[van-announce] DATE CHANGE: IN SUPPORT OF MOHAMED CHERFI

Wed Mar 17 14:48:56 PST 2004

PLEASE NOTE DATE CHANGE FOR THE NEXT RALLY: IT WILL NOW BE NEXT
FRI MARCH 26 @ 3 PM. WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE ALL SUPPORTERS TO ATTEND THE
RALLY TO ENSURE THE RETURN OF MOHAMED.

ALSO, NOII IS INVOLVED IN THE ORGANIZING OF THE RALLY ON MARCH 20 IN
HONOUR OF THE GUSTAFSEN LAKE DEFENDERS. PLEASE COME OUT IN SUPPORT OF
INDIGENOUS STRUGGLES ON THIS LAND.

in solidarity, NOII collective

BRING MOHAMED CHERFI HOME !!!

WHAT PEOPLE CAN DO TO HELP

BELOW IS INFORMATION ON THE RALLY AND SUPPORT LETTERS

Cities across Canada demonstrated on March 9 and March 12 to demand the
return of Mohamed Cherfi and there is mounting support from churches,
union, political parties for his return to his home. Reports from various
cities can be found at www.cmaq.net

WE MUST CONTINUE TO PRESSURE THE GOVERNMENT!!!

Demonstrations are being coordinated again for the coming weeks.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><
VANCOUVER
CIC OFFICES 300 WEST GEORGIA

FRIDAY MARCH 26 @ 3 PM

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Please bring pots, pans, drum and placards demanding that return of Mohamed.

For more information, contact No One is Illegal-Vancouver at
noii-van at resist.ca

* Background information on Mohamed's case is available, in English and
French, at http://clac.taktic.org (click on "No One Is Illegal" on the left).

* The Solidarity Committee for Mohamed Cherfi maintains an updated
website, mainly in French, at: http://www.mohamed.levillage.org

Below are THREE sample letters that we encourage everyone to fax/email to
demand the return of Mohamed Cherfi.

* The first letter is a sample letter to be sent to the Minister of
Immigration and the Minister of the Public Safety of Canada.

* The second letter is for the BICE (Bureau of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement - the old INS) Regional Director in the US to demand that
Mohamed Cherfi be released on bond and NOT be removed to Algeria.

* The third letter is a standard letter to be sent to individual local
MP’s in Canada encouraging them to pressure the government directly about
Mohamed’s return.

Please take a quick minute to send this letters. We will bring Mohamed
home !!!

________________________________________________________________________

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: McLellan.A at parl.gc.ca

March 9, 2004

Honourable :

I would like to draw your particular attention to the case of Mohamed
Cherfi. Mohamed Cherfi had been in sanctuary at Saint-Pierre United Church
in Quebec City since February 10 in order to avoid deportation to Algeria
where he fears for his life. On Friday March 7, dozens of police officers
forcibly entered a Quebec City church to arrest Mohamed Cherfi. Within
hours, Mohamed was deported to the United States and is now in a prison
cell. This is the first time in Canadian history that church sanctuary has
been violated. This arrest breaks a longstanding secular tradition of
right to sanctuary, the first time such an outrage has occurred in Canada.

Mohamed asked for political refuge in Canada as a conscientious objector,
having refused to do compulsory military service that would have forced
him into the civil conflict in 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) – there is a need for protection for Mohamed: a deportation
to Algeria via the United States will put his 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. 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.

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".

I urge you to consider the mounting support for Mohamed Cherfi from
various church groups, unions, student groups, womens groups, media
outlets, members of political parties, and community organizations.
Mohamed is being targeted as a human rights defender and the violation of
sanctuary sets a dangerous precedent that effectively sends a message to
those fighting for their rights that if they do so, they will be targeted
and deported. This is an undeniable case of miscarriage of justice on the
part of the authorities of Quebec and Canada that lead to the violation
the sanctuary of the Saint-Pierre United Church in Quebec City and
resulting in the deportation of Mohamed Cherfi to the United States.
Mohamed Cherfi must be brought back home.

Sincerely,

March 6th, 2004

CALL/ FAX US IMMIGRATION

Jim Creahan
Field Office Director, Buffalo
Office of Detentions and Removals
130 Delaware Avenue,
Buffalo, NY 14202
Phone: 716 551 4741 ext 2531
Fax: 716 551 3131

Dear Jim Creahan:

I have recently learned that Mohamed Cherfi, a reputable and upright
Quebecois community member, has been transferred to your authority by
Canadian officials.  I am greatly alarmed by the nature of his arrest, as
he was forcibly removed from his place of sanctuary in Saint-Pierre Church
by Quebec Police in Canada. Furthermore, I am extremely disturbed by the
possibility of his removal to Algeria by your office. Therefore, I am
writing to petition for his immediate release on bond and demand that your
office not remove Mr. Cherfi to Algeria.

I stand by Mr. Cherfi and his courageous struggle to win landed status not
only on his own behalf but for the sizable community of non-status
Algerians living in Montreal who face deportation, danger, and potential
death after the Canadian government lifted a moratorium on deportations to
Algeria several years ago.  I stand by Mr. Cherfi in his fight to stay and
live in safety in Canada, a right to which he is entitled.  I also condemn
the tactics of the Canadian state and their overt targeting of Mr. Cherfi
as an outspoken and tireless leader in the just struggle for a life with
humanity and dignity for Algerian immigrants.  Any action on your part to
facilitate Mr. Cherfi’s removal would be a moral outrage and I urge you
not to pursue this action.

The manner in which the Canadian police arrested Mr. Cherfi is highly
questionable and problematic.  The allegation that Mr. Cherfi violated a
special condition that specified he live in Montreal by seeking refuge in
a Quebec City Church is greatly flawed.  The operation by Canadian state
forces has sent a clear signal that Immigration Canada and their police
agents have violated an understood policy of church sanctuary – the final
place of refuge to which people seeking asylum are forced to turn.

I would like to reassert that I am greatly alarmed by the actions of
Canadian immigration officials and maintain that any collaboration or
facilitation by US immigration officials in Mr. Cherfi’s removal would be
highly unjust and morally reprehensible.  Therefore, once again I urge you
to release Mr. Cherfi on bond and not facilitate his removal to Algeria.

Sincerely,

________________________________________________________________________

A list of MP’s can be found at the site
http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/senmemb/house/members/CurrentMemberList.asp?Language=E&Parl=37&Ses=3&Sect=hoccur&Order=PersonOfficialLastName

or by going to http://canada.gc.ca/main_e.html and clicking on “my mp” on
the left panel.

Please write to your MP to encourage them to intervene in the case of
Mohamed Cherfi and take action to bring Mohamed home.

March 9 204

Dear

I would like to draw your particular attention to the case of Mohamed Cherfi.

Mohamed Cherfi had been in sanctuary at Saint-Pierre United Church in
Quebec City since February 10 in order to avoid deportation to Algeria
where he fears for his life. On Friday March 7, 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. This is the first time in Canadian
history that church sanctuary has been violated. This arrest breaks a
longstanding secular tradition of right to sanctuary, the first time such
an outrage has occurred in Canada.

Mohamed asked for political refuge in Canada as a conscientious objector,
having refused to do compulsory military service that would have forced
him into the civil conflict in Algeria, 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.

Like numerous other people who are refugees from war and do not manage to
have their political status recognized, Mohamed suffered a refusal as a
refugee claimant. Algerian non-status were 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 imminent deportation in April 2002, the Action Committee of Non-Status
Algerians came together, of which he was a 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.. 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". Even while the Quebec
Immigration Minister -- Michelle Courchesne -- consented to review
Mohamed’s file and the file of other refused claimants, and even before
her negative response was conveyed to Mohamed on January 22, he received a
notice from federal authorities that would begin the process of his
deportation.

Mohamed is being targeted as a human rights defender and the violation of
sanctuary sets a dangerous precedent that effectively sends a message to
those fighting for their rights that if they do so, they will be targeted
and deported. This is an undeniable case of miscarriage of justice on the
part of the authorities of Quebec and Canada that lead to the violation
the sanctuary of the Saint-Pierre United Church in Quebec City and
resulting in the deportation of Mohamed Cherfi to the United States.

There is mounting support for Mohamed Cherfi from various church groups
such as the Canadian Council of Churches and the Archbishop of Quebec
City, Unions such as the CSN, student groups, womens groups, media
outlets, political parties ie the Bloc Quebecois, the Parti Quebecois, and
the NDP, and community organizations. I urge to intervene in the case of
Mohamed Cherfi and to dencounce the authorities that violated sanctuary. I
also urge you to demand the return of Mohamed to his home and to act
accordingly. Federal officials have the power and the duty to intervene.

Sincerely,