[Bloquez l'empire!] Appeal from wife of Mahjoub, on Day 62 of His Hunger Strike

[Mary Foster]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "TASC" <tasc at web.ca>
Sent: Monday, September 05, 2005 8:16 PM


Urgent Action Required to Save Life of Secret Trial Detainee Mohammad
Mahjoub, on Day 62 of a Hunger Strike in Solitary Confinement

YOUR PERSISTENT ACTION LAST WEEK GAVE SECRET TRIAL DETAINEE HASSAN ALMREI
ENOUGH HOPE TO SUSPEND HIS HUNGER STRIKE. MR. MAHJOUB NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT AS
HIS LIFE ENTERS A CRITICAL WEEK

Please forward this appeal far and wide, and ideas for action and a sample
letter appear at the bottom of this email.


"Don't Make Me a Widow," Pleads Wife of Secret Trial Detainee Mohammad
Mahjoub on Day 62 of His Hunger Strike for Improved Conditions in Solitary
Confinement

Mona Elfouli calls on Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, Prime Minister Paul
Martin, Deputy PM Anne McLellan, Immigration Minister Joe Volpe and Ontario
Minister for Corrections Monte Kwinter, to Respond to Her Husband's Demands
for Medical Attention and Contact Visits with Children

TORONTO: SEPTEMBER 6, 2005 -- After two months without food, secret trial
detainee Mohammad Mahjoub, an Egyptian refugee held since June, 2000,
without charge or bail at Metro West Detention Centre, is weak and in
ill-health as he marks day 61 of a hunger strike.

Almost eclipsed by the high-profile hunger strike of Syrian refugee
Hassan Almrei, who ended his protest Saturday on Day 73 without food,
Mahjoub has continued his quiet, determined battle for improved conditions
of detention while he awaits the outcome of the lengthy court processes
which will determine whether he will receive bail and, in the longer term,
whether it is legal to deport him to torture in Egypt.

Mahjoub is demanding, among other things:

* a monthly contact visit with his children, denied to him after
more than five years at Metro West;

* proper medical treatment, including care for a knee injury
sustained in jail, a liver biopsy to properly assess the Hepatitis C he
contracted at the jail (which, despite being recommended by a doctor, has
been denied for undisclosed security reasons) and a pair of glasses.

(After protracted efforts by advocates outside the jail to bring an
eye doctor in to see him, Mahjoub has not been able to fill a prescription
for glasses in over 8 months.)

"I am appealing to the people of Canada and to the Canadian
government, the people who are responsible for Mohammad being in jail on
secret evidence -- Irwin Cotler, Anne McLellan, Joe Volpe, Paul Martin--
and to the Minister responsible for jails in Ontario, Monte Kwinter -- to
help us reach a solution so Mohammad can live," says Mona Elfouli, who has
been married to Mahjoub since 1996.

"I don't want to become a widow, and my two little children need
their father home with them. But while we wait for bail, we need to make
things more livable at the jail for my husband. He needs medical attention
for his Hepatitis C, and it is torture for the children not to be able to
hug and kiss their dad."

Elfouli says her husband has struggled constantly for basic dignity
at the jail, but has run up against institutional barriers. "We both
appreciate that there are some very good people at the jail, some good
guards and captains and caring people in the health care unit, but it is
immigration that is making it so hard for him to get proper healthcare, and
Mr. Kwinter's office refuses to allow the touch visits."

Matthew Behrens, a friend of Mahjoub's who has offered $5,000
towards his release on bail, is concerned that government officials on all
levels simply don't care. "This is, after all, a federal government that is
determined to deport Mohammad and the other secret trial detainees to
torture. The Ontario government has refused to sincerely negotiate, forcing
these men to the point in their nonviolent protests that lifelong damage,
if not death, will result.

"So it's clear on one level that the governments don't really care
about their lives. But one thing they do care about is votes. And we hope
they see that a lot of formerly sure votes are in doubt, especially with
blood on their hands should Mr. Mahjoub die in custody on their watch.
Thousands of people responded in the past 10 days to the demands of both
Mr. Almrei and Mr. Mahjoub, and those folks are disgusted at the
insensitivity and callous lack of action of both the Ontario and federal
governments.

"Time is running out on Mr. Mahjoub. The government had better move
soon."

Last Friday, a delegation of medical professionals delivered a
letter to Prime Minister Paul Martin's Montreal constituency office calling
for immediate action to meet the conditions necessary to end the hunger
strikes. "We regard the conditions under which Mr. Almrei and Mr. Mahjoub
are currently detained to be unacceptable from a health standpoint," the
letter read.  "It is shocking that people have to resort to a hunger strike
to demand conditions that we feel to be so basic and justified.
Furthermore, it is imperative to understand that if this hunger strike
continues much longer, a fatal outcome or at least a disability is to be
expected. This is an entirely avoidable outcome and for these reasons we
urge your urgent and immediate intervention to avoid an extremely
regrettable consequence."

The medical professionals note that, in addition to the immediate
conditions giving rise to the protest, it is unacceptable that men such as
Mahjoub are forced to deal with the psychological torture of indefinite
detention and uncertainty over whether he may be deported to torture.

By way of comparison, in 1981, Bobby Sands and 9 other IRA
prisoners on hunger strike died after periods varying from 46 to 73 days
after sustaining severe organ damage (e.g., blindness). Several survivors
of the strike remain permanently handicapped.

For more information, contact the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in
Canada at tasc at web.ca or  (416) 651-5800. Our website is
www.homesnotbombs.ca

TAKING ACTION:
Please write, call, fax the following individuals. A sample letter is
provided below. Please cc your letters to  Prime Minister Paul Martin
(pm at pm.gc.ca ), Anne McLellan, Deputy Prime Minister,
(McLellan.A at parl.gc.ca), Immigration Minister Joe Volpe (volpej at parl.gc.ca)
and Justice Minister Irwin Cotler (cotlei at parl.gc.ca)

CC correspondence to Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada at
tasc at web.ca or fax (416) 651-9770


NOTE: Mr. Kwinter's office will say this is a matter for the federal
government and will try and shift your attention to Ottawa, since Mohammad
is a federal detainee, but he is held in a provincial jail, so the province
has the ability and responsibility to meet with him and change his
conditions of detention.


Monte Kwinter
Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services
18th floor, 25 Grosvenor Street, Toronto, ON, M7A 1Y6
Phone: (416) 325-0408
Fax: (416) 325-6067
mkwinter.mpp at liberal.ola.org

Anne McLellan
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
13th Floor, 340 Laurier Ave.
Ottawa, ON K1A 0P8
Phone: (613) 992-4524
Fax: (613) 943-0044 or
McLellan.A at parl.gc.ca


please cc: Paul Martin, Cotler, and Volpe
 
Monte Kwinter
Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services
Government of Ontario
Re: Hunger strike of Hassan Almrei

Dear Mr. Kwinter,

I am writing to urge you to take immediate action to meet the legitimate
demands of Mohammad Mahjoub, who has been detained without trial in an
Ontario prison for over five years and is now on a hunger strike to demand
minimally decent conditions of detention. His main demands include proper
medical treatment for the Hepatitis C he contracted at the jail (a
prescribed liver biopsy has been denied), proper medical care for as knee
injury sustained at the jail, filling a long-neglected prescription for
eyeglasses, and touch visits with his young children once a month.

Although he is a federal detainee, he is within your jurisdiction in a
provincial jail, and it is therefore your responsibility to respond to this
crisis.

As of today (Tuesday, September 6), Mohammad Mahjoub is on Day 62 of his
hunger strike. Mr. Mahjoub was already in poor health before beginning his
current hunger strike, and medical professionals have stated, in a letter
to Prime Minister Paul Martin September 2, 2005, that Mahjoub is at
imminent risk of permanent, severe impairment, and very possibly, of death.

By way of comparison: in 1981, Bobby Sands and 9 other IRA prisoners on
hunger strike died after periods varying from 46 to 73 days after
sustaining severe organ damage (e.g., blindness). Several survivors of the
strike remained permanently handicapped. In 1996, many Kurdish hunger
strikers in Turkey died after periods of 65 to 69 days.

Please intervene immediately to try to find a humane solution to this
situation. You have the power, and therefore the moral responsibility, to
resolve this crisis.

Surely it is not too much to ask for a monthly contact visit with two small
children and for proper medical care.

As Canadians, we pride ourselves on respecting basic human rights. Please
remain true to this fundamental value. Should Mohammad Mahjoub die or be
permanently handicapped, it would be to our lasting shame and dishonour as
Canadians and as members of the human family.

I look forward to your prompt response to my letter and to positive action
to resolve this crisis.

Sincerely,

Name
Address