Mounties spent hours Wednesday searching the home and office of an Ottawa Citizen reporter who has written about the Maher Arar case, looking for evidence of a possible breach of the Security of Information Act.
Charges are believed to be pending against the reporter, said the newspaper's editor-in-chief, Scott Anderson.
“Juliet O'Neill was doing everything right,” Mr. Anderson told CBC Newsworld angrily. “Who knew about this? Who condoned a police raid on a journalist's home?”
RCMP officers with a search warrant arrived at 8 a.m. at the home of Ms. O'Neill. Another search warrant was executed at the newspaper's city hall bureau. They did not finish their search until after lunch.
Sergeant Jocelyn Mimeault, an RCMP spokesman in Ottawa, confirmed that the two raids had taken place, and said investigators were looking into alleged leaks of sensitive information related to the Arar case.
He refused to elaborate further while the investigation is under way.
Mr. Anderson said the RCMP search was being conducted in relation to Section 4 of the Security of Information Act, which contains broad prohibitions against unauthorized possession of sensitive government materials. The information law, based largely on the former Official Secrets Act, was passed shortly after September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.
He said that the raid is an obvious attempt to pressure reporters into dropping investigation of Mr. Arar's arrest, deportation and alleged torture at the hands of Syrian security forces.
“I think this is a black, black day for freedom in this country and I'm absolutely outraged that we seem to be living in such a police state that journalists are targeted who are giving the public information that is of completely legitimate value to them,” Mr. Anderson said.
“The Canadian government has a lot to answer for,” he added. “We are seeking answers, and they're using intimidation techniques to try to keep a free press from answering the questions the public has about what can happen to Canadian citizens post-9/11. I'm outraged.”
Mr. Arar, an Ottawa telecommunications engineer born in Syria, was deported to the Middle East after being detained by U.S. authorities while changing planes in New York. After his release he said he had been tortured by Syrian officials looking to substantiate his alleged ties to al-Qaeda.
Now back in Canada, Mr. Arar, who has not been charged with anything, denies any link to terrorists. He is outraged at repeated publication of anonymously-sourced accusations that he was in fact involved in Islamist terrorism.
Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan said earlier this month that the RCMP would try to ferret out the names of those who were leaking information about the Mr. Arar case.
Mr. Anderson said Wednesday that police handling of the case has had a chilling effect on the media, and attracted attention from Reporters Without Borders and the New York Times.
“I've had several journalists come in today saying to me, ‘Am I next? Am I going to be arrested for the story I did last December, or the story I'm going to do tomorrow?' We all rely on sources, and sources who give information that's of public value are the lifeblood of proper journalism.”
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