Mohammad Mahjoub was hospitalized in Kingston last Thursday evening, on the 179th day of a liquids-only hungerstrike. Mr. Mahjoub, a 50-year old father of two, has been detained for over nine years without charge under a security certificate. Until Thursday he was the sole detainee at the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre (KIHC), dubbed "Guantanamo North" to draw attention to the practice of holding prisoners indefinitely at the facility, on secret evidence. Mr. Mahjoub has been on hungerstrike since 1 June 2009.
Three weeks ago, dozens of medical professionals sounded the alarm, warning Minister of Public Safety Peter van Loan that, "we have serious reasons to believe that Mr. Mahjoub will die or, at minimum, be permanently impaired if he remains on hunger strike much longer" and urging the Minister "to immediately take the necessary measures to enable Mohammad Mahjoub to put an end to his hunger strike".
Their letter went on to note that Mr. Mahjoub "is at even greater risk because he is 50 years old, has hepatitis C, and was subjected to torture in his country of origin. In addition he has been detained for over 9 years, often in solitary confinement, and has been on lengthy hunger strikes on several occasions. These antecedents increase the likelihood that Mr. Mahjoub may experience life-threatening consequences."
Despite the urgent warning, the government has not taken action.
Mr. Mahjoub was in Federal Court on 26 and 27 October, requesting transfer to house arrest pending the outcome of his legal case. Mr. Mahjoub was forced to return to the KIHC from house arrest on 18 March 2009 in order to free his wife and two children from the intrusive and suffocating house arrest regime. He has requested release into a separate apartment in order to avoid placing the same unbearable burden on his family.
After years of being the object of widespread, intense criticism, the security certificate regime appears to be imploding, with the withdrawal of the certificate against Montrealer Adil Charkaoui, the removal of most of the interim conditions imposed on Ottawa-based Mohamed Harkat, repeated scandals involving CSIS withholding key exculpatory information from the courts, and potential freedom for Hassan Almrei and Mahmoud Jaballah, who both live under oppressive house arrest regimes in Toronto.
Immediate and determined action on the part of the government, taking into account the very serious abuses he has suffered under the unconstitutional security certificate process for the past nine years, could still enable Mr. Mahjoub to end the hunger strike before the damage is irreversable.
WHAT TO DO
1. Write urgently to Minister of Public Safety Peter van Loan and cc your own member of Parliament:
- Express your concerns that doctors have warned that Mr. Mahjoub could die or be permanently impaired if he remains on hunger strike (the hungerstrike began on 1 June 2009).
- Note that his situation is all the more precarious because he is 50 years old, has hepatitis C, was subjected to torture before coming to Canada, has spent long periods in solitary confinement in Canada, and has been on several lengthy hunger strikes previously.
- State clearly that the security certificate process has no place in a
democracy, and that it is unbelievable that Mr. Mahjoub has been subjected to indefinite detention under this Kafka-esque process for over nine years (since June 2000).
- Ask the Minister to immediately take the necessary measures to enable Mr. Mahjoub to put an end to his hunger strike.
Minister of Public Safety Peter van Loan
email: VanLoP@parl.gc.ca
fax: (613) 992-8351
Find your MP's contact information: www.parl.gc.ca
(click on "Members of
Parliament")
**PLEASE forward a copy of your letter to abolissons@gmail.com.
2. Write a message of solidarity and support to Mohammad Mahjoub, reminding him that he is not forgotten and that efforts to end two-tier justice in Canada will continue. He can be reached at:
Mohammad Mahjoub
Kingston Immigration Holding Centre
c/o CSC RHQ Ontario Region
440 King Street West
PO Box 1174
Kingston, Ontario K7L 4Y8
3. One of the many unbelievable injustices of this system is that the detainees and their families are not only denied a living, they and their communities are actually forced to pay the costs of their own oppressive house arrest situations! Please help the families of security certificate victims to bear that cost by contributing to their ongoing costs of detention. Contributions can be sent to Homes not Bombs, PO Box 73620, 509 St. Clair Ave. West, Toronto, ON M6C 1C0. Put "Family Fund-Mahjoub" in memo portion of cheque.
Background information: http://peoplescommission.org/en/mahjoub/
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Hunger Strike Support Committee - Montreal
People's Commission Network
abolissons@gmail.com
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