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Canada court upholds media blackout in terrorism trial

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The Ontario Court of Appeal Monday affirmed a lower court ruling that prohibits the media from reporting on the terrorism trial of a group known as the "Toronto 18". The 3-2 decision found that a Canadian criminal statute allowing defendants to request a media blackout is applicable in this instance. The majority wrote that the statute protects the accused from unfavorable coverage that may prejudice prospective jurors. Lawyers for the plaintiffs - the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), CTV, the Toronto Star, and the Associated Press (AP) - plan to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Toronto 18, a group of adults and minors arrested in a 2006 anti-terrorism raid, have provoked intense reactions from detractors and supporters alike. Mosques were vandalized and the debate about Canadian security intensified in the wake of the group's arrest. Others contest the lawfulness of the group's detention, and, despite the ban on press coverage, a 2008 documentary, Unfair Dealing, was highly sympathetic to the accused. In September, a judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice convicted one of the Toronto 18 terrorism suspects for participating in a group which allegedly plotted to behead Prime Minister Stephen Harper while attacking parliament. The conviction was the first under Section 83 of the Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act, passed in 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on January 27, 2009 (boomark / email).