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Halt
to Palestinians' deportations urged
Squalor
of refugee camps cited as brother's appeal is rejected
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ELIZABETH THOMPSON
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The
Gazette
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Tuesday,
November 30, 2004
Opposition critics
called for a halt yesterday to all deportations of Palestinians, saying it
is wrong to send them back to the squalor of Palestinian refugee camps or
to face detention in the
U.S.
"Stateless
persons should not be deported," said New Democrat MP Bill Siksay.
"This is a fundamental breach of
Canada
's commitments under the
United Nations Convention on the reduction of statelessness."
The call came as
Ottawa
prepares to deport
Palestinian Ahmad Nafaa from
Montreal
. The deportation is
slated for today after the Federal Court rejected a last ditch bid by
Nafaa's lawyer, Annick Legault, late yesterday afternoon.
In his decision,
Justice Michel Beaudry cited Nafaa's decision to go underground in
Montreal
to avoid deportation,
saying he did not have "clean hands." It also found Legault had
failed to establish irreparable harm to Nafaa should he be deported.
Legault said Nafaa
will most probably be deported to the
United States
, where, as a Muslim
Palestinian, he will probably be detained.
"It won't be
very pleasant."
Nafaa's supporters
say he could end up in
Lebanon
's Ein el-Hilweh refugee
camp.
Nafaa was arrested
last week in
Montreal
, where he had been living underground since his refugee
claim was turned down in 2003. At the same time, his brother, whose claim,
based on the same facts, was heard by a different Immigration and Refugee
Board official, was granted refugee status.
"Ahmad's case
exemplifies the lottery-like refugee determination process," said
supporter Lara Di Tomasso.
Yesterday, Nafaa's
supporters took their case to Parliament Hill to try to pressure the
government to allow him to stay in
Canada
. After a news
conference, about 50 supporters staged a noisy demonstration, marching
through downtown
Ottawa
.
Officials in the
offices of Immigration Minister Judy Sgro and Public Safety Minister Anne
McLellan refused to comment on the case or to say whether they were giving
any consideration to the calls to allow him to remain in
Canada
on humanitarian and
compassionate grounds.
Meille Faille, Bloc
Quebecois immigration critic, said nobody should be deported to the kinds
of conditions that are found in Palestinian refugee camps.
ethompson@thegazette.canwest.com
© The
Gazette (
Montreal
) 2004
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