Article Added On: April 24, 2008 - 19 days ago
Title: Ranks close for young jailed Muslim
Original URL: http://www.thestar.com/Canada/Columnist/article/417335
Author: THOMAS WALKOM
Publication: Toronto Star
Publication Date: April 23, 2008 - 20 days ago
Faith Groups: Muslim
Themes: Religion and society, religion and violence

Abstract: Thomas Walkom, on the bail hearing of Saad Gaya, one of the Toronto 18 terror suspects.

Saad Gaya, one of the ever-diminishing Toronto 18 terror suspects, was up for a bail hearing yesterday and so most of his relatives – plus many people who have previously never laid eyes on him – trooped out to Brampton to wish him well.

It's a tense time for the family of the 20-year-old McMaster University student. Gaya has been in jail since June 2006, when police swooped in and arrested 17 young, Toronto-area Muslim men and boys (the 18th was picked up a few weeks later) on terror charges.

Like the other adults arrested, Gaya spent more than a year in solitary confinement. His father, Hussain, says he worries what that experience has done to Saad.

But the Crown has made no excuses for coming down heavily on the 18, alleging initially that all were engaged in terrorist acts and that some – including Gaya – were planning to use explosives against an unspecified target.

Actually, the Crown now alleges that only 11 were involved in terrorism. Seven of the original 18 have had their charges stayed – which, in simple English, means the government now admits it never had any real evidence against them.

Those remaining in jail are hoping, at the very least, to get out on bail.

That's why Saad Gaya was before Superior Court Justice Casey Hill yesterday and why his parents, sister, brother and 14 other relatives were there as well.

Not to mention the roughly 80 supporters bused in from local universities along with those like Bell Canada employee Imran Mian, who took time off from his vacation to ensure that justice was being done.

"There has been this problem of Islamophobia since 9/11," Mian said as he waited in line to enter courtroom 212. "That's why I came."

I can't tell you what Crown prosecutor Ione Jaffe or Gaya's defence counsel, Paul Slansky, said in courtroom 212. I can't tell you what the judge said or what any witnesses said. The court hearings dealing with the Toronto 18 are subject to sweeping publication bans.

I can tell you that the relatives, friends and supporters who filled that courtroom were quiet and respectful. Over lunch in the cafeteria (Gaya's thoroughly competent mother, Rukhsana, ordered in vegetarian submarine sandwiches and tasty samosas), one relative admitted sheepishly that he'd been admonished by bailiffs after falling asleep during the proceedings.

Outside in the warm spring sunlight, Toronto activist Matthew Behrens used a megaphone to tell the bused-in students to keep their protest peaceful (which they did) and not hassle the police "who are very laid back" (which they were).

"In these times, the presumption of innocence gets lost in the name of protecting national security," Behrens said, a telling point for 21-year-old Lizna Bukhari.

The McMaster sociology student doesn't know Gaya and doesn't usually go to demonstrations. But she said she came to Brampton yesterday to "support a fellow Muslim."

It wasn't always that way. In the early days of the terror case, many Muslims were reluctant to speak up for fear that they, too, might come under suspicion. Even yesterday, some were reluctant to be identified in the press.

Gaya's bail hearing is expected to continue most of this week.

Rukhsana Gaya says that if her son is released she will ensure that he rigorously abides by every condition the judge sets. But Saad was denied bail once. Will he get it now?

"I'm more hopeful," said his sister, Beenish. "The judge seems nice. But it's in the hands of the cou