AW@L has formally endorsed this campaign:

Bring Abousfian Abdelrazik Home!

Canadian Detained and Tortured with Canadian Complicity
Still Stranded in Sudan

Join the Toronto "Camp Abdelrazik," a day-long vigil at the offices of Passport Canada
74 Victoria Street (just north of Adelaide, south of Queen)
Monday, May 4, 9 am-5 pm

Join us for a nonviolent presence outside the Toronto offices representing the arm of the Canadian government that is refusing to bring Mr. Abdelrazik home. The day will be full of theatrical and colourful displays, including visits from the Wizard of Oz characters (who know something about helping get someone home) as well as your own creative ideas.

WHO IS ABOUSFIAN ABDELRAZIK?
Abousfian Abdelrazik is a Canadian citizen who was jailed, tortured, and stranded for six years in the Sudan (at the request of Canadian spy agency CSIS). Despite being subsequently cleared by the RCMP and CSIS of any national security allegations, he is still unable to come home. It's an outrageous situation with serious implications in an age when undisclosed "national security" considerations trump many rights, including the right to return to one's country. Further background is available at (peoplescommission.org/abdelrazik>)

WHAT IS HAPPENING, AND WHAT COMES NEXT
Despite the threat of prosecution, many people contributed to a plane ticket to have Mr. Abdelrazik brought home on the promise from the federal government that once a ticket was paid for, appropriate travel documents would be issued. However, they reneged on that promise, now declaring that Abdelrazik must somehow, from the Canadian embassy in Sudan, extricate himself from the UN terror watch list, where his name remains without any justification whatsoever.

Perhaps the only "national security" implication here is further embarrassment and scandal over the role of this nation's intelligence agencies in setting up Mr. Abdelrazik who -- like Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati, and Muayyed Nureddin, among others -- was targetted for torture. In all of these cases, it is not only CSIS and the RCMP, but also Justice Department lawyers and foreign affairs officials, who are complicit in the torture of Canadian citizens.

On May 7, lawyers for Mr. Abdelrazik will be in court in Ottawa to ask for a mandatory order to compel the government to bring him back by "any safe means at its disposal". This is being argued on the basis of section 6 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which states, "Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada."

MAY 4 IN TORONTO: CAMP ABDELRAZIK
As a means of keeping public awareness around the issue, we are organizing of a day-long presence ("Camp Abdelrazik") outside the Passport Canada office on Victoria Street in downtown Toronto on Monday, May 4, from 9 am to 5 pm. The idea here would be to have a theatrical, highly visible presence all day long as we highlight the upcoming court case and the ongoing abuse of Mr. Abdelrazik's most basic rights. People can come and go as they are able, and a core group will stay with the vigil all day long, handing out flyers, pointing bystanders to a large timeline that we will set up, and dealing with passersby who are quite numerous throughout the day. We call this a camp because Mr. Abdelrazik is literally camped out in the Canadian embassy, sleeping on a cot. (If you have a cot to bring along, the more the merrier!)

The day will also involve a late morning walk to the offices of the Department of Justice, with the simple demand that if what some of us did in purchasing Mr. Abdelrazik's plane ticket was a threat to national security, we should be charged and, if no charges are forthcoming, ask how they can continue to justify the detention in Sudan of Mr. Abdelrazik based on "national security" grounds. Also in the neighbourhood is spy agency CSIS, whose request to have Mr. Abdelrazik detained in Sudan began this nightmare six years ago.

SPIRIT OF THE DAY
In terms of the spirit of the day, Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture organizes actions on a simple basis of unity that is deeply rooted in nonviolence: we meet all people -- friends, opponents, police, government officials, curious bystanders -- with a loving and open heart, seeking to engage in dialogue, and never willing to humiliate or disrespect their humanity either verbally or physically. We are angry, yes, but how we transform that anger into constructive action that makes us accessible to our opponents is, we find, a crucial part of getting our message out and building community. For example, despite the sometimes bossy role that police play at protests, our response is not to start chanting at or against the police should they cause problems for us on this day. Our goal is to seek and live out a transformative spirit that will keep us focused on the issue at hand, seeking to de-escalate any situation that may arise.

GETTING INVOLVED
Please let us know if you can make it for some or all of the May 4 vigil (specific times you are available to be there would be helpful). Can you bring a special banner, play music, work on costumes? If you can make it to our organizing/ props /banner-making meeting on the evening of Thursday, April 23, let us know and we'll get you the location soon.

For more information:
Toronto Action for Social Change and Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture, tasc@web.ca

OTHER THINGS YOU CAN DO BETWEEN NOW AND MAY 4
(links to all of these ideas are available on the website, peoplescommission.org/abdelrazik>)
1. Download a petition and gather signatures to be presented in Ottawa the first week of May
2. Send a solidarity message to Abousfian Abdelrazik
3. Write to Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, who has the power to issue the travel documents necessary to bring Mr. Abdelrazik home.
4. If you are not in the Toronto area, organize something in your own community (see list of local contacts on website)