L-R: Ibrahim (Obby) Khan, Terry MacLeod, Kerry Pither. Photo: Liz Carlyle
By Murielle Jennings
On Wednesday evening approximately 50 people attended a dramatic reading from Kerry Pither’s book Dark Days: The Story of Four Canadians Tortured in the Name of Fighting Terror. The event was introduced by Shahina Siddiqui, President Islamic Social Services Association, Inc, with the reading featuring the author Kerry Pither, the host of information radio on CBC Radio One 89.3 FM, Terry MacLeod, and Winnipeg Blue Bombers Offensive Lineman #60 Ibrahim (Obby) Khan.
In a story-telling manner, the audience was transported into the lives and experiences of four Canadian-Muslim men – Ahmad El Maati, Abdullah Almaki, Maher Arar and Muayyed Nureddin. The excerpts from “Dark Days” included only some of the atrocities surrounding the four Muslim-Canadian men accused of being terrorists by Canadian national security investigations. As the dramatic reading unfolded, Pither provided the descriptive background for each man’s story, while Khan “became” the Muslim men and, MacLeod read a host of roles from media to security and government officials.
The audience sat quietly, listening to the interrogations and forced “travels” to the countries of Syria, Egypt and Jordon. As the men’s gripping stories unfolded their experiences and reality became apparent. The questioning, torture and living for years in prison cells not much larger than the men themselves were the real experiences of Canadians who were never charged with a crime.
How could these days be even darker? The real darkness is that Canada was complicit in sanctioning these human-rights abuses.
Pither, Khan and MacLeod spoke and answered questions for the audience afterward. There were many unanswerable questions, but Pither had done her research and the audience walked away wondering why and how this could happen to Canadians and wondering what could be done to prevent this from happening again.
The dramatic reading, a new style of presentation for Kerry Pither, had its intended effect, to bring the experiences of these four Muslim-Canadian men to more Canadians, and for all to ask more questions and demand answers.
The evening was sponsored by Amnesty International – Winnipeg chapter; Canadian Federation of Students – Manitoba; Council of Canadians; CKUW 95.9 FM; Islamic Social Services Association Inc. – Canada; Mayworks; McNally Robinson Booksellers; Peace Alliance Winnipeg; University of Manitoba Student’s Union; University of Winnipeg Students Association.