By Matthew Behrens

September 25, 2014 – The growing use of overly broad Canadian immigration inadmissibility provisions to deny status to refugees who have been associated with national liberation struggles finally saw some pushback with a Federal Court decision issued July 10.

The case involves José Figueroa, a survivor of the Salvadoran civil war (in which government forces murdered 75,000 people) who is faced with deportation for his prior association with the FMLN, the former resistance organization that is now the governing party in that country. Despite never having picked up a gun or engaging in any form of violence, he is falsely tarred with the terrorist brush by an immigration officer because of the FMLN association, even though the organization is listed nowhere on the planet as a terrorist entity and past and current members of the FMLN, including consular officials, attended the court hearing of his case.

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On July 15, Roch Tassé, our National Coordinator, Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada, writer and activist Dr. Monia Mazigh, and Sarah Attia, Khaled’s Toronto-born wife, were on Parliament Hill to ask Prime Minister Harper to act now for the immediate release of Khaled Al-Qazzaz, who has been imprisoned in Egypt, in solitary confinement, for more than a year without charge.

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Open letter from Canadians to Prime Minister Harper regarding Khaled Al-Qazzaz

To The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada

We, the undersigned, are calling upon you as concerned Canadian citizens and organizations to use the full power of your office to demand the immediate release of Canadian permanent resident Khaled Al-Qazzaz who has been illegally detained in Egypt for over 365 days without charge and is in present danger of suffering a heart attack. He should have been promptly charged with a recognizable criminal offence or released.  One year is most certainly not prompt.  His illegal detention was, in fact, recently extended by an Egyptian court. Your intervention is critical in securing his immediate release and safe return home to Canada.

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