1) Victory for Abousfian Abdelazik.

The Hamilton Coalition To Stop the War is proud to announce that the campaign to bring home Abdelrazik from Sudan and to remove him from the UN no-fly list have been successful.

Abdelrazik is a Canadian citizen who went home to visit his sick mother in Sudan in 2003. There, he was jailed, interrogated, and tortured in Sudan at the request of the CSIS (Canada's spy agency). While jailed, his passport expired and his name added to the UN no-fly list 1276. He was never charged and, after his release, was prevented by the Harper government from returning to Canada, supposedly because he was on the no-fly list. He camped out in the Canadian embassy grounds in Khartoum for several years while the People's Commission, an organization based in Quebec, took up his cause.

In a long legal battle, the Supreme Court of Canada ordered the federal government to bring Abdelrazik home. However, the Harper government refused, insisting that the penniless man buy his own ticket. In defiance of the United Nations no-fly list 1276, hundreds of Canadians including members of the HCSW risked prosecution and donated money to provide him with air fare. Even then, the Harper government would not let him come home.

A further approach to the Federal Court forced the government to bring Abdelrazik home. However, that was not the end of his problems. Back in Canada, Abdelrazik was denied the ability to access provincial social security benefits for his children, to seek work, and to open a bank account, among other things, because of his listing on UN no-fly list 1276.

A further legal battle finally made him the first live person ever to be removed from this list. Abousfian Abelrazik's victory is a victory for all Canadians agianst racism and Islamophobia and against the legal regime set up by Canada (and other countries), as well as the United Nations, to support George Bush's so-called "war on terror", which is actually a war OF terror, waged against Arabs and Muslims whose countries have oil and/or strategic value for the US Empire. (see http://www.peoplescommission.org/en/abdelrazik/)

 

2) Appeal for funds

Do you have money to donate and are looking for a worthy cause?

The Hamilton Coalition To Stop the War would appreciate your charitable contribution. While we cannot issue you a tax receipt, we can guarantee that your dollars (now matter how few) will be used 100% to popularize the anti-war struggle through lectures, leaflets, radio show (Unusual Sources, Wednesdays, 5 pm, 93.3 FM), cross-Canada anti-war campaigns, and our website (www.hamiltoncoalitiontostopthewar.ca). Please write us at  to arrange your contribution.