Canadian stranded in Sudan refused passport

[punked]

It is in the nature of secret services not to disclose their secrets.

It is the nature of public servants to make what they do public.

[bush_cheney2004]

What we should not forget rather is how common it becomes for Africans to glue themselves inside tiny boats in hope to (illegally) reach Europe.

Hell man, that's been going on for hundreds of years. Nobody told them that slavery is now illegal. That's why we get Nigerian e-mail scams.

[capricorn]

You seem to moving the blame from the Canadian government to the UN and the US,

It's not about assigning blame. It's about trying to untangle why this person's travel back to Canada is being blocked. To accomplish this you need to look past the actions of the government.

when the UN no fly list does not matter if one if flying back to their country of citizenship. This is just Conservative spin if they gave him a passport and he could fly to Canada and be on the UN no fly list.

Being on the UN terrorist blacklist includes being banned from international travel. According to the UN Security Council Committee that operates the blacklist, the purpose of the trip is immaterial. This is not spin but a fact.

[capricorn]

It does not matter if you are on the UN no fly list if you flying back to your country of citizenship.

Probably so. After I posted above, I did find a wiki entry to that effect.

His lawyer should call the Canadian government and ask them why they wont give him a passport. That is the only thing between him and home.

The UN list aside, the hurdle is that he's still on the US no-fly list.

Edited April 6, 2009 by capricorn

[benny]

Hell man, that's been going on for hundreds of years. Nobody told them that slavery is now illegal. That's why we get Nigerian e-mail scams.

African misery will end when the Western World (the DeWolf family descendants for example) will compensate Africa for having endured the slave trade.

[M.Dancer]

African misery will end when the Western World (the DeWolf family descendants for example) will compensate Africa for having endured the slave trade.

Will Africa have to compensate Africa as well? Arabia? What about the Eastern World....

How many people realize without Africans actively supplying slaves to market, Europe, The Americas, Arabia and Asia would not have had African slaves..

[benny]

Will Africa have to compensate Africa as well? Arabia? What about the Eastern World....

How many people realize without Africans actively supplying slaves to market, Europe, The Americas, Arabia and Asia would not have had African slaves..

The biggest winners first.

[benny]

It is the nature of public servants to make what they do public.

A state is a protection agency and an agent knows more than his/her principal.

[Alta4ever]

The biggest winners first.

When will North Africa re-pay europe for the slaves the barbary pirates took from their homes and enslavd in north africa?

[benny]

When will North Africa re-pay europe for the slaves the barbary pirates took from their homes and enslavd in north africa?

Net compensations allow for subtractions.

[Alta4ever]

Net compensations allow for subtractions.

Why not let history be history?

[benny]

Why not let history be history?

Because we don't want to repeat it.

[Alta4ever]

Because we don't want to repeat it.

What does reparations and apologies do to stop that?

Tis better to be educated about it then offer some feel good "words" throw money at it and try to forget it, thinking you've done something good and rightous.

[benny]

What does reparations and apologies do to stop that?

Tis better to be educated about it then offer some feel good "words" throw money at it and try to forget it, thinking you've done something good and rightous.

Most African emigrants are economic emigrants which means that if they had enough money to live in their countries they wouldn't insist to come to Canada.

[Alta4ever]

Most African emigrants are economic emigrants which means that if they had enough money to live in their countries they wouldn't insist to come to Canada.

When did this become about immigration? Am i missing posts?

[benny]

When did this become about immigration? Am i missing posts?

Abousfian Abdelrazik would not cause any problem to Canadian authorities if it was obvious that he is just a man in love with the Canadian lifestyle.

[Alta4ever]

Abousfian Abdelrazik would not cause any problem to Canadian authorities if it was obvious that he is just a man in love with the Canadian lifestyle.

Really do you know the man personally? There has to be a reason why a civil servant would refuse to send him a new passport.

[benny]

There has to be a reason why a civil servant would refuse to send him a new passport.

This reason has ultimately to be linked to injustices (past and present).

[Alta4ever]

This reason has ultimately to be linked to injustices (past and present).

So you are an expert in Canada customs and revenue?

[punked]

Probably so. After I posted above, I did find a wiki entry to that effect.

The UN list aside, the hurdle is that he's still on the US no-fly list.

Nope AGAIN IF HE IS FLYING TO HIS COUNTRY OF CITIZENSHIP THERE ARE NO HURDLES. All he needs is a passport and our government to say they want him to fly home.

[benny]

So you are an expert in Canada customs and revenue?

We don't need "experts".

[mikedavid00]

A Canadian man remains stranded in Sudan after the federal government refused to grant him travel documents

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the best news I've read all year. No jokes!

[tango]

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the best news I've read all year. No jokes!

boy, you really need to get a life md!

[waldo]

It's not about assigning blame. It's about trying to untangle why this person's travel back to Canada is being blocked. To accomplish this you need to look past the actions of the government.

Being on the UN terrorist blacklist includes being banned from international travel. According to the UN Security Council Committee that operates the blacklist, the purpose of the trip is immaterial. This is not spin but a fact.

given the circumstances, it is all about assigning blame - and to do so, you need look no further than the incompetent, indifferent and rights denying Harper Conservative government - that seems little bothered by the accusations of it's racial/religious profiling.

fact: no charges have been laid against Mr. Abdelrazik

fact: it is stated Mr. Abdelrazik has been cleared by CSIS & the RCMP

fact: Mr. Abdelrazik is being denied his Mobility Rights within the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; specifically:

6. (1) Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada.

fact: an exemption to the UN Travel Ban applies to Mr. Abdelrazik; specifically:

within 1b of the UN resolution 1822 (2008):

Prevent the entry into or transit through their territories of these individuals, provided that nothing in this paragraph shall oblige any State to deny entry or require the departure from its territories of its own nationals and this paragraph shall not apply where entry or transit is necessary for the fulfillment of a judicial process or the Committee determines on a case-by-case basis only that entry or transit is justified;

... or in other words, "provided that nothing in this paragraph shall oblige any State to deny entry into or require the departure from its territories of its own nationals".

Mr. Abdelrazik - a Canadian citizen for 15 years... but apparently, Mr. Abdelrazik is not Canadian enough for this shameful Harper Conservative government.

[capricorn]

given the circumstances, it is all about assigning blame - and to do so, you need look no further than the incompetent, indifferent and rights denying Harper Conservative government - that seems little bothered by the accusations of it's racial/religious profiling.

Since you insist on going down the path of assigning blame, let's look at Liberal government involvement in this matter.

Abousfian Abdelrazik, a 46-year-old Sudanese Canadian fingered by CSIS as a terrorist suspect, has been marooned in Khartoum for nearly five years as successive Canadian governments have refused him a passport and thwarted other efforts to bring him home to his family in Montreal.

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In August of 2003, shortly after his wife's return to Canada, Mr. Abdelrazik was arrested for the first time by Sudanese police.

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In September of 2004, a Canadian embassy official told Ottawa in a memo that a top Sudanese official said "there were no charges against him in Sudan ... He repeated there was nothing against him in Sudan, stressing those last two words. He said Sudan realized, however, that keeping an innocent man in detention was a human- rights violation. So far, they had prevented him from having access to news media and HR [human-rights] organizations but this could not go on forever. He thought that protest and public attention to this story would impact adversely on both our countries. In particular, it would tarnish Canada's reputation in Arab countries."

Despite that, Mr. Abdelrazik was arrested again in November of 2005, this time spending seven months in prison. In Ottawa, senior bureaucrats prepared "press lines" for ministers, apparently worried that Mr. Abdelrazik's predicament would become public.

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"As a Canadian citizen, Mr. Abdelrazik is entitled to a one-time Canadian travel document that would allow him to travel to Canada," reads one of the prepared answers. "Canada is not, however, prepared to make extraordinary arrangements to provide for Mr. Abdelrazik's travel to Canada." And, it said. "Canada will not issue Mr. Abdelrazik a passport."

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In July of 2005, after Mr. Abdelrazik was freed for the second time, the Sudanese government gave him and the Canadian embassy a formal document clearing him of all allegations that he was a terrorist or a member of al-Qaeda.

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Yet successive governments have also neatly sidestepped obvious opportunities to get Mr. Abdelrazik home, if that's what they wanted to do.

In September of 2004, the Sudanese government suggested that the visiting Liberal aid minister, Aileen Carroll, who flew into Khartoum on one of the government's Challenger executive jets, give Mr. Abdelrazik a lift home.

"This has been rejected, primarily because of his potential inadmissibility to the countries where the Challenger will land on the way home," a senior official wrote.

Three months later, then-prime-minister Paul Martin was in Khartoum with a mostly empty 200-passenger Canadian Forces airbus. But Mr. Abdelrazik had been bundled off to prison again after suggesting he wanted to make his case to the prime minister.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...pageRequested=1

"The government is now in violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms," Liberal MP Irwin Cotler said.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...y/International

What about the Liberal government's involvement in the Abdelrazik file? If there's a violation of the Charter now, then there was a violation of the Charter when the Liberals were handling this file. That was some brain fart from Cotler.

Mr. Abdelrazik - a Canadian citizen for 15 years... but apparently, Mr. Abdelrazik is not Canadian enough for this shameful Harper Conservative government.

Evidently, to characterize the Conservatives' actions as shameful also applies to the Liberals.

You conveniently ignored the fact that Abdelrazik's woes began when the Liberal party was in government who did nothing to resolve his situation. In fact, they probably aggravated the situation. You never bothered to look past your loathing of the Conservatives but chose instead to raise the specter of racism and to fling insults. Or maybe it's just Waldo frothing at the mouth once again without proper knowledge of the facts.