[Bloquez l'empire!] UPDATE: Sogi Singh deportation (action requested)

[mary foster]

From: "Comité soutien Sogi Singh" <psi at riseup.net>
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 12:15 AM

UPDATE: THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SAFETY, STOCKWELL DAY REFUSED SOGI A STAY OF
DEPORTATION YESTERDAY AFTERNOON.

Day intends to deport Sogi in the "next days". The Ministry of Public Safety
is refusing to give a deportation date, as a matter of ... security! It is
more important than ever to respond to the appeal below - call again if you
have already done so - and to mobilise your networks. The stakes are Sogi's
life, and establishing new lows for the treatment of immigrants in the name
of security. Both Ministers Day (Public Safety) and Solberg (Immigration)
have the power to halt the deportation at any time.

URGENT - PLEASE CALL, FAX, EMAIL IMMEDIATELY

Canada set to deport Sogi Bachan Singh - refugee at risk of torture

Last Friday the Federal Court issued a decision refusing a stay of
deportation to Mr. Sogi Bachan Singh, who has been assessed by Immigration
Canada to be at "risk of torture" and at "risk to life or risk of cruel and
unusual treatment or punishment" if deported to his birth country, India
(Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (RRRA), 31 August 2005). Mr. Singh can be
deported at any moment.

Sogi Bachan Singh, a survivor of brutal torture, came to Canada and claimed
refugee status in May 2001 because of the persecution he had suffered.
Before his refugee claim was heard, he was arrested on accusation of
belonging to a terrorist organization, the Babbar Khalsa, an allegation
which Sogi denies. Since August 2002, Sogi has been held without charge, on
secret evidence, under section 86 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection
Act, which establishes a procedure similar in many respects to the
controversial security certificate. Under this unfair process, he was
declared inadmissable on security grounds, and has been fighting deportation
ever since.

At the end of May of this year, the Ministry of Immigration refused, for the
second time, to grant Sogi "protection" (the right to stay in Canada based
on risk of persecution if deported). On 12 June 2006, Sogi was informed that
he would be deported on 16 June 2006. Sogi applied to the United Nations
Committee against Torture who, on 14 June, asked Canada not to deport him,
pending study of the file.

PLEASE immediately CALL, FAX and EMAIL the two Ministers, and ask them to
intervene to halt the deportation of Sogi Bachan Singh and uphold Canada's
international obligations and the absolute prohibition on deportation to
torture. You can cite the PRRA above and the fact that the UN Committee
against Torture has asked Canada to halt the deportation of Sogi pending
their study of his case.

**Send copies of your letters to us at psi at riseup.net. **

Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Phone: (613) 991-2924 or toll Free in British Columbia 1-800-665-8711
Fax: (613) 952-2240
Email: day.s at parl.gc.ca AND minister at psepc-sppcc.gc.ca AND days5 at parl.gc.ca

Monte Solberg, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Tel: 613-992-4516 (Ottawa) or toll free 1-800-565-4694 (Alberta)
Fax: 613-992-6181
E-mail: solberg.m at parl.gc.ca AND minister at cic.gc.ca AND Solbem5 at parl.gc.ca

Sample letter:

Dear Minister Day,

I strongly urge you to take immediate measures to stop the deportation of
Sogi Bachan Singh. Immigration Canada has stated that Mr. Singh is "at risk
of torture" and "at risk to life or risk of cruel and unusual punishment" if
deported to his country of origin, India, according to a Pre-Removal Risk
Assessment dated August 31, 2005. On June 14, the United Nations Committee
against Torture asked Canada to stay Mr. Singh's deportation
pending their study of his file.

Deportation to torture is never acceptable, under any circumstances. If you
allow this man to be deported to a country where he will very probably be
subjected to torture, and perhaps death, you become an accomplice of his
torturers. Complicity with torture is morally abhorrent. Canada's
international reputation has already been gravely tarnished by complicity in
Maher Arar's rendition to torture, and by the prolonged detention without
public trial of Sogi Bachan Singh and of the five men held under security
certificates.

Please use your discretionary power to stay the deportation of Sogi Bachan
Singh.

Sincerely,

(signature)

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Sogi Bachan Singh Support Committee
tel 514 859 9023 (messages only)
psi at riseup.net