Sunday, December 28, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
Please Join the Campaign: MP's Awareness
CSIS/RCMP - NO ACCOUNTABILITY FOR HARASSMENT AND TORTURE
Help put a copy of Dark Days in the hands of every MP
See author Kerry Phither's Blog at
http://kerrypither.com/2008/12/help-put-a-copy-of-dark-days-in-the-hands-of-every-mp/
"Some Dark Days readers have initiated a creative campaign to help build awareness among politicians about Canadian complicity in torture and the need for action. These readers believe that every one of Canada’s 308 Members of Parliament should have a copy of the book, and they’ve kick-started the project by contributing 50 copies. I’m contributing another 20 books, so we have 228 copies to go.
Once we’ve gathered enough books, the leaders of each political party will be invited to accept them on behalf of their caucuses at a reception on Parliament Hill. I’ll be there, along with two or three of the men at the heart of this story, and representatives of the human rights and civil liberties organizations which have been pushing for answers, accountability and redress for the men.
As the book has not yet been published in French, we are having an excerpt translated to insert into the copies we are presenting to members of the Bloc Québécois.
Books for this project can be purchased through Octopus Books in Ottawa. They’ve offered to handle the logistics by keeping track of numbers and storing the books bought until we present them. Octopus is also offering the “Books for MPs” project a discounted price of $30.
Please consider contributing one or more copies of Dark Days for MPs by logging on to Octopus’ web site or by giving them a call at 613.233.2589 to arrange to pay over the phone or by mail.
Contributions will be accepted up to and including February 7, 2009. The books will be presented to the party leaders soon afterward.
I’ll be posting regular updates on our progress
Friday, December 12, 2008
Arar v. Ashcroft - December 9, 2008 - Maher Arar's attorneys returned to US Court of Appeals - Watch the session -click here
Maher Arar is challenging his rendition by the U.S. government to Syria., where he was tortured and released after one year without being charged.
Maher Arar, a Syrian-born, Canadian citizen was detained during a layover at the J.F.K. Airport in New York City in September 2002 on his way home to Canada. He was held in solitary confinement for nearly two weeks. At the time, CSIS and RCMP provided information to the U.S. government labelling Arar as a member of al-Qaeda.
Mr. Arar's suit charges that his Fifth Amendment due process rights were violated when he was confined without access to an attorney, both domestically and in Syria. He is seeking civil damages from a number of federal officials including former Attorney General John Ashcroft.