
To the questions asked by the public
The rubric of a transparent legal system
The one question …
The one wonderment …
The one deep and dominant thought in everyone’s mind …
“What the fuck is going on!?”
Now off to the next track …
