[Bloquez l'empire!] UPDATE ON HUNGER STRIKES AT GUANTANAMO NORTH

[Hungerstrike Support Committee]

(forward from Toronto, tasc at web.ca)

UPDATE ON HUNGER STRIKES AT GUANTANAMO NORTH
AND CALL TO ACTION. Wednesday, 7 February 2007

SITUATION CRITICAL WHILE "PUBLIC SAFETY" MINISTER LOST IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE

"I saw large chocolate sauce." -- Stockwell Day, sounding like a B-movie
actor in a 1950s sci-fi dud, Radio interview about the hunger strike, CINW,
Montreal, Feb. 1

Links to developments in this email:
1. Reality Check: A Six-Point Guide to Countering the Lies and Deceptions
of Stockwell "Chocolate Sauce" Day with respect to the hunger strike,
http://www.homesnotbombs.ca/daylies.htm
2. Amnesty International writes to Day,
http://www.homesnotbombs.ca/amnestytoday.htm
3. Letter from Chinese Canadian Redress Alliance,
http://www.homesnotbombs.ca/chineseredress.htm
4. NDP MP Bill Siksay Questions Stockwell Day in the House of Commons,
http://www.homesnotbombs.ca/siksay.htm
5. Rotating Solidarity Fast Gets Underway,
http://www.homesnotbombs.ca/supportfast.htm
6. Senator Hugh Segal Calls on Government to Negotiate:
http://www.thewhig.com/webapp/sitepages/printable.asp?paper=www.thewhig.com&
cont
entID=393136&annewspapername=The+Kingston+Whig%2DStandard

The Secret Trial Security Certificate detainees - held without charge or
fair trial for up to six and a half years under threat of deportation to
torture - are in their third month of a hunger strike at Canada's
Guantanamo North. Today is day 75 of the hungerstrike for Mahjoub, and day
64 for Hassan Almrei and Mahmoud Jaballah. The three are demanding minor
improvements in prison conditions, including medical care and the
appointment of the Correctional Investigator, an independent ombudsperson,
to investigate complaints.

DAY PREFERS SPIN: Despite a mounting public outcry (see letters referred to
above), the
government continues to expose the men to the risk of death by denying them
daily medical monitoring during the hungerstrike. Rather than intervening
urgently to find a solution, Day and Harper prefer to propagate
misinformation and spin campaigns (see response to six false claims by
Harper and Day at http://www.homesnotbombs.ca/daylies.htm).

VICTORY AT HOUSE COMMITTEE: Thanks in part to the pressure exerted by people
across Canada, a
resolution was passed Tuesday, February 6 by the Standing Committee on
Citizenship and Immigration calling on the federal government to respond to
the crisis by appointing the Office of the Correctional Investigator, a
federal prison ombudsperson, to assume control over Guantanamo North. All
Tories on the committee shamefully voted against the motion. The same motion
will go before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and Emergency
Preparedness on Thursday. It is crucial that calls go to those
committee members calling on them to support the resolution (see below).

==> ACT NOW - THE SITUATION IS CRITICAL

In the next days we are calling for :

1. PUBLIC ACTIONS

There will be numerous actions February 7 protesting the callous and cruel
manner in which Stockwell Day is refusing to negotiate a solution. While on
the one hand he says (falsely) he cannot intervene because the matter is
before the courts, on the other he has invaded the men's privacy by looking
into a fridge and trying to make it sound like the trampling of their
rights is okay because he saw "large chocolate sauce" in that fridge.

Ongoing actions, however, are needed. Actions could take the form of
delegations to present letters to officials, pickets, or theatrical media
actions (orange jumpsuits and chocolate sauce: chocolate sauce in
Guantanamo! or Let Them Eat Chocolate Sauce!) at relevant government
offices.

Actions should highlight the following demands:
a)  Begin providing regular medical monitoring of these three men IN THE
LIVING UNIT, immediately and without conditions.
b)  Immediately appoint the federal Correctional Investigator to negotiate
a solution to the hungerstrike.
c)  After the hungerstrike, act without delay to address the underlying
reasons for the hunger strikes: indefinite detention, denial of a fair
trial, and deportation to torture.

2. CALLS AND FAXES to "Public Safety" Minister Stockwell Day, demanding:

a)  Begin providing regular medical monitoring of these three men IN THE
LIVING UNIT immediately and without conditions.
b)  Immediately appoint the federal Correctional Investigator to negotiate
a solution to the hungerstrike.
c)  After the hungerstrike, act without delay to address the underlying
reasons for the hunger strikes: indefinite detention, denial of a fair
trial and deportation to torture.

* Write or call to:
The Honourable Stockwell Day
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Phone: (613) 995-1702
Fax: 613 952 2240 and Fax: (613) 995.1154
day.s at parl.gc.ca, communications at psepc.gc.ca

*Send a copy of your letter and reports of your actions by email to the
Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, tasc at web.ca.

3. CALLS TO MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC SAFETY STANDING COMMITTEE, urging them to
support the resolution to appoint the federal Correctional Investigator to
negotiate a solution to the hungerstrike. ** Focus, in priority, on Liberals
and Bloc before the
Conservatives -- the NDP member is on side.

Public Safety Committee Members

Name, Party, Constituency, Phone Number
Gary Breitkreuz C, Yorkton-Melville, Sask., 613-992-4394
Gordon BrownC, Leeds-Grenville, Ontario, 613-992-8756
Pat Davidson, C, Edmonton Centre, 613-957-2649
Dave MacKenzie, C, Oxford, Ontario, 613-995-4432
Rick Norlock, C, Northumberland-Quinte, Ontario, 613-992-8585
Sue Barnes, L, London West, Ontario, 613-996-6674
Raymond Chan, L, Richmond, B.C., 613-995-2021
Roy Cullen, L, Etobicoke North, Ontario, 613-995-4702
Irwin Cotler, L, Mount Royal, P.Q., 613-995-0121
Serge Menard, BQ, Marc-Aurele-Fortin, 613-992-2617
Maria Mourani, BQ, Ahuntsic, 613-992-0983
Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor-Tecumseh, Ontario, 613-947-3445

 Breitkreuz.G at parl.gc.ca ; comartin.J at parl.gc.ca ; Cullen.R at parl.gc.ca ;
Barnes.S at parl.gc.ca ; Brown.G at parl.gc.ca  ; Chan.R at parl.gc.ca ;
Cotler.I at parl.gc.ca ;  MacKenzie.D at parl.gc.ca ; Menard.S at parl.gc.ca ;
Mourani.M at parl.gc.ca ; Norlock.R at parl.gc.ca;  Davidp at parl.gc.ca

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Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, tasc at web.ca, (416) 651-5800