Mr. Abdelrazik abandoned by Harper Government

globeandmail.com: PM failing Abdelrazik, opposition parties charge

Mr. Abdelrazik, who has been cleared in writing of any terrorist or criminal activity by both the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service and the RCMP, remains stranded in Khartoum because the Harper government refuses to issue him either a passport or an emergency travel document.

Quote: Originally Posted by shadowshiv

There are numerous other threads with regards to this gentleman. Why do we need another?

--: There are numerous other threads with regards to this gentleman. Why do we need another?

globeandmail.com: Stranded and abandoned in Sudan

Stranded and abandoned in Sudan

IRWIN COTLER

Globe and Mail

April 3, 2009 at 12:00 AM EDT

It has been nearly six years since Abousfian Abdelrazik, a Sudanese Canadian, was jailed while visiting his ailing mother in Khartoum. It has been nearly four years since he was released for the second time by Sudanese authorities after suffering torture but without having been charged. Yet, Mr. Abdelrazik is unable to return home, and has spent the past 11 months living in the lobby of the Canadian embassy.

Initially considered a terror threat by the Bush administration, Mr. Abdelrazik was made the object of a travel ban and placed on a United Nations Security Council watch list. More recently, however, on being released from a Sudanese prison, Mr. Abdelrazik was given a letter stating that it was "never possible" for him to be a member of al-Qaeda and that he does not "bear any threat to any international interests." Indeed, both the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP have formally advised the Canadian government there is no reason to believe that Mr. Abdelrazik is a terrorist.

With the Conservative government continuing to refuse permission for Mr. Abdelrazik to return to Canada, only two possibilities present themselves: Either the government knows something our intelligence agencies do not, or it is simply being unreasonable.

Inexcusably, Canada has turned Mr. Abdelrazik's return into a game of moving targets. The Security Council watch list expressly allows Mr. Abdelrazik to return home, and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms compels the government to respect a citizen's right to re-enter the country. Yet, the government's first response was to refuse to issue an emergency passport to Mr. Abdelrazik. Then it said the passport would be granted if Mr. Abdelrazik could book a flight. Finally, knowing that Mr. Abdelrazik was destitute, it said the ticket would need to be fully paid before the government would act.

Mr. Abdelrazik has now accomplished everything the government asked. He has a plane ticket leaving Khartoum today confirmed. But just as the government refused Mr. Abdelrazik a passport for his Sept. 15, 2008, ticket to Canada, it appears it will ensure that today's ticket home goes unused as well. The government's new stand is that Mr. Abdelrazik must remove himself from the UN watch list - the same watch list that already allows individuals to return to their home country.

There is absolutely no reason for this government to prevent this Canadian Citizen from being able to return home to his kids.

Quote: Originally Posted by petros

Just one....fascism.

globeandmail.com: Canada denies passport to blacklisted citizen
In a one-sentence letter, delivered this morning to Mr. Abdelrazik's lawyers, the justice department said “the minister of foreign affairs has decided to refuse your client's request for an emergency passport.” It cited Section 10.1 of the Canada Passport Order which says “the minister may refuse or revoke a passport if the minister is of the option that such action is necessary for the national security of Canada or another country.”
The refusal represents a complete reversal of the government's written promise of three months ago to issue Mr. Abdelrazik an emergency passport if he had a paid-for ticket home. Mr. Abdelrazik remains stranded in the lobby of the Canadian embassy in Khartoum, where he has living for nearly 11 months, granted “temporary safe haven” by former Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier.
Organizers of the groups representing nearly 200 Canadians who dared the government to charge them for buying him a ticket -- in defiance of a law forbidding anyone from providing funds to those on the terrorist blacklist -- were planning protests in several cities this morning.

Quote has been trimmed

globeandmail.com: Canadian can't come home, Cannon says

"It's up to him, its incumbent on him to make sure he gets off that list," Mr. Cannon said, referring to the UN Security Council terrorist blacklist, notwithstanding the specific UN exemption that permits those on the list to return home.

"What has changed now is that [Mr. Cannon] can't blame this on anyone else — not the United States nor the United Nations. Now the Harper government has to explain to all of us the basis for denying Mr. Abdelrazik the right to return home," Mr. Dewar said.

--: Or maybe some Canadians, just don't give a rats ass...

Like me.

Quote: Originally Posted by elevennevele

.


And you can keep wearing that image for yourself. That doesn't bother me in the slightest.

Quote: Originally Posted by shadowshiv

There are numerous other threads with regards to this gentleman. Why do we need another?

Quote: Originally Posted by Islandpacific

That's what I keep wondering about everytime China opens yet another thread regarding the incident at YVR about Robert D. There must be at least 4 or more.

Quote: Originally Posted by elevennevele

This isn't about one man. This is also about our fundamental rights as Canadians. This is also about what powers we are giving the government over our courts, over our law enforcement agencies, over our Charter of rights and Freedoms.

These actions by a government define a nation. It's not isolated. It's national. It also defines us on the international stage.

It's a disgrace. Any innocent life is worth fighting for let alone the fundamental principles of our country.

Quote: Originally Posted by elevennevele

Personally I'm not interested in your apathy, or that you don't care x times over, or how you have a problem with what I take interest in on a public forum. So are you going to just fill up this forum with more on how you don't care? Or do you have more to say on the subject other than to try to take shots at my character?

Quote: Originally Posted by L Gilbert

Whatever.

The fact is, is that our governments so far have been failing Canadians. Mr. Abwhatsit, has been failed by Canada.

Quote: Originally Posted by L Gilbert

Elevenevele is a politician? aaaahahhahahahaha Prolly a lawyer, too.

Quote: Originally Posted by elevennevele

This isn't about one man. This is also about our fundamental rights as Canadians. This is also about what powers we are giving the government over our courts, over our law enforcement agencies, over our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

These actions by a government define a nation. It's not isolated. It's national. It also defines us on the international stage.

It's a disgrace. Any innocent life is worth fighting for let alone the fundamental principles of our country.

Quote: Originally Posted by elevennevele

It isn't illegal to to have dual citizenship in this country. If you care so much about that then you can try to petition to have the laws changed. That said you can't fault a person for having dual citizenship. Neither does it mean one is any less committed, or less patriotic to Canada, or any less a Canadian Citizen under our laws.

Quote: Originally Posted by petros

Me thinks some Conservative types need to read the works of Benjamin Disraeli and they will find what they thought was Conserative is purely Socialistic.