[mobglob-discuss] Hunger strike begins today to call government's attention to plight of Iranians

[Alan Ward]

HUNGER STRIKE BEGINS TODAY
TO CALL GOVERNMENT'S ATTENTION
TO PLIGHT OF IRANIANS

EARLY AFTERNOON TODAY Friday January 6th 2005, three Iranian-Canadians
started an indefinite hunger strike to urge the Canadian government to stop
deporting people back to Iran.

They sit huddled against the cold in front of the Removals Section of
Immigration Canada on the 300 block of West Georgia, the complex that also
houses Vancouver’s main public library.

THE HUNGER STRIKERS WANT the Canadian government to recognize that Iran is
not a safe country.  The group wants deportations to Iran stopped, and all
rejected refugee cases reopened and reconsidered on humanitarian and
compassionate grounds.  They also want amnesty for those Iranians who went
into hiding after receiving deportation orders.

“MY BROTHER FLED TO CANADA AFTER RECEIVING 80 TO 90 LASHES,” says hunger
striker Mohammad Monemi, “and now they are deporting him back.”

Mohammad’s brother is Alireza  Monemi.  Alireza is a young man who had been
living in Canada for six years and who was arrested and deported today while
his grieving parents held a placard that begged their son be allowed to
stay.

Alireza arrived in Canada at 21 seeking refugee status after being seized by
Iranian police and tortured while in prison for having dated a woman who
unbeknownst to him happened to be married.  Alireza was said to have
violated the Iranian government’s medieval standards of conduct and for that
was treated in a barbaric fashion.

“They gave him 80 to 90 lashes.  He could not breathe,” reports Alireza’s
brother Mohammad (22).  “I have seen the lines on his back, the scars where
they lashed him.  A doctor told Immigration that Alireza had been lashed
with a leathered fabric that left him unable to breathe well.  That’s when
his asthma problem started.”

Alireza had no criminal record and was working for Sportscheck as a customer
representative when he was deported by Immigration Canada.  He leaves his
whole family in Canada.  Both his parents and his brothers and sisters are
Canadian citizens and are established here.   “He liked to swim, read, play
volleyball and soccer.   He was a hard working guy who wanted a new life in
Canada,” says Mohammad.

KARIM ZIBARAM, ANOTHER ONE OF THE HUNGER STRIKERS, HAS A BROTHER IN LAW IN
HIDING and wants him amnestied.  Karim’s brother in law is Gholam Reza
Sarab, a professional welder and a member of the Iranian national kayaking
team, who has lived in Canada since early 2000.  Reza Sarab fled Iran to
escape political persecution, but was ordered deported last year.

ATROCITIES LEFT UNREPORTED, or reported and then forgotten, are allowing the
Canadian government to turn a blind eye to the systematic human rights
violations taking place in Iran.

HOW CAN OUR GOVERNMENT CONTINUE to send people back to Iran after the death
of Zara Kazemi, the Canadian journalist assassinated for taking photos of
Iranian prisons?

WE CONSTANTLY HEAR OF YOUNG WOMEN WHO ARE STONED TO DEATH for not having
adhered to a backward code of morality that enslaves the citizens of that
country.  Iranians suffer imprisonment and often lose their lives doing
things that are entirely legal and expected here in Canada.

Iran is a place where torture is used to obtain confessions.

WHY IS THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT NOT DENOUNCING Iran’s callous treatment of
its citizens instead of doing business with Iran?

What does our foreign policy tell us of our own government’s respect for
human life?

THERE ARE PICTURES OF THE SCARS LEFT BY THE WHIP on the backs of Iranians
who have been sent back to Iran, and those who only suffer the whip are the
lucky ones.

HALEH SAHBA WAS SENT BACK A MONTH AGO.  Her father, a Canadian citizen,
accompanied her.  She was incarcerated, questioned, released on bail, and
left with the impression they may come and arrest her any time.  She is not
allowed to change her place of residence and now lives in perpetual fear.

Justice is needed now!

WRITE to the Minister of Immigration Honourable Judy Sgro, Parliament Hill
Office, RM. 207, Confederation Bldg., House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A
9A8  <Email:  sgroj at parl.gc.ca>
Send a copy to Prime Minister The Right Honourable Paul Martin   Email:
Martin.P at parl.gc.ca

GO SEE THE STRIKERS
“Come down to see what is going on here,” says Mohammad Monemi.  “We sit in
the cold weather because we want to save Iranian lives.   I don’t want to be
in this condition but I’m here because of my brother’s safety, to make him
free.   I want people to come down here, be with us, stand with us, and help
out in this matter.”

You may reach Kevin Saheli at 604-961-9294, refugeebc at hotmail.com   or
Mohammad Monemi at 604-728-8164, armonemi at yahoo.ca

________________________________________________
Released by
Alicia Barsallo, teacher and former candidate to the NDP nomination in
Vancouver-Kingsway; Andrew Adler, professor of Mathematics and former member
of the Vancouver-Kingsway NDP Executive, and  Arlene Schimmelpfennig, health
care worker and former president of the Vancouver-Kingsway NDP Executive