[van-announce] Rally for hunger striking detainees (thurs)

[No One is Illegal-Vancouver]

This action is part of a series of actions including Ottawa, Montreal and
Toronto. The Montreal action on Monday was successful in raising a
substantial amount of public awareness about the unjust security
certificate process and the imminent situation and precarious health of
Hassan and Mohammed. Please join us in Vancouver on Thursday; as Hassan
states, "I have to take this risk to bring about change for me and others
in my position."


URGENT ACTION!!!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
RALLY FOR HUNGER STRIKING SECURITY CERTIFICATE DETAINEES
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 1
@ 5 PM AT VANCOUVER ART GALLERY (ROBSON SIDE)
Organized by No One is Illegal Vancouver
Contact noii-van.resist.ca, call 778-885-0040 or website:
http://noii-van.resist.ca
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

* ALSO SEE BELOW FOR SAMPLE LETTER *


By Thursday September 1, Hassan Almrei will be on Day 71 of his hunger
strike in a Canadian prison. Emaciated and weakened, he is at imminent
risk of permanent, severe impairment and, very possibly, of death. Hassan
Almrei has been imprisoned in solitary confinement without charge since
October 2001 under a security certificate. A refugee, he is under threat
of deportation to Syria where he risks torture. Hassan Almrei is demanding
minimally decent conditions of detention; his main demand is the right to
one hour a day of exercise outside of his cell. This is his 6th hunger
strike in 4 years. Hassan spoke to The Mississauga News from his cell last
week: "A doctor came to see me this morning and said my heart muscles are
weak. I can't read because my eyes hurt if they stay open too long and I
can't walk because it hurts so much and my head gets dizzy," he said. "But
I have to take this risk to bring about change for me and others in my
position." Hassan, who has lost more than fifty pounds in two months, said
he is prepared to die, and has told those closest to him he wants a public
inquiry into his death if it happens.

Mohammed Mahjoub will be on Day 56 of a hunger strike, also in a prison in
Ontario. Majoub, who has been detained for 5 years, is asking for contact
visits with his wife and children. Mohammed is an Egyptian refugee in
Canada and is married with two children. Accepted as a refugee in Canada
in 1996, Mahjoub denies terrorist ties and is fighting deportation on the
grounds he would again face torture if returned to Egypt, where he was
convicted and sentenced to 15 years in absentia for terrorism links. After
the Sept 11th attacks, Mohammed was moved to solitary for seven months.
Mohammed Mahjboub has only been able to hug his children twice in 5 years.
His wife, Mona Elfouli, described the impact his detention has had on her
and their two young children. "It was very, very difficult for me and the
children," she says. "Are they punishing the children or what? They feel
sad."

Mohammed and Hassan are two of the five “Secret Trial Five” whose lives
have been torn apart by accusations that they are not allowed to fight in
a fair and independent trial. All five men were arrested under "Security
Certificates," a measure of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
(IRPA) that has been described by Amnesty International as "fundamentally
flawed and unfair". Security certificates and secret evidence reverse the
fundamental rule of innocent until proven guilty. Neither the detainee nor
his lawyer are informed of the precise allegations or provided with the
full information against him. They are imprisoned indefinitely without
charges on secret evidence and face deportation to their countries of
origin, even if there is a substantial risk of torture or death.

ABOLISH SECURITY CERTIFICATES!!!

*** SAMPLE LETTER ****


PLEASE WRITE OR CALL MONTE KWINTER, the Ontario minister, A massive,
immediate flood of calls, emails and faxes are needed in order to turn the
tide.

Mr. Monte Kwinter
Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services
18th floor, 25 Grosvenor Street
Toronto, ON, M7A 1Y6
Phone: (416) 325-0408
Fax: (416) 325-6067
Email: mkwinter.mpp at liberal.ola.org


I am writing to urge you to take immediate action to meet the legitimate
demands of Hassan Almrei and Mohammed Majoub, who have been detained
without trial in Ontario
prisons for several years and are both on hunger strike to demand
minimally decent conditions of detention.

Almrei has been held in solitary confinement for 4 years; he is asking for
the right to have one hour a day of exercise outside of his cell. Majoub,
who had been detained for 5 years, is asking for contact visits with his
wife and children. Almrei and Majoub have never been charged, much less
found guilty, under the fundamentally unjust Security Certificate process.

Both have been on hunger strike for over 50 days and their condition is
deteriorating, particularly that of Hassan Almrei. Mr. Almrei was already
in poor health before beginning his current hunger strike and is
imminently at risk of serious and permanent damage to his health. Failure
to act quickly could have grave and irreversible consequences.

Sincerely,




-- 
No One is Illegal-Vancouver
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Office 714, 207 West Hastings, Vancouver BC V6B 1H7

The No One is Illegal campaign is in full confrontation with Canadian
colonial border policies, denouncing and taking action to combat racial
profiling of immigrants and refugees, detention and deportation policies,
and wage-slave conditions of migrant workers and non-status people.

We struggle for the right for our communities to maintain their
livelihoods and resist war, occupation and displacement, while building
alliances and supporting indigenous sisters and brothers also fighting
theft of land and displacement.