[Bloquez l'empire!] HUNGER-STRIKE at Guantanamo North : call for support

[mfoster at web.ca]

CLOSE GUANTANAMO NORTH!
Canada-wide Day of Action on the International Day against Torture

Monday, 26 June 2006

Three security certificate detainees have been on HUNGER-STRIKE in
"Guantanamo North" for over a month. Their condition is deteriorating.

==> Please MAKE CALLS, FAXES and SEND EMAILS to Minister of Safety Stockwell
Day MONDAY 26 June or TUESDAY 27 June to support the hunger-strikers in
their very simple demands for better conditions at the new prison.
*Background and Action details are below.

==> People in Vancouver, Toronto, Kingston and Montreal will be holding
public actions on the international day against torture in support of the
hunger-strikers
and to demand that Guantanamo North be closed:
*In Montreal, there will be a small info-picket outside the building which
houses Immigration Canada, Canadian Border Services Agency and CSIS (1010
Ste-Antoine, Peel St. entrance) from noon to 1pm on Monday, 26 June. You are
welcome to join us to distribute leaflets to CSIS, CIC, and CBSA officials
and the public.

BACKGROUND

*"Guantanamo North"*

Since 23 April 2006, the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) has operated
its own prison in Ontario. This prison, known as Guantanamo North, was built
at a cost of $3.2 million to hold refugees and immigrants under immigration
security measures. Guantanamo North shows the government's clear intention
to continue to violate international law and justice, by keeping certain
classes of people (refugees and permanent residents) in indefinite,
arbitrary detention.

The six-cell facility currently holds three people: Mohammad Mahjoub,
detained without charge since June 2000;  Mahmoud Jaballah, detained without
charge since August 2001; and Hassan Almrei, detained without charge since
October 2001. All were moved from a Toronto provincial prison to the new
centre in April. The distance from Toronto has ensured that they are
practically cut off from their families, placing heavy burdens of time and
money on their already beleagured families.

These men are being held without charge or trial, on the basis of secret
suspicions to which neither they nor their lawyers have access, under the
immigration "security certificate". Sogi Bachan Singh is being held under
similar conditions in a Montreal prison.

Two other men under security certificates have been placed under virtual
house arrest: Adil Charkaoui, in Montreal, and Mohamed Harkat, in Ottawa,
who was released on Wednesday. Their conditions of release, which were
imposed without charge or trial on the basis of evidence that they were not
allowed to see, make it very difficult or impossible to lead a normal family
life, to work, pursue leisure activities or practice their religion.

It is true that all these men are given the option of leaving Canada - if
they don't mind leaving their homes, their families and being tortured or
killed.

Indefinite detention, house arrest or deportation to torture? There is
another option: charge and try the men in open court - or immediately set
them free!

*Hunger-Strike*
(based on 22 June 2006 update from Toronto)

Mahmoud Jaballah and Mohammad Mahjoub have been on hunger-strike since May
23, with Hassan Almrei hunger striking an additional ten days. They are
feeling the effects of the hunger strike in their sweltering classroom
portable of a prison. On 20 June, Mr. Jaballah was removed from his cell at
2 am with
breathing problems, and did not see a nurse until almost six hours later. On
22 June, Toronto supporters said that the three reported being "very weak
and suffering from breathing problems and chest pains". No doctor has seen
them.

Two simple demands remain at the core of the hunger-strike:

1. Proper phone access. At Metro West, the men could dial out and speak
with anyone they chose to from early morning until early evening.
Currently, the men are allowed three 20 minute calls per day. However, they
must put in a written request an hour before each call is made. If, for
example, they call their lawyer, and are informed s/he won't be back for
ten minutes, they cannot call ten minutes later. They must put in another
phone request, wait an hour, and then hope the lawyer will be there. The
limited phone access sharply curtails their ability to maintain contact
with their families as well.

2. The men want access to a canteen (which holds snack foods), much as they
had access to at Metro West Detention Centre. The government claims
concerns over who would handle the detainees' money have prevented them
from setting this up. The men have put forward a half dozen workable
solutions, but the federal government refuses to budge. Because their daily
meals do not provide enough food, the men need the canteen.

Representatives of the Canadian Border Services Agency, which runs
Guantanamo North, have assured campaign members that the men's health is
their top priority. To allow human beings to go over a month without
nutrition throws this claim into question (not to mention keeping them in
indefinite, arbitrary detention and trying to deport them to torture). Their
demands are very simple and can be immediately resolved. It is the least
that can be done to make the lives of people who have been held without
charge for years without trial under secret evidence and are even now living
under an active threat of being sent to torture, a little more bearable.

In addition, the federal government has ordered that the men not have ANY
access to the media for the indefinite future.

ACTION

*** Please contact your local media representatives, explain the situation
and the media ban, and ask them to attempt to get access to interviews with
the men, as a matter of freedom of the press, and of free speech.
Journalists can contact family members and the Toronto support committee for
more information via 416 651 5800.

*** Letters and calls are urgently needed to the following individuals -
please do this on Monday (26th) or Tuesday (27th). Feel free to change the
sample letters by adding something that personalizes it for you,
but please remain respectful and polite.

1. Write and Call Stockwell Day, Minister responsible for the Canadian
Border Services Agency
Stockwell Day, MP
House of Commons, Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Phone: (613) 995-1702 or (613) 991-0657
Fax: (613) 995.1154
Email: day.s at parl.gc.ca
communications at psepc.gc.ca

2. Claudette Deschenes
VP, Enforcement, CBSA
claudette.deschenes at cbsa-asfc.gc.ca
Phone (613) 952-2531
Fax  (613) 952-2622

Sample letter

Stockwell Day, MP
Minister Responsible for the Canadian Border Services Agency

Dear Mr. Day,

I am writing to demand that you intervene immediately to meet the
reasonable demands of Canada's secret trial detainees who have been on
hunger strike over one month at the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre. As
you may recall, the previous government forced two of the detainees,
Mohammad Mahjoub and Hassan Almrei, to hunger strike dangerously long
periods last fall (79 and 73 days, respectively) before any action was
taken to meet what were, then as now, reasonable requests. Already the
detainees are experiencing ill health and weakness.

People do not forgo food unless there are good reasons to do so, and these
men obviously have cause to go to these extreme lengths to get you to
negotiate with them in good faith.

As if this were not enough, the men are also being denied access to media
to discuss their very legitimate complaints.

The CBSA has claimed the new facility will present better conditions for
the detainees, yet this is simply not the case. I again urge you to
intervene immediately and take steps necessary to prevent a further
deterioration in the health of the detainees and, by extension, that of
their loved ones, whose stress during this time remains extremely high.

Both the detainees and their loved ones have already been
through years of pain and distress. The least you can do is accommodate
these eminently reasonable demands.

I look forward to your immediate action to resolve this crisis.

Name, address

------------------------------------
in Montreal:
Hungerstrike Support Committee
abolissons at gmail.com
tel. 514 859 9023

in Toronto:
Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, PO Box 73620, 509 St.
Clair Ave. West, Toronto, ON M6C 1C0, tasc at web.ca, www.homesnotbombs.ca

in Vancouver:
No one is illegal Vancouver
noii-van at resist.ca

in Kingston:
No one is illegal Kingston
tel. 613 888-3945

in Ottawa:
Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee
tel. 613 290 9144