[van-announce] Fw: Your Urgent Support for Mohammed Cherfi Is Needed

[Palestine Community Centre]

**Organized by No One Is Illegal**
> ** Please Distribute Widely**
>
> NATIONAL DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH MOHAMMED CHERFI
>
> This is the first time in Canadian history that church sanctuary has
> been
> violated. We cannot remain indifferent.
>
> Come out to demand the return of Mohammed Cherfi to his home and to
> denounce the actions of the Quebec City police, Quebec Immigration
> Minister Michele Courchesne, federal Immigration Minister Judy Sgro and
> federal Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan (responsible for the Border
> Services Agency), for their role in violating the sanctuary of the
> Saint-Pierre United Church in Quebec City, and in summarily deporting
> Mohamed Cherfi to the United States.
>
> JUSTICE FOR ALL REFUGEES!
>
> <><><><><><><><><><><>
>
> TUESDAY MARCH 9
> 300 WEST GEORGIA (CIC OFFICES)
> VANCOUVER
> EMERGENCY RALLY AND PRESS CONFERENCE
> 12:30 PM- 2:00 PM
>
> <><><><><><><><><><><><>
>
>
> Please bring noise makers, banners and placards demanding the return
> of Mohammed Cherfi.
> * If you or your group endorses the demand to return Mohammed home,
> please
> email NOII-Vancouver by Monday March 8 night. We strongly encourage
> other
> groups to collect signatures demanding the return of Mohammed Cherfi and
> to bring them to CIC on Tuesday.
>
> No One is Illegal-Vancouver
> In vancouver, contact harsha at riseup.net or call 604-221-0273
>
> _____________________________________________________________________
>
>
> -- A Solidarity Committee for Mohamed is active in Quebec City. They can
> be
> reached at 418-262-0144 or solimo2004 at yahoo.fr. They also maintain a
> website in French at http://www.mohamed.levillage.org
>
> -- The No One Is Illegal Campaign in Montreal can be reached at
> nooneisillegal at tao.ca or 514-859-9023
>
>
>
> ---> AN APPEAL BY THE ACTION COMMITTEE OF NON-STATUS ALGERIANS
>
> BRING MOHAMED HOME!
> A NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION - MARCH 9, 2004
>
> Please post and forward widely
> Saturday, March 6, 2004
>
> Yesterday, dozens of police officers forcibly entered a Quebec City
> church
> to arrest a non-status Algerian refugee, Mohamed Cherfi. Within hours,
> Mohamed was deported to the United States and is now in a prison cell.
>
> The Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians and their supporters are
> calling for demonstrations at the offices of Immigration Canada and the
> new Border Services Agency. At present, we are expecting demonstrations
> in
> Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. We encourage actions and
> demos across the country.
>
> WE WILL BE DEMANDING: the regularization of all non-status Algerians; an
> end to deportations; a return of the moratorium on deportations to
> Algeria; the return of Mohamed Cherfi to Canada from the United States
>
> WE WILL ALSO BE DENOUNCING: the Quebec City police, Quebec Immigration
> Minister Michele Courchesne, federal Immigration Minister Judy Sgro and
> federal Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan (responsible for the Border
> Services Agency), for their role in violating the sanctuary of the
> Saint-Pierre United Church in Quebec City, and in summarily deporting
> Mohamed Cherfi to the United States.
>
> If you are outraged by the violation of sanctuary at the Saint-Pierre
> United Church, we encourage you also to express your anger, politely but
> firmly, to Ministers Michelle Courchesne (Immigration Quebec), Judy Sgro
> (Immigration Canada) and Anne McLellan (Public Security Minister,
> responsible for the Border Services Agency). Please re-iterate the basic
> demands of the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians, and demand also
> the return of Mohamed Cherfi to Canada. You can write, fax or phone the
> ministers at the following addresses :
>
> Michelle Courchesne
> Cabinet de la ministre
> Ministere des Relations avec les citoyens et de l'Immigration
> Edifice Gerald-Godin
> 360, rue McGill, 4e Žtage
> Montreal (Quebec)  H2Y 2E9
> Fax: (514) 864-2899
> Tel: (514) 873-9940
> E-mail: cabinet at mrci.gouv.qc.ca
>
> Judy Sgro, P.C., M.P.
> Citizenship and Immigration Canada
> Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1L1
> Fax: 613-947-8319
> Tel: 613-992-7774
> E-mail: Minister at cic.gc.ca
>
> Anne McLellan, P.C., M.P.
> Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
> c/o Solicitor General of Canada
> Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6
> Fax: 613-990-9077
> Tel: 613-991-2924
> E-mail: McClellan.A at parl.gc.ca
>
> -----
>
> BACKGROUND :
> For background, we have included :
>
> 1) Recent press coverage
> 2) An English translation of the most recent press release by the
> Solidarity Committee for Mohamed Cherfi in Quebec City (March 6, 2004);
> 3) Statement by Mohamed Cherfi on taking sanctuary (February 18, 2004);
> 4) The text of a flyer that will be used in the Montreal-area to
> mobilize
> around MohamedÕs case (dated March 7, 2004)
> -----
>
>
> Cops storm church
> Nab asylum-seeker in Quebec City
> March 6, 2004
>
> ALLISON HANES
> The Gazette
>
> PHOTO: Mohamed Cherfi jokes with Smail Behlouli and Kamel Dilmi after
> Cherfi was released from jail last spring. The Algerian activist was
> taken
> from a Quebec City church yesterday by police.
>
> CREDIT: FROM GAZETTE FILES
>
> Quebec City police violated a centuries-old tradition of safe harbour
> yesterday
> when they barged into a church and dragged out Mohamed Cherfi, an
> Algerian
> activist who had taken refuge there last month to avoid deportation to
> his
> war-torn homeland.
>
> There is no law protecting people seeking sanctuary in a church, but
> this is
> believed to be the first time in Canadian history authorities have
> pounced
> on a
> person seeking asylum on sacred ground.
>
> Within the hour, Cherfi had been handed over to Canadian Border Security
> Agency
> authorities. And by the end of day, he had been turned over to U.S.
> authorities.
>
> Although there was a Canada-wide warrant for his arrest issued by
> immigration
> authorities for failing to show up for deportation last month, Cherfi,
> 35,
> was
> picked up yesterday for breaking bail conditions.
>
> They were imposed last year after he was arrested during a sit-in at the
> Quebec
> immigration minister's office.
>
> Cherfi's supporters, as well as groups that work with immigrants and
> refugees,
> expressed outrage, saying they fear a nasty precedent has been set.
>
> "It's shocking. It's shameful. It's scandalous," said a shell-shocked
> Rev.
> Gerald
> Dore, the pastor at the parish that had offered Cherfi safe haven.
> "They've
> violated the tradition of sanctuary for what? For a summary offence."
>
> Just before 12:30 p.m., there was a knock at the door of Eglise Unie St.
> Pierre in
> the old city, where Cherfi, 35, had been holed up since Feb. 18.
>
> David Moffette, a member of the support committee that had sprung up in
> solidarity
> with Cherfi, opened the door and found 10 burly police officers staring
> at
> him.
>
> They stormed in and immediately descended on Cherfi, pushing him into
> his
> small,
> book-filled bedroom in the basement where he'd been sleeping on an
> inflatable
> mattress.
>
> They emerged moments later with Cherfi in handcuffs and marched him out
> the door.
>
> "Mr. Cherfi was almost mute," Moffette recounted less than an hour after
> his
> friend had been spirited away. "I never thought they'd go this far. This
> is
> shameful."
>
> Cherfi is a well-known activist who protested and was arrested three
> times
> fighting for the right of his compatriots to stay in Canada after a
> moratorium on
> deportation to Algeria was lifted in 2002.
>
> Feb. 18, the day he sought sanctuary in the church, Cherfi said he
> suspected his
> activism had undermined his refugee claim.
>
> But he said he also feared his outspokenness here would make him a
> target of
> persecution, torture or even execution should he be forced to return
> home.
>
> Quebec City police were saying little yesterday.
>
> "We knew from media reports that Mr. Cherfi was located in a church on
> our
> territory. We had a warrant for his arrest and we executed the warrant
> this
> afternoon," police spokesperson Jean-Francois Vezina said.
>
> When asked how carefully police had considered the consequences of
> violating the
> tradition of sanctuary, Vezina said simply: "I don't have any
> information on
> that."
>
> Robert Gervais, a spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration Canada,
> confirmed
> Cherfi was in the hands of department authorities as of 1 p.m.
> yesterday.
>
> He said the Canadian Border Security Agency did not initiate the arrest.
>
> "They arrested him for one reason and he was handed over to us for
> another
> reason," Gervais said.
>
> As for whether tolerance has run out for four other families in Canada
> currently
> seeking sanctuary in churches, Gervais said each case is judged on its
> own
> merits.
>
> "We've never said we wouldn't intervene in a church. We have only said
> that,
> depending on the case, we would wait until the person decided to respect
> Canadian
> law and come out," he said.
>
> Immigration officials got the municipal police to do their dirty work
> for
> them,
> said Darryl Gray, co-ordinator of the Sanctuary Committee and the
> minister
> at
> Union United, a Little Burgundy church that is harbouring a refugee
> family.
>
> "It's backhanded," Gray said. "What they've done is tell people they are
> no longer
> safe in churches. This is going to drive people underground, which is
> the
> last
> thing we wanted."
>
> ahanes at thegazette.canwest.com
>
> ----------
>
> Churches now refugees' last stand
> Tradition goes back to 4th century. Houses of worship see a resurgence
> of
> desperate immigrants seeking sanctuary
>
> ALLISON HANES
> The Gazette
>
>
> Saturday, March 06, 2004
>
> PHOTO: Sympathizers of Mohamed Cherfi, an Algerian who was taken out of
> a
> Quebec
> City church and handed over to U.S. authorities yesterday for possible
> deportation, protest in front of Quebec City police headquarters
> yesterday.
>
> CREDIT: ALAIN LESIEUR, JOURNAL DE QUEBEC
>
> Mohamed Cherfi followed in the footsteps of many desperate deportees
> before him by taking refuge in a Quebec City church last month.
>
> But he became the first in the country's history to be dragged from his
> sanctuary in handcuffs yesterday.
>
> Cherfi, who came to Canada through the United States in 1998, has fought
> against the deportation of hundreds of his compatriots since a
> moratorium
> on repatriation to Algeria was lifted in 2002.
>
> After much public pressure, the federal and Quebec governments came to
> an
> agreement that has allowed 499 of 513 Algerian claimants to stay since
> 2002 - or 93 per cent.
>
> But Cherfi's arrest at many of the demonstrations that helped bring
> about
> the special arrangement may have hurt his own chanced of being accepted.
>
> Recently, sanctuary on hallowed ground - a tradition that dates to the
> 4th
> century - has seen a resurgence, especially in Montreal.
>
> Last weekend, three Palestinians, brothers Khalil and Nabil Ayoub and
> Nabil's wife, Therese Boulos Haddad, found a safe harbour at Notre Dame
> de
> Grace Church to avoid removal to Lebanon.
>
> Last August, Menen Ayele, an Ethopian mother, and her three children
> took
> refuge in Little Burgundy's Union United Church, to avoid torture and
> jail
> in their homeland
>
> A month earlier, Colombians Alvaro Vega, his wife, Mireya, and their
> daughter, Maria, holed up in Montreal's St. Andrew-Norwood United Church
> after their claims for refugee status were refused.
>
> The same month, a 50-year-old Bangladeshi man, Samsu Mia, took up
> residence in the cramped janitor's closet of the First Unitarian
> Congregation in Ottawa.
>
> Earlier in the year, Ololade Labiym sought safety in Calgary's St.
> Cecilia's Catholic Church to avoid returning to Nigeria, where she
> feared
> her daughters would be subjected to ritual female genital mutilation.
>
> Last year, Mourad Bourouisa and Yakout Seddiki captured attention when
> immigration authorities ruled the couple had to leave Canada but their
> 2-year-old son Ahmed could stay.
>
> After they hid in a church basement for weeks, a special program for
> Algerian claimants was set up by Quebec and federal immigration
> officials
> to speed up resolution of their cases.
>
>
>
>
> ---> PRESS RELEASE BY THE SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE FOR MOHAMED CHERFI
> (QUEBEC
> CITY)
>
> It's not too late: Bring Mohamed Home!
> The Canadian authorities have this power, let's make them use it
>
> Saturday March 6 2004
> (translated from the original French)
>
> Quebec City, March 6 2004 - The Solidarity Committee for Mohamed Cherfi
> and Pastor Gerald Dore of the Saint-Pierre United Church denounce the
> summary arrest of Mohamed Cherfi, Algerian refugee. Mohamed Cherfi had
> been in sanctuary at Saint-Pierre United Church since February 10 in
> order
> to avoid deportation to Algeria where he fears for his life.
>
> This arrest breaks a longstanding secular tradition of right to
> sanctuary,
> the first time such an outrage has occurred in Canada.
>
> "The United Church, on whose ground Mohamed Cherfi had taken refuge,
> considers it a moral duty to offer asylum to any person whose life is
> endanger if the State does not fulfil its responsibilities," said Gerald
> Dore. The event is all the more significant considering that only a
> political decision could have prompted such an intervention.
>
> This is an undeniable case of miscarriage of justice on the part of the
> authorities of Quebec and Canada. A warrant for arrest was emitted by
> the
> Municial court of Montreal - under the absurd pretext that in taking
> sanctuary, Cherfi changed his address without informing the authorities
> -
> and then immediately withdrawn upon Cherfi's arrest. All this in order
> to
> illegally arrest and detain Cherfi without ever allowing him his right
> to
> defend himself in a court of law. What seems at first glance to be an
> ordinary police operation, seems upon further examination to be an abuse
> of the rule of law, orchestrated by high-level officials in order to
> silence a strong defender of human rights. This is the gravest (though
> not
> the first) in a series of arbitrary and questionable practices in the
> case
> of Mohamed Cherfi, practices which are not worthy of a state committed
> to
> democracy and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms. All this
> against a person whose only crime is to have defended justice publicly
> and
> courageously.
>
> "He thought he had found a country where freedom of _expression, of
> association and of assembly were respected, unlike his country of origin
> Algeria," said Louise Boivin, Cherfi's partner. What is now at issue is
> to
> ensure that the government authorities will respect the most fundamental
> rights and freedoms of a democratic society.
>
> The ministers concerned still have the power to reverse their decision
> and
> accord to Mohamed Cherfi his fundamental rights, as upheld in the
> international conventions to which Canada is a signatory. We call on
> Michelle Courchesne, who is Quebec's Minister for Citizen Relations and
> Immigration and who has spent the past months consulting with the public
> to determine the positions of her government in matters of immigration.
> What message do we send to immigrants with procedures like this?
>
> We call on the federal authorities to ensure a rapid return of Mohamed
> Cherfi to Canada, on the basis of the most obvious humanitarian
> considerations. Ministers Judy Sgro (Immigration) and Anne McLellan
> (Public Safety), Minister Denis Coderre (Privy Council Minister who
> ensures the coordination between these two departments) and Prime
> Minister
> Paul Martin, have the power to intervene with American officials and
> allow
> Mohamed to return home to Canada. These officials have the power and the
> duty to intervene.
>
>
> ---> STATEMENT BY MOHAMED CHERFI ON TAKING SANCTUARY
>
> Statement by Mohamed Cherfi
> February 18, 2004
> Saint-Pierre United Church, Quebec City
> (translated from the original French)
>
> I, Mohamed Cherfi, have taken sanctuary in the Saint-Pierre United
> Church
> in Quebec City, rather than presenting myself for an appointment at the
> offices of Immigration Canada in Montreal last February 10. I risked
> being
> put into detention due to my refusal to collaborate with a deportation
> that would put my life in danger. It is not with a cheerful heart that I
> have come to take this step; it was the only option possible so that I
> could continue to try to convince the public and immigration authorities
> of the need for protection, while at the same time assuring my personal
> safety. The Canadian immigration authorities had a warrant for my
> deportation to the United States, the country from which I entered
> Canada.
> The American authorities would put me in detention until my deportation
> to
> Algeria.
>
> As asserted in a letter by Lucie Lemonde -- the Vice-President of the
> International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (la Federation
> internationale des ligues des droits de l'Homme, FIDH) -- recognizing my
> need for protection: my deportation to Algeria via the United States
> will
> put my life in danger due to the systematic violation of human rights
> (disappearances, torture, imprisonment) that have taken place,
> principally
> against the defenders of human rights. For having been the spokesperson
> of
> the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians for almost two years, and
> having publicly expressed criticisms against the Algerian regime, I am
> exposed to serious risks.
>
> The report that the FIDH will submit to the UN Human Rights Commission
> in
> March, brings attention to the dramatic situation in Algeria, where a
> civil conflict that has lasted for more than ten years has resulted in
> 150,000 deaths and more than 7000 disappearances. The state of emergency
> continues, which allows for the systematic violation of human rights.
> Moreover, the Algerian authorities have refused access to the UN Special
> Rapporteur on Human Rights, the FIDH and other organizations, so that
> they
> may investigate the situation.
>
> I asked for political refuge in Canada as a conscientious objector,
> having
> refused to do compulsory military service that would have forced me into
> the civil conflict in Algeria. Like numerous other people who are
> refugees
> from war and do not manage to have their political status recognized, I
> suffered a refusal as a refugee claimant. Still, I was temporarily
> protected from removal by a moratorium on deportations to Algeria put
> into
> effect by the Canadian government between March 1997 and April 2002, due
> to the assertive presence of 1060 asylum seekers of Algerian origin. In
> the face of our imminent deportation, we came together as the Action
> Committee of Non-Status Algerians, of which I was the main spokesperson.
>
> In October 2002, the Quebec and Canadian immigration authorities finally
> put into place a procedure to regularize Algerians who were no longer
> protected by the moratorium. However, this process was based on the
> process of selection, and not on the assurance of protection from
> deportation to a country in conflict. Moreover, the selection process
> was
> based on criteria linked to an evaluation of our ability to "integrate"
> into Quebec society, a very ambiguous and arbitrary process, in
> particular
> for war refugees who have lived for years without status and with the
> continual anxiety of being eventually deported.
>
> I have found myself, at the end of the day, among the people refused
> within the framework of the selection procedure, with the explanation
> that
> I lack "integration" into Quebec society. Even while the Quebec
> Immigration Minister -- Michelle Courchesne -- consented to review my
> file
> and the file of other refused claimants, and even before her negative
> response was conveyed to me on January 22, I received a notice from
> federal authorities that would begin the process of my deportation.
>
> I ask today that the Canadian and Quebec immigration authorities give me
> protection by according me the status to live in Canada, in
> consideration
> of the civil conflict in Algeria and the risk of my deportation to
> Algeria
> via the United States. These risks are linked to the fact that I was the
> spokesperson of the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians for almost
> two years, and in Algeria, the defenders of human rights are prime
> targets.
>
> -- Mohamed Cherfi
> -----
>
>
> ---> TEXT OF FLYER TO BE USED IN THE MONTREAL-AREA
>
> BRING MOHAMED HOME!
> SOLIDARITY WITH CANADA'S NON-STATUS ALGERIANS
>
> Sunday, March 7, 2004
>
> Mohamed Cherfi, a non-status Algerian who has resided in Canada for six
> years, was deported to the United States this past Friday. His sanctuary
> inside the Saint-Pierre United Church was violated when at least 15
> police
> forcibly entered to arrest him. Without any sort of due process, Mohamed
> was deported to the United States where he now sits in a prison cell.
>
> Mohamed was an outspoken member of the Action Committee of Non-Status
> Algerians, and their spokesperson. Due in large part to the tireless
> work
> of Mohamed, hundreds of non-status Algerians were regularized in Quebec
> as
> immigrants.
>
> However, Mohamed was himself refused as an immigrant to Quebec on the
> pretext that he was not adequately "integrated". Mohamed is a fluent
> speaker of French and trained as a French teacher.
>
> Here are some details concerning the work of Mohamed Cherfi in the past
> two years:
>
> * He was the person who accompanied people living underground to
> Immigration Canada to have warrants for their arrest and deportation
> orders revoked.
>         (A lawyer's work: $300 per person.)
>
> * He was the person who volunteered to fill out the applications of more
> than fifty non-status Algerians in need, most of whom were subsequently
> accepted.
>         (A lawyer's work: $1,500 per person.)
>
> * He was the person who put his body and soul into work for the Action
> Committee every day for the past 2 yearas.
>         (A community organizer's work: $30,000 per year.)
>
> * He was the person who raised public awareness about the injustice
> faced
> by his compatriots.
>         (A Coordinator of Public Relations' work: $40,000 per year.)
>
> * He is the person affectionately called the guardian angel of
> non-status
> Algerians, the public scribe, the psychologist for those in distress,
> and
> finally, the friend.
>         ($: invaluable.)
>
> * He is the person who found himself in jail 3 times in 6 months for his
> involvement in the Action Committee for Non-Status Algerians. He and
> others were chained up, beaten and brutally arrested during a peaceful
> demonstration in Minister CoderreÕs offices last May 29th, in solidarity
> with those excluded from the regularisation procedure (See photo: Burns
> with electrical shocks from Taser guns that Mohamed and others
> received.)
> Prior to this struggle, Mohamed did not have a criminal record and had
> never had any contact with police.
>
>
> Like Mohamed, approximately 150 men, women and children have been
> rejected
> and will be deported to Algeria if we remain indifferent.
>
> We demand the immediate return of Mohamed Cherfi, and denounce the
> actions
> of Immigration Canada, Immigration Quebec, the Ministry of Public
> Security
> and the Quebec City Police. Moreover, we re-iterate the original demands
> of the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians: the regularization of
> all
> non-status persons; an end to deportations; the return of the moratorium
> on deportations to Algeria.
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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