JURIST - Paper Chase: Saturday, November 27, 2010

[JURIST] A judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice [official website] Friday sentenced [press release] Steven Vikash Chand, a man previously convicted [JURIST report] in connection with the failed Toronto 18 [CBC timeline; JURIST news archive] terrorist plot, to 10 years in prison. Justice Fletcher Dawson handed down [National Post report] the sentence, which is greater than the eight years advocated by the defense, but Chand, who has been in prison since 2006, was credited for time served [CBC report] and will only serve another seven months and 10 days. Chand was previously found guilty [press release] of "participation in a terrorist group" and "counseling to commit fraud over $5,000 for the benefit of a terrorist group," which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, after attempting to take out fraudulent bank loans [CBC report] in order to support the group. Both sides have 30 days to appeal the sentence.

Last month, the court also sentenced [JURIST report] Fahim Ahmad [JURIST news archive], the leader of the "Toronto 18", to 16 years in prison for his role in the terrorist organization. Ahmad's sentence was greater than the 12 years suggested by the defense but less than the 18 years requested by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) [official website]. The sentence follows an unanticipated change to a guilty plea mid-trial [JURIST report] in May. In February, Toronto 18 member Shareef Abdelhaleem was convicted [JURIST report] after a Canadian judge found that virtually no evidence existed to support his claims of entrapment. In January, Amin Mohamed Durrani was released [JURIST report] after pleading guilty to participating in and assisting a terrorist group. Also in January, a Canadian court sentenced [JURIST report] two members of the group, Zakaria Amara and Saad Gaya [JURIST op-ed], to life and 12 years in prison, respectively, for their roles in the plot. Abdelhaleem was the first adult to be tried among the "Toronto 18," originally arrested and charged under Section 83 [Canadian DOJ backgrounder] of the Anti-Terrorism Act [text], Canada's post-9/11 legislation.

[JURIST] The Council of Europe (COE) [official website] 30th Conference of Ministers of Justice [official website] passed three resolutions [official report, PDF] on Friday at the close of the three-day meeting in Istanbul. The resolutions, "data protection and privacy in the third millennium," "prison policy in today's Europe" and "modern, transparent and effective justice" [texts, PDF] declare that all 47 member countries will attempt to use new technologies [press release] to promote efficiency, accountability and transparency in each member state's justice system. The resolutions also aim to confront the issue of overcrowding in member state prisons and promote interest from non-member states on the Convention on Protecting Data [text, PDF]. The conference was the first COE event held under the Turkish Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers. Sadullah Ergin [official profile], Minister of Justice of Turkey [official website], called on member states to work together to bring about reform, stating "We know that this is an ongoing process, and we know that all countries in Europe must work together if we want to make the vision a reality." The next Conference of Ministers of Justice will be held in Austria.

Earlier this year, the COE addressed reform for the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] at the Interlaken Conference [official website; fact sheet, PDF] with a joint declaration [text, PDF; press release] released in February to undertake reforms [JURIST report] of the ECHR by the end of 2011 in order to address the increasing number of complaints. The ECHR currently has a backlog of approximately 120,000 cases, of which an estimated 90 percent are inadmissible or lack a legal basis. The declaration's Action Plan recognizes the need to preserve the right of individual petition, but considers changes to procedures that will reduce repetitive cases and filter admissible cases. Some of the measures proposed aim to increase efficiency [BBC report] by reducing the number of judges required to carry out some of these procedures.

[JURIST] An Egyptian court on Friday sentenced 11 members of an opposition party to two years in prison for campaigning on behalf of the banned Muslim Brotherhood [official website; JURIST news archive]. The eleven were found guilty of taking part in election demonstrations [AFP report] and campaigning for Muslim Brotherhood using leaflets that contained religious slogans. On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [official website] expressed concern regarding the crackdown of opposition parties [press release] ahead of Sunday's parliamentary elections. The Egyptian government passed constitutional amendments in 2007 that have severely limited independent judicial supervision. Muslim Brotherhood members are contesting for 30 percent of the seats in the People's Assembly as independents. Abdelmoneim Maqsud, Muslim Brotherhood's chief lawyer, told HRW that security forces have arrested 1,306 members, and have brought 702 members before prosecutors.

The Muslim Brotherhood has previously been targeted by the Egyptian government. In April, Attorney General Abdul Magid Mahmoud announced that five international MB members will be tried in an Egyptian criminal court [JURIST report] on charges of money laundering. Egypt has also used the emergency laws extensively against other opposition parties. In July 2009, the trial of 26 individuals with alleged ties to Hezbollah was transferred to a court [JURIST report] established under the emergency laws. In February 2009, a military court utilized the laws during a trial in which it sentenced [JURIST report] opposition leader Magdy Ahmed Hussein to two years in prison. The emergency laws have been in effect continuously since the 1981 assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and were renewed [JURIST report] most recently in May.