Vice urges RCMP to drop demand for materials if accused terrorist long dead
TORONTO — A Canadian news outlet at the centre of a closely watched media-freedom case is calling on the RCMP to drop its demand for a journalist’s background materials used for stories on a suspected terrorist in light of reports that the man is in fact long dead.
In a letter to federal prosecutors this week, lawyers for Vice Media say they would abandon their attempt to fight the demand at the Supreme Court of Canada if the RCMP were to drop its production order, which two courts have upheld.
The materials in question relate to three stories reporter Ben Makuch wrote in 2014 about Farah Shirdon, a Calgary man whom Canadian authorities have charged in absentia with various terrorism-related offences. However, the American military now maintains Shirdon was killed in 2015.
“In our view, the main condition and basis for the production order, i.e. the criminal investigation and prosecution of Mr. Shirdon, is no longer present,” lawyer Iain MacKinnon said in the letter obtained by The Canadian Press. “Therefore, the production order is no longer valid or enforceable.”