injusticebusters 2002 > > Rocco Galati: Immigration lawyer defending questionable apprehensions

A living scrapbook of injustices in progress and the tools to set them right
Restoring reputations to the defamed -- Telling the truth about the undefamable

Year of the David Milgaard Inquiry: 35 years in the making!

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into force in 1982. It was the so-called War on Drugs which allowed the police -- both local and RCMP -- to gain public support for violating the Charter Rights of certain people. The RCMP had long been responsible for gathering information on people and using this information to barter with other organizations within Canada and internationally. In 1984 CSIS was established but the RCMP maintained its own secret police. Over the years the RCMP built up a booming business, copyrighting emblems, insignias etc and contracting to perform services such as information gathering, finding people, stinging people and extracting confessions by using means which went beyond what police services who contracted with them would accept. The drug war helped fill jails and provided excuses for building more jails. But the War on Terror? This has opened up a whole new frontier.

"19 terrorists in 6 weeks have been able to command 300 million North Americans to do away with the entirety of their civil liberties that took 700 years to advance from the Magna Carta onward. The terrorists have already won the political and ideological war with one terrorist act. It is mindboggling that we are that weak as a society." --Rocco Galati, Famous Quotation

Rocco Galati

Former terror suspect's lawyer near tears, quits cases over death threats

By The Associated Press, December 5, 2003

TORONTO (AP) - The Toronto lawyer representing former terror suspect Abdurahman Khadr was close to tears Thursday as he announced he would no longer handle such cases because he had received a death threat he's taking seriously.

``I'm not on the verge of tears for my safety,'' a shaken Rocco Galati told a hastily called news conference.

``I'm on the verge of tears because it means we now live in Colombia, because the rule of law is meaningless. It means that lawyers cannot represent anyone even in what you profess to be a democracy here in Canada.''

From his office on a College Street strip known as Little Italy, Galati played a message left on his telephone answering machine Tuesday to reporters. The message threatened Galati for representing Khadr.

The call came one day after Galati held a news conference with Khadr, a Canadian citizen freed after two years in a U.S.-run military prison in Cuba.

Galati had pressed the Canadian government to facilitate Khadr's return to Canada.

Khadr told reporters neither he nor his family have any links to terrorism, but admitted he spent three months in 1998 learning to use Russian assault rifles at an al-Qaida-linked camp in Afghanistan.

Galati said he has received numerous threatening calls in the past, but he was taking the one Tuesday very seriously, although he wouldn't say why.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003

(Later Galati said that he recognized the voice as someone who had called him before regarding a specific client. Right after that, the client disappeared and has not been seen or heard of since. I will also mention here that on Monday, injusticebusters received an e-mail which defamed Galati and expressed with some certainty that Khadr was a terrorist, etc. Controversial as this site is, we receive a surprisingly small amount of hate mail. This piece was troubling, but more troubling was the fact that I have no confidence in the police to behave responsibly if I was to report it. I did respond to it, expressing that Khadr is young. When I watched the press conference, I saw a truthful young man who said that he had, like many young men in Afghanistan, attended a Taliban camp. Last night, Rex Murphy had a rant where he accused the Khadr family of abusing their Canadian citizenship. According to Murphy, properly socialized Canadian young people don't go to training camps, they go shopping at the mall. This was not said satirically. However, I find the irony incredible.

Let me just spell that out for those (and there are many) who have little grasp of irony: Young people in poverty-stricken lands who have no opportunity to go to the mall prepare to defend themselves against the rich nations by going to a boot camp; the kids in the rich nations go to the mall where the ones who have money spend it (usually on junk and useless things) and the ones who don't have money shofplift and they also get to go to boot-camp.--Sheila Steele, Dec. 4, 2003)

Immigration lawyer puts his career on the line for his client

Canadian officials 'lying': Khadr lawyer

Nov. 27, 2003

OTTAWA - A lawyer for a Canadian terror suspect released weeks ago from a U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, says officials in Ottawa are "lying through their teeth" and keeping him in the dark about information regarding his client.

Rocco Galati was responding to the Prime Minister's Office statement that the government learned about Abdulrahman Khadr's release to Afghanistan weeks ago.

He said the family was never informed about his release and that Khadr has been shunned by Canadian consular officials who refuse to help him return to Canada.

"If they knew he was released, why didn't they petition to have him brought back here," Galati told CBC.ca.

"The government hasn't returned any of my calls since Monday. Why don't they phone and contact me and give me some information," he said.

Khadr, 20, who was sent to Afghanistan late last month, was arrested there as part of a roundup of suspected al-Qaeda members after the fall of the Taliban in November 2001.

PMO spokesman Steven Hogue refused to comment as to why Khadr's family was not informed about his release.

"It appears that Mr. Khadr chose not to come back to Canada," he said, adding there's no record of Khadr going to any embassy to get his passport and that he can return to Canada anytime.

Galati said Khadr was turned away from a number of embassies and that he never chose to be sent to Afghanistan.

"Who would believe a boy would choose to be dropped in Afghanistan rather than coming home?" Galati said.

He said he was glad to hear that Paul Martin made similar comments Tuesday that Khadr was welcome back to Canada but "he should check with his department officials. They're lying through their teeth to him."

"Perhaps he should make a few phone calls before he reiterates what is not the truth."

Written by CBC News Online staff

Terrorist suspect's lawyer calls hearing sham Egyptian tied to al-Qaeda

Shannon Kari, MAR 12, 2002 NATIONAL POST PAGE: A12

TORONTO - The lawyer for a suspected Egyptian terrorist facing deportation walked out of a Federal Court hearing yesterday after describing the proceeding against his client as a sham.

Rocco Galati said he could not uphold his oath as a lawyer while representing Mahmoud Jaballah because of the inherent unfairness of the hearing under Section 40.1 of the Immigration Act.

After a brief statement in front of Justice Andrew MacKay, Mr. Galati left the courtroom.

"You sandbagged me," said Judge MacKay after learning that Mr. Galati did not intend to put forward a defence to allegations by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service that Mr. Jaballah has ties to Egyptian extremists and al-Qaeda supporters.

Mr. Jaballah, 39, who has been in custody for seven months, described himself as a "weak" person but told the judge he agreed with his lawyer's decision.

"It is not in my client's interest. I have no role there [in court] to play as lawyer. We should stop the pretense that this is a fair, independent judicial review of the Minister's allegations, when I cannot gauge for the life of me what is new about this case, from the first one in 1999," a very emotional Mr. Galati said outside court.

Mr. Jaballah was arrested last August after the federal government issued a second national security certificate against the Toronto Islamic school principal, in an attempt to deport the refugee claimant to Egypt.

A previous certificate was quashed in 1999 by Federal Court Justice Bud Cullen. He ruled there were not reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Jaballah was a risk to national security.

About 25 certificates have been issued under Section 40.1 of the Immigration Act since it was introduced in the early 1990s. The 1999 Jaballah hearing is the only time a certificate has been quashed.

Section 40.1, which has been upheld by the Supreme Court, permits CSIS to present its evidence to the judge in a hearing that is closed even to the defendant and his lawyer.

CSIS is required to make public only a very general summary of its allegations.

"This is the fairest process there is, where there is a threat to national security," said government lawyer Robert Batt. Mr. Galati has argued repeatedly in court that CSIS does not have new evidence linking his client to terrorist groups and is attempting to retry a case it lost in 1999.

A CSIS agent known only as Mike testified in open court last December that he could not reveal the new evidence. But he said it "cast a different light" on old information.

"I want to make it clear to the government that we, as lawyers, are officers of the court, not court jesters for CSIS," Mr. Galati said yesterday.

Three 40.1 certificates have been upheld by Federal Court judges since Sept. 11. All of them have been released in written form.

Judge McKay said he hoped to issue a final ruling on the certificate within a couple weeks. He promised to deliver it in open court, "in fairness to Mr. Jaballah."

Mr. Galati said he is still going to assist Mr. Jaballah. "I'm not abandoning my client. I'm abandoning the process," he said.

Terror suspect's lawyer walks out

GAY ABBATE, MAR 12, 2002 GLOBE AND MAIL PAGE: A20

Calling a federal hearing a "sham," the lawyer for Egyptian Mahmoud Jaballah, who is suspected of being a terrorist, walked out of court yesterday leaving his client on his own. Rocco Galati was accompanied by his own lawyer, one of seven he consulted about his tactic. The move came on the first of six days that had been set aside for a federal judge to review whether there is sufficient new evidence to support a ministerial certificate authorizing Mr. Jaballah's arrest as a national security risk.

If the judge upholds the federal certificate signed by the Immigration Minister and the Solicitor-General, a deportation-hearing adjudicator would take it as a given that the allegations are true, Mr. Galati said in an interview.

The grim-looking immigration lawyer told the packed courtroom and Mr. Justice Andrew MacKay of the Federal Court of Canada that his oath as a lawyer precluded him from continuing at the hearing.

"I cannot in good conscience . . . proceed with what I consider a sham proceeding," he said. "My oath would not forgive me. My conscience would not forgive me. And history would not forgive me."

He was not abandoning his client, he said, but withdrawing from the hearing because he was frustrated by what he called the secrecy with which government lawyers had shrouded the evidence.

After Mr. Galati's departure, Mr. Jaballah entered the witness box and declared that he, too, on his lawyer's advice, would no longer participate in the hearing.

Mr. Jaballah, a 40-year-old teacher and principal of a Toronto Islamic school, said the government did not have any new evidence against him. "My position is that I am the weak person here. I don't know the law. I trust my lawyer."

Judge MacKay, who said he was "surprised" at the turn of events, promised to review with "an abundance of caution" what government lawyers submitted as new evidence and give a ruling within two weeks. Outside the court, Mr. Galati said he is disturbed that the government declared the new evidence so classified it can be shared only with the judge. He said government lawyers have met privately with Judge MacKay four or five times.

Mr. Galati said the government has only put a new twist on evidence it presented two years ago to another federal judge, who found that the government evidence did not support the ministerial certificate and set Mr. Jaballah free.

Mr. Jaballah, a father of six, was first arrested in 1999 and accused of being a member of al-Jihad, a terrorist group allegedly linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

He was arrested again on a second ministerial certificate based on the same charges last August. He has been in custody since then.

Lawyer Robert Batt, representing the Canadian government, said after the hearing that "we're looking at the same information but from a different point of view."

Mr. Galati said he will represent Mr. Jaballah in a lawsuit against the federal government.

Truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell

Truth suppress'd, whether by courts or crooks, will find an avenue to be told. Sheila Steele, injusticebusters.com

If you hold the mouth of Truth, It will burst out its rib-cage. Somali proverb

Publisher : Sheila Steele

Got something to say about this or any other stories on this site? Go to injusticebustersblog Participate!

injusticebusters court advice :
How to walk yourself through the justice system

Why you should dump your preliminary hearing (written July 1998 and still valid)

Sermonette: The Naked Truth -- (You will find links to many more sermonettes in the sidebar on this page

Another target of Dueck's malice: Wilf Hathway

Our activism contributed greatly to the good vibes which happened around the civil trial.

Index to the stories on this website

This is not regularly updated so if you are looking for a particular story and you have a name or keyword, please use the site search engine(at the bottom of the page) which IS regularly updated

Index to Saskatoon Police stories

This is a pretty good scrapbook for the 1998-2002 period.

Stephen Williams
Juliet O'Neill
Terry Arnold

The Terrible Story behind the Atif Rafay and Sebastian Burns convictions

Timeline of the Burns-Rafay case

Initially created by Sara Jean Green, The Seattle Times, May 27, 2004

1994

July 13: Sebastian Burns calls Bellevue police at 2 a.m. Atif Rafay's parents, Tariq and Sultana, are found dead in separate rooms; his sister, Basma Rafay, is critically injured and dies later that morning.

July 14: Deaths ruled homicides; Rafays were bludgeoned to death. Bellevue police identify Atif Rafay and Burns as "persons of interest."

July 15: Burns and Rafay, both Canadian citizens, take a bus to Canada on same day as funeral services for the Rafay family.

1995

January: Police say Burns and Rafay are suspects in the slayings.

April 11: Royal Canadian Mounted Police undercover detective contacts Burns outside North Vancouver barbershop.

July 11: DNA obtained from Burns; police won't say how.

July 19: RCMP undercover officers meet Rafay.

July 31: Rafay and Burns arrested at their rental home in Vancouver suburb; each is charged in King County with three counts of aggravated first-degree murder.

1996

January: Extradition arguments are heard in Supreme Court of British Columbia.

Feb. 2: B.C. judge rules there's sufficient evidence to extradite Burns and Rafay. Defense attorneys later petition B.C.'s Court of Appeal, seeking judicial review.

July 12: Canadian Justice Minister Allan Rock orders extradition of Rafay and Burns without asking for assurance that the two will be spared the death penalty.

1997

May 12: A three-judge panel of the B.C. appeals court begins hearings on defendants' petition seeking review of the extradition order.

June 29: The Court of Appeal rules it is unconstitutional to surrender a Canadian citizen to stand trial in another country where he could face the death penalty.

Dec. 4: The Supreme Court of Canada agrees to hear arguments in the Burns and Rafay extradition case.

1998

October: Supreme Court hearings are delayed after Amnesty International intervenes in the case, arguing the men's rights under Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms would be violated if they were put to death in Washington.

1999

March: Supreme Court of Canada begins extradition hearings. Justices are unable to decide whether defendants should be sent back to Washington state.

2000

May 23: Second round of extradition hearings opens before the Supreme Court of Canada.

2001

Feb. 15: Supreme Court of Canada unanimously rules that Rafay and Burns can't be extradited to the United States without a guarantee they won't be executed.

March 9: King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng announces he won't seek the death penalty.

March 29: Rafay and Burns are brought back to Washington and booked into King County Jail.

April 6: Each defendant pleads not guilty to three counts of aggravated first-degree murder.

2002

April 8: Superior Court Judge Charles Mertel dismisses Rafay's public defenders, Gary Davis and Jim Koenig; moves trial date from May 2002 to March 2003.

Aug. 10: Guards report seeing public defender Theresa Olson having sex with Burns in jail conference room.

Aug. 14: Judge Mertel dismisses Olson from the case.

Aug. 20: Mertel dismisses Olson's co-counsel, Neil Fox; orders new attorneys be appointed for Burns.

Aug. 27: Jeff Robinson and Song Richardson, from the law firm Schroeter, Goldmark and Bender, are appointed to represent Burns.

2003

April 22: Pretrial hearings begin into the admissibility of evidence collected by Canadian police.

Sept. 30: Mertel rejects defense motion to suppress evidence gathered by Canadian officials.

Oct. 10: Jury selection begins.

Nov. 24: Opening statements begin.

2004

May 21: Jurors begin deliberations.

May 26: Burns and Rafay are found guilty on three counts each of aggravated first-degree murder. No sentencing date has been set.

October 22: Both receive three life consecutive sentences

Supreme Court Decision regarding extradition |

Richard Leo: Expert on identifying coerced confessions: the judge would not allow his expert testimony at the Rafay/Burns trial.

Even the prosecutors did not have unedited tapes. Yet they were willing to proceed with the edited cherry-picked package which contained only incriminating evidence until defence fought for full disclosure in December, 2001

Coercion/Confession Strategy excerpts: Detailed analysis of the "Big Boss" entrapment method

Chronological Master List of Significant Entries (page two)

Chronological Master List of Significant Entries (page three)