There must be something seriously wrong with how the Canadian criminal justice system operates in the Greater Toronton Area. First a grocery store owner is arrested for stopping a thief from robbing his store, now this travesty of justice. Hat tip to BlazingCatFur for this. This from the Brampton Guardian.
A Brampton Muslim leader has been acquitted of child porn possession after a Superior Court judge found agents working for Canada’s spy agency acted in a “reprehensible” manner by illegally seizing and searching his computer.
In a sternly worded decision, Justice Jane Kelly concluded Ayad Mejid provided his laptop computer to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service after he was threatened by agents investigating him as a suspected terrorist.
She was particularly critical of an agent known as Witness “A,” whose conduct she described as “flagrant and deliberate.”
Mejid felt he had “no choice” but to turn over his computer in October 2007 after being told it was his “last chance” to prove he was not a terrorist, the judge wrote. Witness A, whose identity was protected in court, told Mejid an extramarital affair would be disclosed if he didn’t cooperate.
Kelly, who summarized her 21-page decision in court Wednesday, said the admission of evidence would bring the administration of justice into disrepute, prompting the prosecution to withdraw the charges of possessing child pornography.
Outside court, Mejid, 47, said his elation over the acquittal is tempered by the suffering his family has endured since he was charged in 2007. “We’re happy for this end, but we’ve already (been) punished for three years. I spent almost 50 days in jail for no reason. Our lives are ruined.” His lawyer, David Kolinsky, said it’s “gratifying to have a court recognize the degree to which his rights were violated.” Kolinsky noted the Supreme Court of Canada has said if breaches of Charter rights are “technical or small or made in good faith” then the evidence tends to be included. Only when violations reach the more serious end of the scale is evidence excluded, he said.
Kelly concluded the Charter breach was “serious” and wrote she is troubled by “the atmosphere of coercion and intimidation that the CSIS agents . . . seem to have created and been eager to embrace. “The very people that are tasked by the federal government to oversee and safeguard Canada’s national security are themselves acting in a manner that suggests either a complete lack of comprehension of our Charter rights or else, they demonstrate a total willingness to abrogate and violate these same principles.”
(UPDATE: I did a massive edit of my post to better explain my position on this ruling) This kind of behaviour cannot be allowed in our society. I could go on about how pedophilia is permitted in Qur’an, how prepubescent and peripubescent children are sexually violated in the Muslim world but the purpose of this post is to discuss what happened; A Muslim leader, Ayad Mejid, who surrenders his laptop to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) during an investigation into potential terrorist ties, is later arrested when CHILD PORNOGRAPHY (emphasis added to stress the point) is found on his laptop. What am I missing here? Excuse me, but if he wasn’t smart enough to wipe his laptop clean of CHILD PORNOGRAPHY before handing it over to the authorities, how it is the fault of the authorities that they found CHILD PORNOGRAPHY on his computer and arrested him for it? The defense’s argument that he was “threatened” into handing over his laptop is weak. Where is this evidence to back up this statement? Did Justice Jane Kelly take the word of a suspected terrorist and a pedophile that was caught with CHILD PORNOGRAPHY is his possession, over the word of the investigating officers? If so, then this decision SHOULD BE APPEALED! This reeks of judicial activism, where a solid case is thrown out because of political correctness. It doesn’t matter that the investigation into his suspected terrorism revealed that he has CHILD PORNOGRAPHY in his possession, the fact that Mejid is a Muslim leader and CSIS didn’t show him enough respect apparently gives him the right to be a pedophile and possess CHILD PORNOGRAPHY. I thought laws were supposed to be applied equally.
The reason this case was dismissed was because, as Mejid’s defense attorney, David Kolinsky alleges, the investigating officers violated the rights of his client as he was threatened into voluntarily handing over his laptop. Once again, what other evidence was there besides the word of a suspected terrorist and pedophile? Even if it is true that CSIS threatened to release information about an extramarital affair Mejid was having, how does this constitute a “serious” violation of his rights? This definitely does sound like, AT MOST, a small violation “made in good faith”, to investigate a suspected terrorist. It isn’t as if law enforcement hasn’t taken such action in the past to get suspects to cooperate, and it isn’t as if Justice Kelly’s ruling will change this. As for her comments on “the atmosphere of coercion and intimidation that the CSIS agents . . . seem to have created and been eager to embrace”, excuse me? Last time I checked, Canada isn’t the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin’s rule, last time I checked Mejid didn’t live at the “House on the Embankment”, so explain to me how anyone could make such a statement? This is downright inflammatory and should be reviewed on appeal. As a result of this judgment, everyone now knows that Mejid had an extramarital affair. Where’s the logic behind such a ruling? On that note, why didn’t Mejid take legal action when CSIS allegedly threatened to expose his secret?
Aside from dismissing the CHILD PORNOGRAPHY charges, it would seem that Justice Kelly has made it near impossible for CSIS to finish its original investigation. To put it bluntly, Mejid now has ‘carte blanche’. From this point on, there is little that can be done to prevent this known pedophile from not only obtaining more CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, but, if he is indeed a terrorist, continue his activities without fear of investigation. Any action taken against Mejid now by the authorities will be seen as harassment. How is justice served with this kind of ruling? What about the rights of those he victimizes? Are the rights of such a criminal more worthy of protection than that of his victims? This may sound cliché, but will someone think of the children? Can we not even convict a pedophile anymore?
It doesn’t matter that he is a Muslim leader, our society has laws against such practices. Ayad Mejid is among the worst kind of criminals, and he should be treated as such. If Justice Jane Kelly is incapable of recognizing this, then let’s hope another judge can… Infuriating…
UPDATE: It has come to my attention that David Kolinsky, Ayad Mejid’s lawyer, was also the lawyer for Zakaria Amara, one of the infamous “Toronto 18″. Considering his client list, I would start looking into Kolinsky’s connections to Islamic terrorism.
[...] My first thought on this is that the information they will receive from Khadr better be worth the suffering he has caused and the suffering his Sergeant Christopher Speer’s family will be put through when they hear the sentence. The second thought that came to mind was the same outrage many of us are feeling right now over this news. It is inconceivable that someone who has not only fought with the insurgency which has killed so many of our men and women already, but is charged with a war crime, would be given such a light sentence. Add in the fact that Khadr has been raised since he was a child to be a terrorist, that he will most likely return to terrorism when he is released, and this news becomes even more infuriating. Why wasn’t any of this taken into consideration? In my opinion, this is the result simply more politically correct justice. [...]
[...] is a perfect example of what happens when we allow political correctness to affect our legal system. Police were unwilling to protect the citizens of Caledonia, let alone arrest any of the occupiers [...]