Ottawa sued for not banning Hezbollah
Stewart Bell - National Post
Friday, November 29, 2002

The Canadian government and two senior Cabinet ministers are being sued for not cracking down on fundraising by the radical Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah. The Jewish organization B'nai Brith Canada launched the legal action in an attempt to force Ottawa to freeze Hezbollah's assets, according to documents filed at the Federal Court of Canada. The government has "a duty at law" to ban all Hezbollah fundraising in Canada, alleges the suit, believed to be the first brought against Ottawa for allegedly neglecting to act against a terrorist group.

The application, filed by lawyer David Matas, asks the court to order the Liberal Cabinet to place the entire Hezbollah organization on Canada's list of "terrorist entities" whose assets must be frozen. Currently, Canadian banks are required to seize the assets only of Hezbollah's so-called military wing, even though the organization is by most accounts a single entity expressly devoted to the violent destruction of Israel and America. The lawsuit names the Attorney-General of Canada, Martin Cauchon; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bill Graham; and the federal government. It was filed on Tuesday at the Federal Court trial division in Winnipeg.

No further details were available late yesterday, but B'nai Brith released a statement saying it had scheduled a news conference on Parliament Hill this morning "to announce the new action it has initiated to ensure the federal government meets its obligations in dealing with the terrorist organization Hezbollah." The government has been under pressure from the opposition, lobby groups and segments of the Liberal caucus to crack down on the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, particularly after revelations the terrorist group has established a significant presence across Canada.

According to RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service reports, Hezbollah has been using Canada as an offshore base for a decade. Its money-making ventures include the collection of charitable donations and theft of luxury vehicles in Ontario and Quebec. Israeli authorities recently arrested a Canadian citizen named Fauzi Ayub, who faces charges he was sent to Israel by Hezbollah to organize terror attacks. A suspected Hezbollah hijacker caught by Canadian authorities in 1993 also confessed the group had sent video footage of Canada to Lebanon "in case there's a problem with Canada."

Last week in Washington, a U.S. Justice Department official testified at a Senate committee hearing that Hezbollah had sent a "major player" to Vancouver to operate a clandestine cell that raised money and bought military supplies needed for attacks. But Mr. Graham has insisted he will not outlaw Hezbollah in its entirety because it is involved in social and political work in Lebanon. Canada's only action against Hezbollah to date has been to order banks to freeze the assets of the group's "External Security Force." In a letter published in today's National Post, however, Art Eggleton, the former defence minister, calls on Canada to "seal a gaping hole in our country's ban on terrorist fundraising" by proscribing all of Hezbollah, including the social wing defended by Mr. Graham.

"This so-called 'social wing' directly helps Hezbollah to recruit terrorists by inducing brainwashed people to join its cause of evil and financially secure their families in the process," writes Mr. Eggleton, a Toronto MP. "Although this 'social branch' does not carry out attacks directly, it is instrumental in the campaign of terror that Hezbollah wages and it answers to the same terrorist masterminds who order the murders of innocent women and children," he writes. The brief court petition submitted by B'nai Brith alleges Mr. Graham had indicated in a Nov. 4 letter that Hezbollah would not be blacklisted under Canada's terror-financing regulations.

The document argues that the decision "is wrong in law," was "made without regard to the facts" ... "violated the requirements of fairness" and was at odds with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The lawsuit also seeks from the government all files related "to the decision of the respondents not to list Hezbollah in its entirety under the United Nations Suppression of Terrorism Regulations." The government has not yet responded to the suit. If the case is successful, it could prompt other interest groups to use the courts in an attempt to force Ottawa to ban additional terrorist groups known to operate in Canada, such as the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka.

Wayne Eastern, the Solicitor-General, announced on Wednesday that Cabinet had outlawed Hamas and five other terrorist groups under the new anti-terrorism act, but Hezbollah was not on the list. Hezbollah, which means Party of God, is a radical Shiite group formed in Lebanon in 1982. It is supported by Syria and Iran. Terrorism authorities consider it as dangerous as al-Qaeda. It has killed hundreds in suicide bombings as well as gun and missile attacks. A U.S. government intelligence report obtained two weeks ago by The Province newspaper in Vancouver identified four synagogues -- in Winnipeg, Montreal and Toronto -- as potential targets of terrorist attacks.sbell@nationalpost.com