Abousfian Abdelrazik meets the press in Montreal on his return to Canada on Saturday, June 27, 2009. Photo: Tatiana Gomez
Date: Saturday, October 17, 2009
Time: 5 p.m.
Location: Knox United Church, 400 Edmonton St. (Bus route 15 to door)
Refreshments: Halal snack will be served after the talk
Childcare: Free childcare
Wheelchair accessible: at the 406 Edmonton St. entrance
Local sponsors:
- Canada-Palestine Support Network Winnipeg (CANPALNET)
- Islamic Social Services Association
- CKUW 95.9 FM Radio
- Peace Alliance Winnipeg
- University of Manitoba Students’ Union
- Canadian Labour Congress
- Department of Labour Studies, U of M
More information: Peace Alliance Winnipeg – (204) 586-6057, or email: unefourmi@hotmail.com
Background:
This fall, only months after his long-awaited return to Canada, Abousfian Abdelrazik will be traveling across the country to tell his story.
Abousfian Abdelrazik, like Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati, Muayyed Nureddin and Maher Arar, is one more victim of a Canadian program of outsourcing torture. On the recommendation of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Sudanese authorities arrested and jailed Abdelrazik while he was on a visit to Sudan in 2003.
Never charged, Abdelrazik was beaten, threatened and tortured during two periods of detention. He then spent more than one year living in the Canadian Embassy in Khartoum, unable to walk about freely, but prevented by the Canadian government from returning home to Canada.
It took a groundswell of organizing from Project Fly Home, as well as a strongly worded judgment by federal court Justice Russel Zinn, to finally bring about his return and reunion with his children in Montreal on June 27, 2009.
After a six year ordeal, Abdelrazik is home — but his struggle is not over. Because his name has been on the UN’s infamous no-fly list (List 1267) since 2006, Abdelrazik is still denied access to the basic essentials of life. Canadian regulations implementing the list prohibit anyone from providing Abdelrazik with any material aid – including salary, loans of any amount, food or clothing–even health insurance.
On tour with Project Fly Home, Abdelrazik will speak about his experiences and his on-going struggle for justice, as he seeks to re-establish a normal life in Canada. These community gatherings will be a chance to hear his story, as well as an opportunity to strategize together about how to make real changes to the structures responsible for such injustices.
More information: People’s Commission on Immigration “Security” Measures