alexandre (Sasha) Trudeau, son of the late prime minister, Pierre Trudeau, has been in the spotlight for his support of Hassan almrei.
almrei, a citizen of Syria, has been in custody in Toronto since shortly after 9/11 and has been held in solitary confinement at the Metro West Detention Centre on a national security certificate. according to classified information obtained by CSIS, almrei has connections to al Qaeda and poses a terrorist threat to Canada.
Trudeau, a documentary filmmaker has met almrei a couple of times and describes him as being "a likeable guy". as to the possibility that Hassan almrei may be dangerous, the young Trudeau sloughs that off by saying that he presumes him to be innocent. Trudeau testified before a Federal Court Justice who is hearing an application for release by almrei and told the court that he was willing to post a $5,000 bond and to accompany the alleged terrorist anywhere he goes should the court release him. He obviously has a lot of time on his hands. When Trudeau was asked why he was going to bat for almrei, he arrogantly said, à la Belinda, that he was doing it for his country.
To alexandre’s credit, at least he offered to be on the hook for a sizeable amount of money; not the piddly little $100 that avi Lewis and Naomi Klein, two other of almrei’s celebrity admirers, offered to post. Lewis’ and Klein’s offer was the equivalent of throwing pennies at the guy.
It seems to be a trend amongst the elite, not to be content to criticize Canadian laws but to personally involve themselves and personally support people like almrei whom they know little or nothing about. The actions of Trudeau are similar to the actions of Liberal Senator Michel Biron who showed his displeasure at section 810 of the Criminal Code; the section that allows judges to impose conditions on convicts after they have completed their sentences; by going to court and exchanging smiles and glances with attractive schoolgirl torturer and killer, Karla Homolka.
The irony of the actions of people like Trudeau and Biron is that their causes have legitimacy. For those who believe that criminal law is contractual and that criminals have paid their debt to society upon the expiration of their sentence, the idea that conditions can be imposed upon those people seems to be highly unfair and improper. and there are valid arguments against the way the way national security certificates are issued. The fact that the person who is the subject of the certificateis not allowed to see all of the evidence them runs counter to our open system of justice where someone whose liberty or rights are taken away is able to know the case that they have to meet and to confront their accusers. But this personal involvement by people such as Trudeau serves only to detract from legitimate arguments.
Trudeau’s actions illustrate that he is naïve; he has a preconceived notion of what a terrorist looks like and Hassan almrei did not fit the stereotype. Trudeau is no different than former Foreign affairs Minister Bill Graham and others in his department who simply couldn’t believe that Maher arrar was being tortured in Syria; a country whose officials they were dealing with didn’t appear to condone torture. It just didn’t register.
a couple of weeks ago some U.S. soldiers who are guarding Saddam Hussein talked about what the former Iraqi dictator was like around them; how he asked about their personal lives and showed appreciation for the soldiers keeping him supplied with Doritos. But Saddam Hussein should be judged on his past actions, not on the fact that it would be more fun to go bar-hopping with him than it would to go with Stephen Harper.
If Trudeau really thinks that almrei should be released because he’s presumed to be innocent perhaps he should attempt to get BC pig farmer Robert Pickton released too; after all Pickton is presumed to be innocent.
alexandre Trudeau’s little stunt does nothing other than to distract Canadians from the real issues that should be discussed and debated.