Bahraini human rights violated again

This video says about itself:

SISMEC Presents: Mariwan Hama and Human Rights in Bahrain

Mar 28, 2013

“Reporting on Repressive Regimes in Gulf Countries”

Mariwan Hama shares his experience investigating human rights abuses in the Gulf kingdom of Bahrain, touching on the nation’s security complex, geopolitical context, changing ethnic configuration, and current political events. Hama spent five days earlier in the year visiting Bahrain for HRW, documenting the ongoing struggle for democracy in a repressive regime successfully tempering their Arab Spring.

From the Bahrain Freedom Movement:

Urgent Appeal: Bahrain – Prominent Human Rights Defender Nabeel Rajab Reportedly Missing

17/05/2013 – 4:57 p

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) and the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) express grave concern over the news of the removal of Nabeel Rajab from his cell to an unknown location.

Nabeel Rajab called his wife on 14 May 2013, telling her that he had witnessed the torture of young political prisoners at the hands of prison guards at Jaw prison. He raised his voice telling them to stop, and when they realized that he had witnessed what was happening, they quickly left. Nabeel Rajab asked his wife to request that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visit him in prison so he can give them his testimony of what he had witnessed. Rajab’s wife received a phone call that evening informing her that Nabeel was reportedly removed from his cell that night by prison guards and was not returned.

Bahrain must release five Twitter users jailed for allegedly insulting the King: here.

Also from the Bahrain Freedom Movement:

Bahrain: Alkhalifa revenge after dictator’s Ascot humiliation

17/05/2013 – 12:00 p

erious escalation of state-terrorism has been reported in the last few days following the debacle of Bahrain’s dictator at the Ascot race course in London on Saturday 11th May. Many people have been arrested; most of them subjected to severe torture on the spots where they were detained.

Harsh prison sentences have been passed against scores of Bahrainis. At least five people have been imprisoned for anti-regime tweets. Use of chemical gases has also been intensified, and many casualties reported in various parts of the country.

This escalation came in the wake of one of the most serious peaceful incidents in recent months. A young former prisoner Bahrainni youth, Sayyed Ahmad Al Wada’ei, managed to reach the grand stand at Ascot race course and raise slogans against the dictator, next to the Queen [of England]. He was carrying a Bahraini flag and a banner calling Hamad a dictator and murder. He was filmed as he rushed towards Bahrain’s dictator, Hamad bin Isa Alkhalifa who was watching the race alongside the Queen.

Police and body guards rushed towards the youth and arrested him. He was later released and asked to report to them again at a later date. Mr Al Wada’ei is a victim of the Alkhalifa hereditary dictatorship. In 2011 he was arrested, injured and tortured when Alkhalifa police and troops attacked the Pearl Roundabout killing people. His appearance at the “Shouting in the Dark” documentary showed him bleeding heavily after being struck by the Alkahlifa police and soldiers.

After the Ascot fracas, Bahrain’s dictator announced that he had naturalized 240 British citizens out of 9000 UK nationals residing in the country. This decision is seen as a bribe meant to solicit support to defeat the people’s revolution. He also said that the British should have remained in the Gulf and should not have withdrawn their forces in 1971. Who asked you to leave? He said.

The day before he had opened the newly-renamed Mons Hall at Sandhurst Military Academy. He had paid 3 million pounds for its refurbishment and re-named in his name. A great controversy has erupted within the British military circles surrounding this change. Media and political analysts have argued against it saying that a historic piece of military heritage honouring those who had sacrificed themselves in the First World War must not be dishonoured in this way. A dictator like Hamad whose people have continued their calls for his removal is not worthy of having his name attached to Mons Hall.

Repression in Bahrain has, meanwhile, continued unabated. Collective punishment has intensified as the people continued their struggle to achieve a democratic transition. Scores of people have been arrested and tortured. At least five Bahrainis have been sentenced to jail terms of one year each after being indicted for tweeting anti-regime slogans. Lawyer Mahdi Al Basri (25) was arrested on 11th March following a police raid on his home in Karrana. Four other men, Mahmood Abudl Majeed Abdulla Al Jamri (34), Hassan Abd Ali Issa (33), Mohsen Abd Ali Issa (26) and Ammar Makki Mohammad Al Aali (36) were arrested at dawn on 12th March. Yesterday Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action saying they may be “prisoners of conscience”. All five were sentenced under Article 214 of Alkhalifa penal code which criminalises “offending the emir of the country”. Last month more than 300 people were arrested as the Alkhalifa crackdown continued following the appointment of the crown prince to the post of deputy prime minister.

Yesterday the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that Bahrain urgently needs to reform its economy to stop its debt burden becoming unsustainable. “Overall fiscal deficits are projected to widen and public debt is estimated to continue on a rising path that could become unsustainable, reaching 61 percent of GDP as early as 2018”, it said in the report.

Arab Spring Not Over Yet in Bahrain: here. And here.

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Argentine ex-dictator Videla dies

This video says about itself:

Executions & torture (English subtitles)

As part of an open letter to the Argentine dictators by 1977. The dry submarine, the lighter, and other terrible torture methods are described. Thousands of executions w/o judgement, assasinations, kidnappings by the repressive military system.

From the BBC:

17 May 2013 Last updated at 15:59 GMT …

Former Argentine military leader Jorge Rafael Videla has died aged 87 while serving a life sentence for crimes against humanity.

He is reported to have died from natural causes in prison.

The general was jailed in 2010 for the deaths of 31 dissidents during the 1976-83 military dictatorship, of which he was overall leader until 1981.

Up to 30,000 people were tortured and killed during this period, in a campaign known as the “Dirty War”.

Gen Videla had been sentenced to life in prison for torture, murder and other crimes in 1985, but was pardoned in 1990 under an amnesty given by the president at the time, Carlos Menem.

In April 2010, the Supreme Court upheld a 2007 federal court move to overturn his pardon.

Eight months later he was found “criminally responsible” for the torture and deaths of 31 prisoners and jailed for life.

Most of the left-wing activists were taken from their cells in the central city of Cordoba and shot dead shortly after the military took power.

The army said at the time that they were killed while trying to escape.

Gen Videla was one of 30 members of the security forces charged with the murders.

‘A bad man’

Last year, he was also convicted of overseeing the systematic theft of babies from political prisoners.

At least 400 babies are thought to have been taken from their parents while they were held in detention centres.

More than 100 children given for adoption to military or police couples have since been reunited with their biological families.

A court in Buenos Aires sentenced Videla to 50 years in prison, while another ex-military leader, Reynaldo Bignone, received 15 years for his alleged role in the crime. …

Jose Miguel Vivanco, director of Latin America for US-based Human Rights Watch, said Videla presided over one of the region’s cruellest repressions in modern times.

“He was arrogant to the end and unwilling to acknowledge his responsibility for the massive atrocities committed in Argentina,” he said.

“Many of the secrets of the repression will die with him.”

Argentina’s Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel told Reuters news agency: “Death has brought an end to his physical existence but not what he did against the people.”

The head of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, an association that works to uncover the real identities of the stolen children, described Videla as a “bad man”.

“I’m reassured that a discredited man has departed this world,” said Estela de Carloto in a statement to local media.

Videla was born in 1925, the son of an army colonel.

In 1976, he and two other military leaders staged a coup against President Isabel Peron, the widow of former leader Juan Domingo Peron.

Related articles

• Argentina’s Former Military Dictator Videla Dies in Jail at 87 – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
• Former Argentinean dictator Jorge Rafael Videla dies at 87 (panarmenian.net)

Torture in Libya continues

This video says about itself:

Shocking video: Libyan rebels cage black Africans, force-feed them flags

Mar 2, 2012

Video courtesy: http://www.liveleak.com

A shocking video has appeared on the Internet showing Libyan rebels torturing a group of black Africans. People with their hands bound are shown being locked in a zoo-like cage and forced to eat the old Libyan flag. ­”Eat the flag, you dog. Patience you dog, patience. God is Great,” screams a voice off-camera.

From IRIN, humanitarian news and analysis:

Libyans in North Africa Scared to Return Home

16 May 2013

Cairo — Until government and revolutionary forces attacked the Libyan town of Bani Walid, about 170km southeast of the capital Tripoli in October last year, Abdullah Warfella had been determined never to leave.

But after two weeks of imprisonment and torture, the 68-year-old former contractor fled.

“They accused me of supporting [former ruler Muammar] Gaddafi during the revolution, which is not true at all,” Warfella told IRIN in Cairo. “These people have turned life into hell for people, not just in Bani Walid, but everywhere in Libya.”

Warfella is one of tens of thousands of Libyans who have fled to Egypt. Many are accused, often falsely they say, of having fought in pro-Gaddafi forces in 2011, or having publicly expressed support for him.

Far from home, many struggle to find employment and affordable accommodation, and lack almost any formal support. But they fear revenge attacks should they return home.

“There is a persistent desire inside Libya now for taking revenge on whoever took sides with Gaddafi against the revolutionaries, even if these people who took sides with Gaddafi were not influential people or fighters themselves,” said Salah Al Turki, a senior executive from the Cairo-based NGO Libyan Foundation for Human Rights (LFHR).

“Some of Gaddafi’s supporters who initially left Libya in the wake of the downfall of the Libyan dictator and then returned to their home towns faced problems. Gaddafi’s supporters in other countries watch all this and are filled with fear to return, lest they should meet the same fate.”

The number of Libyans who have fled the country is not clear as very few register with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

A source in the Libyan Ministry of Social Affairs said there were 430,000-530,000 Libyans in Tunisia. LFHR estimates the number of Libyans who had come to Egypt after the demise of Gaddafi’s regime at 750,000, although the Libyan Embassy in Cairo told IRIN the number is not more than 30,000. Algeria is also thought to shelter tens of thousands of Libyans.

Despite its geographical size, the Libyan population is only around six million, and government officials say that having such large numbers of citizens outside Libyan borders is a humanitarian and security concern for the government.

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Bahrain, torture kingdom

This video says about itself:

British Concern for Rights of Bahraini Prisoners

The treatment of prisoners in Bahrain has been condemned by parliamentarians and human rights groups at a meeting at the House of Lords. Confessions obtained through torture, trials by military courts and a lack of access to lawyers were criticised and support for victims offered.

Human Rights Watch demands Bahrain immediately probe numerous allegations of torture, saying its refusal could signal the country has become a haven for torturers. This comes as six more tweeters get jail terms for ‘abusing freedom of expression’: here.

Bahraini authorities should immediately investigate allegations that officials are torturing activists in detention. The authorities should ensure that no evidence secured by torture is used against detainees: here.

Prince Charles has joined with Formula One and CNN in supporting the torturing, murderous dictatorial regime in Bahrain. His Prince’s Foundation for Building Community and the UK Foreign Office have signed a deal to advise the regime on housing policy, an area of particular contention (Bahrain’s persecuted Shia minority majority are systematically discriminated against in the southern territory where Charles’s project is sited; they say housing goes instead to imported guard labor from abroad): here.

Six Twitter users have been sentenced to a year in prison each by a Bahrain court today for allegedly insulting King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on the micro-blogging site: here.

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Uruguayan dictatorship torture general on trial

This video says about itself:

May 28, 2010

Tens of thousands of Uruguayans including President Jose Mujica marched in silence on May 20th demanding to know the fate of victims of the US-backed military dictatorship which led the country from 1973 to 1985.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Dictatorship general appeals jail sentence

Friday 10 May 2013

The first general convicted of human rights violations during Uruguay’s dictatorship has appealed his 28-year prison sentence, his lawyer has confirmed.

General Miguel Dalmao was found guilty on Wednesday of the 1974 murder of literature professor and communist activist Nibia Sabalsagaray.

Gen Dalmao’s lawyer dismissed the verdict as “speculation” and said he’d already launched an appeal on Thursday.

Uruguay’s military junta had previously accepted his claim that 24-year-old Ms Sabalsagaray hanged herself with a handkerchief from an iron peg in the wall just four inches above her head.

Her family were banned from seeing her body but a medical student reported signs of torture and inconsistencies with suicide.

Gen Dalmao has been in hospital for months and is unlikely to serve his sentence.

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Arab absolute monarchies, British support

This CNN video is called Sentenced Brits allege torture in UAE.

By Jean Shaoul:

British imperialism’s return to “East of Suez”

8 May 2013

Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates, got the full treatment on his state visit to Britain last week.

He was afforded a ride in a gilded horse-drawn coach to Windsor, complete with guards in bearskins and red tunics, a state banquet at Windsor Castle with Queen Elizabeth, and talks with Prime Minister David Cameron.

His visit comes just days after three Britons on vacation in Dubai, in the UAE, were found guilty of possessing drugs and each sentenced to four years. They were tortured by police following their arrest, given electric shocks, and had guns held to their heads to force them to sign confessions in Arabic—a language none of them understands. Cameron had expressed “concern” about their allegations of torture and called for an inquiry.

A record 94 activists—including judges, academics and lawyers—are currently on trial in Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s capital, accused of plotting to overthrow the despotic regime. A report by local and international human rights groups has condemned the trial as a “flagrant disregard of fair trial guarantees”. It notes that the judge failed to investigate “credible” allegations of torture of the defendants, who were denied access to lawyers until two weeks before the trial or even to the documents setting out the evidence against them.

International journalists and observers, including Amnesty International, were denied access to the trial.

The prime minister is courting the Persian Gulf monarchy in pursuit of lucrative trade deals and military bases, amid rising Western threats of war with nearby Iran. The UAE is Britain’s biggest customer in the Middle East, with exports worth more than £10 billion in 2012. Last year, the UAE invested £8 billion in Britain, while more than 100,000 Britons live and work in the UAE.

Britain is seeking the sale of up to 60 Typhoon strike aircraft, made by BAE, for £3 billion, alongside 40 more Typhoons to Saudi Arabia and Oman, and faces stiff competition from France.

The UAE is home to Al-Minhad air base in Dubai, which houses the Royal Air Force’s Tornado jets. According to the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), it is used extensively as a “logistics hub for the mission in Afghanistan.” The RUSI says that the Ministry of Defence is seeking to build up its military presence in the Gulf, which Britain controlled in the latter part of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, with facilities, training areas, transit and take-off points for its jets and defence agreements that will enable Britain to intervene in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. So too is France, whose former president Nicolas Sarkozy opened the country’s first base in the Gulf, in Abu Dhabi.

Last November, Cameron visited the Al-Minhad air base to inspect the RAF’s Typhoon aircraft, and agreed “a long-term defence partnership” with the UAE that entails increasing the number of joint military and training exercises, and a commitment to invest “in the British military presence in the UAE.”

Cameron’s visit followed Defence Secretary Philip Hammond’s visit to Bahrain to sign off a Defence Cooperation Agreement in October with its former colonial possession, home to a British naval base. Its purpose is provide “a framework for current and future defence engagement activity, including training and capacity building, in order to enhance the stability of the wider region.”

The Al-Minhad base will be crucial as a significant base of operations alongside the Bahrain naval base. An accord with Oman and possibly Qatar is anticipated, following an exchange of visits between Cameron and Qatar’s Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani in 2010 and 2011.

This takes on additional significance with the announcement last March that Britain is to withdraw, ahead of schedule, 11,000 of its troops in Germany by 2016 and the last 4,500 by the end of 2019. The Gulf will replace the Continental training grounds with one more suited to the challenges of desert warfare.

These developments were dubbed by RUSI as “Britain’s return to East of Suez”, referring to Britain’s imperial interests beyond Europe and east of the Suez Canal—most notably its military base in Singapore. They signify a reversal of Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson’s famous announcement in 1968 that British troops would be withdrawn in 1971 from its military bases “East of Aden”. This meant primarily the Persian Gulf, Aden (now part of Yemen), Malaysia, Singapore and the Maldives.

Britain never completely withdrew, retaining its base in Hong Kong till 1997, and still has facilities in Brunei, Diego Garcia and Singapore. In 1975, the elite SAS unit intervened to shore up the Sultan of Oman, with the Royal Navy returning with the US Navy a few years later to police the Persian Gulf during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Britain deployed its navy and troops in the US-led wars against Iraq in 1990-91 and 2003-2007.

At the same time, London signed major arms deals with the Gulf states, most notably the £40 billion Al Yamamah deals with Saudi Arabia that were mired in corruption. As oil prices have risen, the Gulf states have recycled their wealth via sovereign wealth funds into Britain’s property market, corporations and banks. They have bankrolled British universities, funding Middle East and Islamic research centres, with UAE in particular providing homes for off-shore campuses.

As the RUSI report notes, a greater regional presence would permit a larger role in India and Pakistan and, crucially, interventions in Syria and Iran—even in Iraq, which it claims “is now firmly seen by Tehran as a key element in the preservation of its national security” because of the imminent demise of the Assad regime.

At its heart is the commitment to defend the reactionary petro-monarchies, as they come under threat from their own populations, such as in Bahrain.

General Sir David Richards, chief of Defence staff, in his Christmas lecture to RUSI last year, referred to the deployment of military assets to the Middle East, and in particular to some of the Arab Gulf states and to Jordan. Not only would it allow better cooperation with these countries, it would, he said, mean that Britain would be better prepared should the need arise for another Libya-style operation.

But Richards sees a role for Britain that is “wider still and wider” as the jingoistic Rule Britannia goes. He added, “In Africa, brigades would be tasked to support key allies in the east, west and south, whilst another might be given an Indian Ocean and SE Asian focus, allowing for much greater involvement with the FPDA [Five Powers Defence Agreements], for example.”

The FPDA refers to the 1971 bilateral defence relationships signed between the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore, whereby the five states will consult each other in the event of external aggression or threat of attack against Malaysia or Singapore. In today’s context of Washington’s “pivot to Asia”, this implies preparation for a potential war with China.

Washington’s greater pre-occupation with Asia has provided an opening for Britain to become “the leading European and indeed Western player in the Gulf”, or so the top military brass hopes. Richards also envisaged that Britain’s Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) would “be capable of projecting power with global effect and influence. Nowhere is more important to us than our friends in the Middle East and Gulf and in line with clear political intent we would expect, with other initiatives, for JEF elements to spend more time reassuring and deterring in the region” (emphasis added).

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• UK cuddles up to Gulf states – hidden dangers ahead (guardian.co.uk)
• Britain may reverse East of Suez policy with return to military bases in Gulf (telegraph.co.uk)
• Back to “east of Suez”? (bbc.co.uk)
• UAE president due to arrive in UK (bbc.co.uk)
• British royals pull out all stops for Sheikh Khalifa’s visit (seeker401.wordpress.com)
• UAE and Britain: credibility gulf | Editorial (guardian.co.uk)
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Britain, the United Arab Emirates, and torture

This video is called Human Rights Abuse in the United Arab Emirates on BBC World News.

By Paddy McGuffin in Britain:

Take sheikh to task on torture, PM told

Thursday 25 April 2013

Prime Minister David Cameron faced pressure today to take on the United Arab Emirates over its human rights abuses during President Khalifa bin Zayed’s state visit to Britain on Tuesday.

In a letter to Mr Cameron organisations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Reprieve said the country was guilty of “discriminatory and disproportionate response to peaceful criticism, its severe violations of due process and fair trial rights, and credible reports of torture – including the alleged torture of three British nationals.”

The letter cites a number of specific incidents, including the alleged torture by Dubai police of three Britons – Grant Cameron, Karl Williams and Suneet Jeerh in July last year.

The three say they were subjected to beatings and electric shocks and forced to sign documents in Arabic which they could not not understand, before being charged with drugs offences.

The groups accuse the UAE of failing to properly investigate the alleged mistreatment in breach of international law instead proceeding with their trial, calling the police involved in their torture as witnesses against them.

The three Britons have pleaded not guilty to the charges, and a verdict is expected in the trial on Monday, the day before the sheikh’s arrival in Britain.

Reprieve investigator Kate Higham said: “Rolling out the red carpet for a regime which has tortured our fellow citizens will be seen as deeply unsettling by many Britons.

“It is therefore crucial that the torture of three British tourists by Dubai police, and the wider context of human rights abuses across the UAE, is at the top of the agenda during this visit.”

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Bahrain royal oppression continues

This video says about itself:

Dr. Fatima Hajji, a Bahraini doctor and human rights defender reflects on her experience since February 14th. Interviewed by Front Line Defenders during a field visit to Bahrain in November 2011.

Bahrain is clearly “not serious” about implementing human rights reforms, Amnesty International said today [24 April 2013] after the Gulf kingdom cancelled a planned visit by the United Nations’ torture expert for a second time: here.

Bahrain Blocks UN Human Rights Investigator: here. And here. And here. And here.

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Bahrain dictatorship keeping its torture secret

This video is called Royal Torture: Bahrain princess charged with activist abuse.

From the BBC:

23 April 2013 Last updated at 13:44 GMT

Bahrain blocks visit of UN torture rapporteur

By Bill Law, BBC News

The Bahraini government has postponed indefinitely a visit by Juan Mendez the UN special rapporteur on torture.

According to the country’s official news agency the trip has been called off “until further notice”.

This comes just days after the release of a US State Department report on human rights in Bahrain which spoke of “significant” violations including torture in detention.

The Gulf kingdom has been wracked by civil unrest for two years.

The violence has left at least 50 people dead.

An independent enquiry established by King Hamad al-Khalifa in 2011 found that there had been numerous abuses. The king accepted the report and promised accountability and reform.

But human rights organisations in Bahrain and outside the country say that the promised reforms are happening either too slowly or not at all. And they allege that human rights abuses are continuing.

The US State Department Bahrain 2012 Human Rights Report spoke of “serious human rights problems,” including “citizens’ inability to change their government peacefully; arrest and detention of protesters on vague charges, in some cases leading to their torture in detention; and lack of due process in trials of political and human rights activists”.

Mr Mendez had originally intended to visit Bahrain in 2012 but that too was called off. Pointing to this second postponement Brian Dooley of US based Human Rights First called the decision “a huge blow to the credibility of Bahrain’s reform process”.

“It seems like the Bahrain regime is frightened of what more international scrutiny might reveal. It’s very telling that they’ve shut Mendez out again,” said Mr Dooley. …

Bahrain crisis timeline

14 February, 2011: Demonstrators occupy iconic landmark, Pearl Roundabout in the capital
14 March: Gulf Cooperation Council force led by Saudi troops enters Bahrain. Police clear Pearl Roundabout
March-April: Hundreds arrested, thousands sacked from their jobs. Protest continue, 35 killed
23 November: Protests continue as Cherif Bassiouni releases damning report on human rights abuses. Authorities accept findings
Feb 10, 2013: Opposition and pro-government groups open dialogue but unrest continues

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Pope Francis I ‘failed to protect Jesuit priests’

This video says about itself:

The Payment of Teresa Videla

This film is a composite portrayal of the fate of political prisoners in Argentina in the 1970s, but could easily apply to other countries in South and Central America that were offered training in torture by the American government is the supposed task of containing socialism. Drawn from interviews published in the press in the USA and Europe as well as with citizens of various countries where such torture took place. The narration is fictional presenting a complaint that should have been made by individual officers to stop the practice as it denigrated the honor of these countries forever.

From daily The Morning Star In Britain:

Pope ‘failed to protect’ Jesuit priests, court told

Friday 19 April 2013

Graciela Yorio has accused Pope Francis of failing to protect her brother from Argentina’s military dictatorship.

She told a court the pope abandoned Jesuit priests Orlando Virgilio Yorio and Francisco Jalics to be tortured by the junta in 1976.

The pontiff has claimed he did everything in his limited power to appeal to the dictatorship to stop seizing the slum priests who were fighting for the poor.

But Ms Yorio said even before the March 1976 coup that overthrew Isabel Peron, the then Jorge Mario Bergoglio refused to help the pair when they were accused of being “subversive and extremists.”

They were later seized and taken to the notorious Navy Mechanics School where they were tortured, turning up five months later drugged and blindfolded in a field.

Mr Bergoglio told his official biographer and the court that they were released thanks to his persistent back-room pressure.

But Ms Yorio said she was never told anything.

Related articles

• Jesuit’s Sister Criticizes Pope Francis in Court (nytimes.com)
• Sister of priest kidnapped during Argentine junta criticizes Pope Francis in court (ctvnews.ca)