Please forward widely.
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From:
info@mcpj.org
To: ;
Subject: Take Action to Protect Rights of Omar Khadr
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:05:50 -0400
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Take Action to Support Omar Khadr
1. Contact your local MP and Prime Minister Harper NOW
2. March and Rally JULY 26
1. It's time to Bring Omar Khadr Home
CAF (Canadian Arab Federation ) is asking its members, friends and supporters to call your local MP and the Office of the Prime Minister to demand Omar Khadr's repatriation to Canada and affirm his right to a fair trial!
Following yesterday's (July 15, 2008) shocking footage of a young Khadr weeping and pleading for help from Canada and the revelations that Canadian officials were aware of and therefore condone Khadr's torture at Guantanamo Bay, the movement to bring Khadr home has taken on another level of urgency.
You can find your MP by clicking this link and typing in your postal code. The Prime Minister can be contacted at 613-992-4211 (House of Commons), 403-253-7990 (constituency) or
Harper.S@parl.gc.ca.
We thank you for your efforts to bring awareness to Omar Khadr's plight and pressure the government to bring him home now!
www.caf.ca Canadian Arab Federation
La Fédération Canado-Arabe
2.
Rally and march
Saturday, July 26 Bring Omar Khadr back to Canada!
2:00pm to 4:00pm
U.S. Consulate
360 University Avenue*
(north of Queen West, east side of University)
TTC: Osgoode or St. Patrick
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.
Join us on July 26 to tell Stephen Harper: 'Bring Omar Khadr back to Canada!' Demonstrate your opposition to our government's decision to abandon a Canadian citizen in Guantanamo Bay, and show your support for civil liberties and international law.
* After the opening rally at the U.S. Consulate, the demonstration will march past CSIS headquarters on Front Street West, and will conclude at Simcoe Park, on the east side of the CBC Broadcast Centre.
To endorse, please e-mail
stopthewar@sympatico.ca.
Organized by:
Toronto Coalition to Stop the War
Canadian Arab Federation
Muslim Unity Group