[van-announce] Reminder: Khadr rally 5pm Wed at VAG

[Derrick O'Keefe]

(Note the time is 5pm, not 5:30pm)

*Please forward widely* 

Tell Stephen Harper: Bring Omar Khadr back to Canada!

Date:Wednesday, July 30, 2008Time:5:00pmLocation:Vancouver Art GalleryStreet:Robson Street

Canadian
citizen Omar Khadr is the only Western national left in Guantanamo Bay,
and the first child-soldier to be prosecuted in more than a hundred
years. Khadr was only 15 years-old when he was captured by US forces in
Afghanistan and later transported to the infamous US prison where he
has now spent more than a quarter of his life. Khadr faces trial by US
military tribunal in October 2008.

Recently released video
footage reveals the kind of mistreatment that Khadr has experienced in
Guantanamo Bay, where the US has been accused of practicing torture on
detainees. Other reports show that Khadr was subjected to extreme forms
of sleep deprivation, a form of torture, including a practice called
the "frequent flyer program" in which he was woken every three hours
and moved to a different cell for 24 hours a day over a three-week
period.

Worse still, court documents reveal that the Canadian
government was aware of the abuse suffered by Khadr at the hands of US
authorities yet continued to assure the Canadian public that he was
being well treated.

The fact that Omar Khadr is still being held
in Guantanamo Bay is a national disgrace, and an international
embarrassment for all Canadians. Despite the growing evidence of
Khadr's mistreatment, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has shamefully
refused to bring Khadr back to Canada. Instead, Harper has said he
supports a US military trial for Khadr, and will not seek his release
from Guantanamo Bay.

We will meet at the Art Gallery and hold a rally there.

       

  

    

    

    

    

 

      

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