XPost: can.politics   
   From: Panca@nyet.ca   
      
   No kidding?   
   But it's okay to call Jian Ghomeshi a sexual pervert, an assaulter of women,   
   and 'guilty as accused' by media and other personalities.   
   (The personalities in this newsgroup don't count . . .  most are rightwing   
   assholes with no concern for fairness or justice on any issue).   
      
   Yep, same Harper government idiot that defended Mike Duffy, the foreign workers   
   program, and supported the health cuts to refugees.   
   Here he is again - making statements that could well be the basis for all   
   charges being dropped against the accused in this case . . . .   
   _________________________________   
      
   TORONTO — The Canadian Press - Thursday, Nov. 06 2014   
      
   Minister criticized for comments on murder case still before the courts   
      
   Criminal defence lawyers are dismayed that Immigration Minister Chris Alexander   
   publicly branded a man charged with killing his wife a murderer before his   
   trial.   
      
   Alexander brought up the case of Nasira Fazli this week as he talked publicly   
   about the need for legislation to crack down on so-called “honour”   
   killings and   
   polygamy among immigrants.   
   More Related to this Story   
      
   “Not much more than one year ago, she was killed – 48 stab wounds – by   
   her   
   husband, Feraidon Mohammad Ibrahem, who had been in this country only for a few   
   months, sponsored by her,” Alexander told a news conference at a women’s   
   centre   
   in west-end Toronto.   
      
   “While what he did is clearly a crime, among the gravest crimes that can be   
   committed and that he is facing the full consequences of the law for murder,   
   this was also a barbaric cultural practice in that he felt that he had been   
   dishonoured by her ability to be independent.”   
      
   Alexander went on to say that “that kind of behaviour by any immigrant, by   
   any   
   Canadian, is unacceptable.”   
      
   Fazli, 31, of Ajax, Ont., was found stabbed to death in July, 2013. Ibrahem’s   
   preliminary inquiry wrapped up last month and he has yet to stand trial for   
   first-degree murder.   
      
   Alexander did not respond to a request for comment, but Ibrahem’s defence   
   lawyer, Fariborz Davoudi, expressed shock at the remarks.   
      
   “Oh my god, I had no idea. Is he labelling this as an honour killing?”   
   Davoudi   
   said.   
      
   “There used to be a presumption of innocence in this country, but I don’t   
   know   
   what happened to it.”   
      
   Davoudi said important legal and factual issues had yet to be determined and   
   Alexander shouldn’t jump to conclusions and try to summarize the case in a   
   few   
   “prejudicial” words.   
      
   Other legal experts also denounced the statements as a serious mistake.   
      
   “It is absolutely wrong,” said Bill Trudell, chairman of the Canadian   
   Council   
   of Criminal Defence Lawyers. “This type of comment by any Canadian, and by   
   any   
   minister, is unacceptable.”   
      
   Bail hearings and preliminary hearings are normally subject to publication bans   
   precisely to avoid prejudging an accused. Potential evidence, in particular, is   
   off-limits until introduced at trial.   
      
   That did not deter Alexander, who has talked publicly about the case in such   
   emphatic terms on at least one other occasion.   
      
   “[Fazli] had warned her family, she had warned her friends, that she feared   
   that her husband was violent,” he said in remarks made last March also in   
   Toronto.   
      
   “She had actually taken all of the knives out of her house and put them in   
   the   
   trunk of her car as a precaution.”   
      
   Trudell said the remarks display a lack of respect for the criminal justice   
   system and amount to political meddling with the courts on behalf of the Harper   
   government.   
      
   “They’re always politicking, and when they’re politicking 24/7,   
   they’re blinded   
   to the collateral damage of some of the comments,” the lawyer said.   
      
   “This man may be totally innocent.”   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)