Local barbecue supports Abousfian Abdelrazik's struggle for removal from UN blacklist

"Sanctions-busting" event raising funds in defiance of UN 1267 regulations, Canadian law

Kitchener, Saturday June 11, 2011 - Local residents are organizing a fundraising barbecue in support of Abousfian Abdelrazik, the Canadian man who was imprisoned and exiled for 6 years in Sudan and who has since been struggling to have his name removed from the severely restricting UN Security Council 1267 list. "The purpose of our event is two-fold," says organizer Nadeem Lawji of Kitchener. "We want to raise money and awareness for Abousfian and his campaign to be removed from the list, and we also want to publicly demonstrate our disagreement with this blacklisting regime that profoundly damages people's lives without charge, trial or appeal"

Organizers will serve up barbecue and picnic fare for donations. Event attendees will have to option of legally contributing to Mr Abdelrazik's delisting support campaign, or of adding their names to a growing list of contributors who choose to protest what they see is an unjust and flawed federal law implementing the sanctions. The 1267 list imposes a travel ban and total asset freeze on listed individuals and prevents them from receiving any support, including a salary and health insurance. Rather than supporting him, the federal government has chosen to implement the sanctions against him here in Canada. "Breaking the law is not something that we're taking lightly," says participant Shannon Balla of Guelph, who in 2009 contributed to the airplane ticket to bring Mr Abdelrazik home, "but these sanctions clearly violate basic principles of fairness and due process." Balla notes that the list of contributors includes labour unions and hundreds of individual Canadians.

Background:

In 2006, while he was exiled in Sudan, Abdelrazik's name was placed on the UN 1267 list by the Bush administration. He was not told that he was being placed on the list, was not told why he was on the list, and was given no opportunity to defend himself. Although he has since been cleared of any suspicion by CSIS and the RCMP, Abousfian Abdelrazik remains on the list and is subject to its sanctions. As Federal Court Judge Russel Zinn wrote about the case in 2009, "There is nothing in the [1267] listing or de-listing procedure that recognizes the principles of natural justice or that provides for basic procedural fairness."

The barbecue is part of a series of events held across Canada to raise money for Abousfian Abdelrazik and to support his delisting campaign. On June 15th a delegation of community members will be traveling to New York to speak with the Ombudsperson of the UN 1267 list and request the Montreal man's removal. "It's been immensely frustrating for Mr Abdelrazik" says barbecue organizer Alison Murray, also of Kitchener. "Rather than lobbying the Security Council for his removal, the federal government has argued that Mr Abdelrazik himself must work to be removed from the list. This reflects the government's disturbing pattern of abandoning Muslim citizens"

Nadeem Lawji argues that the Sanctions-busting barbecue and the delisting delegation come at a very critical time in Mr Abdelrazik's struggle for justice. "He submitted a delisting request to the Security Council in January and could get a reply as early as September," Lawji notes. Meanwhile, court hearings in Abdelrazik's constitutional challenge to the regulations implementing the 1267 regime in Canada are expected to open early in the fall.

Organizers are calling on the federal government to immediately lift the sanctions imposed on Abousfian Abdelrazik in Canada, to actively petition Security Council members to remove Mr Abdelrazik's name and to cease support for the UN 1267 blacklisting regime.

More information:
Background: http://www.peoplescommission.org/en/abdelrazik/summary.php
Full list of supporters: http://www.peoplescommission.org/en/abdelrazik/supporters.php
UN 1267 list: http://www.peoplescommission.org/en/abdelrazik/1267.php

Contact:
Alison Murray
alsnmurray@yahoo.ca
519-498-2332