[IPSM] A Special Appeal for Courtroom Solidarity! Support the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians in Ottawa. Pack the courtroom! (February 24, 9am)

[No One is Illegal Montreal]

[Please post and forward widely]

-- A Special Appeal for Courtroom Solidarity!

-- Support the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians in Ottawa

-- Pack the courtroom this coming Friday, February 24 at 9am (sharp)


After more than a year-and-a-half of trial, our friends and comrades involved 
with the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians will be receiving a verdict 
this coming FRIDAY, February 24, in Ottawa.

"Guilty" or "not guilty", we stand in solidarity with the protesters who were 
brutally arrested inside then Immigration Minister Denis Coderre's office on 
May 29, 2003 (see backgrounder below for more info).

We strongly encourage all allies and supporters of immigrant rights to attend 
the court verdict next Friday. Mohamed, Djamel, Ben, Tarek, Nourredine, Fawzi, 
Nourdine, Zoheir, Fouad, Jamal, Andrea and Sarita will be receiving their 
collective verdict. Let's make sure they don't stand alone, and are backed by a 
courtroom packed with sympathizers and supporters!

--> If you are from the OTTAWA-GATINEAU area, we encourage you to attend court 
next FRIDAY, February 24. Please be at the Elgin Street Courthouse (161 Elgin 
Street) before 9am, in time for the expected verdict. The verdict will be in 
courtroom # 7. The courtroom session will be short, so we strongly encourage 
Ottawa-area supporters to take the time to attend court.

--> If you're from the MONTREAL-area, No One Is Illegal-Montreal is organizing 
rides to Ottawa next FRIDAY, February 24. The rides will leave no later than 
6:30am on Friday morning, to be on time for the expected verdict at 9am. We 
expect cars to return to Montreal by the early afternoon.

To reserve a place in a car to Ottawa, please phone 514-848-7583 (leave a 
message on the machine please) or e-mail noii-montreal at resist.ca. If you can 
offer a car, or you can drive, please get in touch as well.

In solidarity and struggle,
No One Is Illegal-Montreal.


:::===:::===:::===:::===:::
VERDICT DAY
Elgin Street Courthouse,
161 Elgin Street
OTTAWA
Friday, February 24, 2006
9 AM SHARP - Courtroom 7
:::===:::===:::===:::===:::


-- A verdict will be rendered in the case of non-status Algerians and 
supporters brutally arrested in the Immigration Minister's waiting room

-- Please show your support for the defendants; help us fill the court.


:::===:::===:::
BACKGROUND
  :::===:::===:::


THE STRUGGLE

The Action Committee for Non-Status Algerians has been organizing against the 
deportation of non-status Algerians for over three years. Their struggle 
intensified in April 2002, when then-Immigration Minister Denis Coderre lifted 
the moratorium on deportations to Algeria, leaving over 1000 non-status 
Algerians facing removal to a country still torn by civil conflict and brutal 
violence.

In October 2002, their dynamic struggle won a partial victory. After months of 
public meetings, petitions, demonstrations, meetings with immigration 
bureaucrats -- and after the Bourouisa family sought sanctuary in a Montreal 
Church -- Immigration Canada and Immigration Quebec announced the 
implementation of a special Joint Procedure for the regularization of some 
non-status Algerians.  However, numerous individuals are excluded from that 
regularization procedure, and so the Action Committee has continued to fight 
for justice.

On Thursday, May 29th 2003, 10 non-status Algerians and 2 supporters from the 
No One Is Illegal Campaign of Montreal entered the waiting room of Coderre's 
Ottawa office.  They were delivering a letter demanding a face-to-face meeting 
with the Minister and a just solution for individuals facing deportation to 
Algeria because they are excluded from the regularization process put into 
place by Canada and Quebec Immigration. Since Coderre had repeatedly refused to 
meet or dialogue with members of the Action Committee, those delivering the 
letter decided to remain in the waiting room until he committed to the meeting.


THE CRIME

The police response to the action was brutal. At approximately 10:30 PM, 
members of the Ottawa Police Services tactical squad, in coordination with the 
RCMP, charged the people occupying the waiting room.  After forcing them to the 
ground, the police beat and Tasered many of the men on their necks, backs, 
torsos and genitals.  One man was bashed in the head with the butt of a Taser 
gun, leaving a large and bloody gash on his forehead. Another man's tooth was 
broken when he was punched in the face by a police officer. Several men 
received Taser burns on the backs of their neck, backs and arms. These wounds 
have resulted in permanent scarring.  The 12 individuals were arrested, charged 
with mischief over $5,000, and released from jail the next day.


THE TRIAL

Almost one year to the day after the police attacked the unarmed protesters 
peacefully waiting in the immigration minister's waiting room, the people they 
brutalized went to trial in Ottawa court. For three weeks in June 2004, Judge 
Ann Alder presided as Crown David El Hadad called witnesses from different 
policing and "security" institutions, some of whom testified with chilling 
detachment and lack of concern to the violence perpetrated against the 
non-status men during the arrest. (One Ottawa Police Services officer referred 
to punching a man in the head as "using the closed handed technique.") The 
trial continued for a further three weeks in February and March 2005.

The trial resumed for closing arguments on November 17, 2005. Thirty-four 
months after the brutal takedown, and over a year and a half after the trial 
began, the judge will announce her verdict on February 24, 2006, iat the Elgin 
Street Courthouse, 9am sharp.

---
INFO:
noii-montreal at resist.ca - 514-848-7583
http://www.solidarityacrossborders.org