People of Canada, my fellow bloggers:
In light of new information that I’ve just received, I beseech you to contact our Canadian Immigration Minister Diane Finley by phone/fax/letter/email ASAP! A little boy’s health is quickly deteriorating and his life may be at stake!
As of Friday night, Kevin is still awaiting news from the Canadian Government as he waits in his cell in Texas.
Please read the information below and ACT NOW!!
Contact Diane Finley:
Hill Office
| House of Commons | |
| Ottawa, Ontario | |
| K1A 0A6 | |
| Telephone: | (613) 996-4974 |
| Fax: | (613) 996-9749 |
| EMail: | Finley.D@parl.gc.ca |
| Web Site:* | www.dianefinley.ca/ |
| Preferred Language: | English |
Constituency Offices
| 70 Queensway West |
| Simcoe, Ontario |
| N3Y 2M6 |
| Telephone: (519) 426-3400 |
| Fax: (519) 426-0003 |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
US Government Affirms Risk to 9-Year-old Kevin Yourdkhani’s Family if deported to Iran From Texas JailFamily’s Canadian Supporters Urge Immigration Minister to Immediately grant Temporary Residence Permit to End 5-Week Jail Ordeal
TORONTO, MARCH 9, 2007 — The Canadian lawyer for 9-Year-old Kevin Yourdkhani — a Canadian citizen currently detained over a month in a Texas immigration jail along with his Iranian-born parents — revealed today that the U.S. government agrees with the assessment of Amnesty International that the family faces a credible risk of persecution or torture if deported to Iran.
“The Canadian government now has TWO separate assessments, both showing that the history of past torture and persecution in Iran told by the Yourdkhani/Alibegi family is credible, and that return to Iran is not a viable option. One comes from the US government, the other from Amnesty International,” says lawyer Andrew Brouwer, who is retained by the family.
However, given the record of US immigration authorities in such cases, and the track record of officials at the Hutto detention facility where Kevin and his family are held with hundreds of other immigrants (including some 200 children), the prospect of release in the imminent future is dim unless there is immediate action from Canada’s Immigration Minister Diane Finley.
“Since March 5, Minister Finley has had on her desk an urgent request to grant a temporary residence permit to the Yourdkhani/Alibegi, and all she needs to do is sign that permit to allow the family out of the miserable conditions they are experiencing in jail and speed their return to Canada, where hopefully they can start piecing their life back together.”
Brouwer points out that the situation in Hutto is poor, and the conditions of detention are the subject of a lawsuit launched this week by the American Civil Liberties Union. 9-year-old Kevin Yourdkhani is suffering from a painful eye infection, eczema and what appears to be either a very bad a cold or flu. He also suffers severe asthma which is complicated by the poor conditions at Hutto.
Meanwhile, the minister’s office has been receiving phone calls and letters from people across Canada urging an immediate resolution of this situation.
For further information, contact Andrew Brouwer at 416-653-2912
or
416-230-2614 or Barbara Hines, the family’s US lawyer, at
1-512-232-1310.
Andrew Brouwer
JACKMAN & ASSOCIATES
Barristers and Solicitors
596 St. Clair Ave. W, #3
Toronto ON M6C 1A6
tel 416-653-9964 ext. 229
fax 416-653-1036
![Daily Mail [UK]](http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t193/Annamarie_033/mHead2.gif "British daily newspaper")
Verbena-19 
I’ve added this update and repeated the contact information for Diane Finley. I’m so sorry to hear his condition is so much worse!! š¦
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URGENT UPDATE RE KEVIN (Canadian child in Texas prison)
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I’ve written again Verbena.
I can’t believe the Canadian government hasn’t yet stepped it.
Of course it isn’t the Canadian government anymore it’s Canada’s New Governmentā¢ with a puffed up baffoon in charge
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Yes, A.R. you are completely correct. Now that even the US has finally sided with Amnesty International’s opinion about this case, I can’t imagine why Canada is not getting this family with the sick Canadian child back here! What is the ‘New Government’ waiting for? An innocent child’s LIFE is at stake!
Thank you so much for your great, ongoing support!
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Thank you GDK for you ongoing support. Please keep it up. Thanks!
~Annamarie
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Where’s the link to the news story? I don’t see anything here except what looks like a letter. But truth to tell, it could be a forgery.
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It is not a ‘forgery’. However, to set your mind at ease, I will find today’s (Saturday) Toronto Star article and put in a link.
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[…] I had a commenter here who questioned the validity of the information contained in my previous post, where I quoted a letter I had received. Since I am not at liberty to tell everyone from where I […]
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Whooee! I answered Chimera over t’ my own little boog but in case there’s some other doubtin’ Thomases who read Annamaries boog an’ don’t read my boog, here’s what I sed —
Chimer, maybe you ain’t familiar with what a “press release” is. I’ve sent out a lot o’ press releases for a community organization I work with. A press release is a letter sent to news organizations and media outlets.
Maybe yer mistakin’ a press release with a press report. Press reports are news stories written up by journalists. Often, they get their info from press releases that somebody sends ’em.
Bloggers can also sign up t’ get press releases from outfits like Canada News Wire, PR NewsWire and a lot of other wire services. Bloggers who wanna be on top of things willl sometimes get their own boog stories written on the basis of the press release before the MSM picks up the story. Bloggers are often instrumental in drawin’ attention to a story that the MSM has spiked. Bloggers can keep a news story alive long enough that the MSM ffunally picks up on it an’ starts askin’ the minsters the selfsame questions that boogers been askin’ fer weeks.
The MSM ain’t the highest authority an’ has been wrong in the past when boogers were right. I ain’t sure why you wanna give ’em so much credit that you only believe stuff that’s been publicated in a bigass newspaper.
Anyways, since you only wanna believe the MSM an’ a letter (press release) from the lawyers who represent the boy ain’t good enough for yer doubtin’ Thomas enquirin’ mind, here’s the story in the Trawna Star (http://www.thestar.com/News/article/190384).
Now, I know lotsa boogers who don’t believe anything that they read in the Star but they do believe a signed letter from a lawyer (officer of the court). Would you believe it more if it was in the National Post or the Globe or the Peterborough Examiner or the Nanticoke Times?
Now that I give you the Star link, what’s the next hoop yer demandin’ the tortured boy jumps through before you decide the humane, decent thing t’ do is t’ get his pore sick little body out of the Texas jailhouse where his health is goin’ downhill?
In case the Star ain’t good enough fer yer doubtful mind, here’s a few other bigass MSM sources –
CBC – http://jimbobbysez.blogspot.com/2007/03/
Vancouver Sun – http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=b93e8b84-f4eb-431f-994f-b80b55dd665f
Related story in Globe – http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070307.wxtexas07/BNStory/National/home
I’ve given a few links before that tell about the conditions at this here Texas jailhouse. I can’t understand how anyone would push fer keepin’ a Canajun 9 year old in such a place. I can’t understand how anyone would want any human kept in them kind o’ conditions but I hear-tell there’s lotsa hardasses who think Gitmo an’ the Partriot Act an’ illegal eavesdroppin’ an’ racial profilin’ is just what we need here in Canada so we can be more like the freedom-lovin’ Merkans.
JB
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JimBobby, thank you so much for putting it so well! And thank you for your tireless, ongoing support. It is heartening for me to know that I can count on you. You’re a true gentleman. Much appreciated!
btw, I will keep you updated via email as soon as I hear anything.
I don’t know why ANY Canadian would want our country to even remotely resemble Bush’s USA!? How can we condone torture and keeping a sick little boy locked up in prison?? Are we so inured to the suffering of others, particularly children?? What has become of us?? This is not the Canada I grew up in, and I’m having difficulties reconciling my belief about Canadian integrity, ‘human-ness’, sense of justice and morality with this emerging new face of my country… Makes me very sad and greatly disappointed.
JB, you take care and best regards,
~Annamarie š
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