Prime Minister Stephen Harper says regardless of the religious holiday, he expects the law to be enforced.
The PM’s comments Thursday came in reaction to a QMI Agency story about officers from the RCMP and Ottawa Police apologizing to Muslims in Ottawa for arresting three suspected Muslim terrorists during Ramadan.
“In fairness, this is an operation matter of the RCMP and I wouldn’t pretend to know all details and aspects of the story,” Harper said. “But the general approach that this government would expect to see is that the law, our important laws, are enforced every day of the year.”
According to a participant at the Aug. 26, 2010, meeting, police officials from the Mounties and Ottawa’s municipal force apologized to local Muslims for making the arrests during the month-long Ramadan celebrations. Ramadan began on Aug. 12 and ended Sept. 9.
The meeting of the RCMP’s cultural diversity consultative committee was called as investigators were still building their case against Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh, Misbahuddin Ahmed and Khurram Syed Sher. The three men were arrested on Aug. 25.
“To show support to our Muslim brothers and sisters during RAMADAN, there will be no food or drink during this most important meeting. This meeting is for one hour only, in order to observe prayer time and the breaking of the fast during RAMADAN,” Cpl. Wayne Russett wrote to meeting participants in an e-mail.
Alizadeh, Ahmed and Sher all face several terrorism-related charges. Tarek Fatah, a liberal Muslim and founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, criticized the apology. Fatah called for police diversity committees across Canada to be disbanded because they’re centres for brainwashing the police establishment.
“This notion that in Ramadan you can’t arrest people is so foolish,” Fatah told Calgary’s CHQR radio station. Fatah said Canadian institutions, like the RCMP, often fall victim to white guilt and crumble at the thought of treating all Canadians the same.