THE SECRET TRIAL 5 (Amar Wala). 84 minutes. Opens Friday (November 7). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NNNN
If you think 9/11 had little impact on the individual rights of Canadians, The Secret Trial 5 will change your mind. It tracks the experience of five immigrants, labelled terrorists, who were detained without charges, let alone a trial, via the rarely used security certificate.
Director Amar Wala talks to their lawyers and advocates and the detainees themselves, who were locked up based on evidence they were never allowed to see. After sustained campaigns, some were released and placed under house arrest, where the conditions, ironically, were worse than those in prison. But the star of the movie is detainee Mohamed Harkat’s wife, Sophie, who became the human face of the protest.
The dreaded security certificates are coming back into play in the wake of the shootings on Parliament Hill, making this doc more timely than ever.
If the doc seems biased, don’t blame the filmmakers. There wasn’t a single government representative who would talk to them.
