Location
Introduction by Hadayt Nazami, human rights and refugee lawyer
Presented by Amnesty International, Christian Peacemaker Teams, Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture, and Toronto Action for Social Change
Endorsed by The Centre for Integrated Anti-Racism Studies (OISE)
Free admission
Getting there: 25 Cecil Street is located one block south of College Street, half way between Spadina and St George. There is also free parking behind 25 Cecil Street.
On Monday, November 9 at 7:15 pm, Ottawa resident Abdullah Almalki, an engineer and father of six children, will speak in Toronto for the first time about how he was falsely labelled and became the target of one of the longest "national security" investigations in Canadian history. This led to the extreme, unfounded harassment of him and his family by agents of the RCMP and CSIS, as well as the Canadian complicity in his overseas arrest, detention, interrogation, and torture for 22 months in a grave-like cell in Syria.
Despite having his name cleared by the secretive Iacobucci inquiry (one in which neither he nor Ahmad El Maati and Muayyed Nureddin, also targetted for torture, were allowed to participate), Almalki has yet to see an apology, compensation and accountability for government actions that were clearly criminal (and, in fact, many of those involved in this case have received promotions).
Mr. Almalki, using both formerly secret government memoranda as well as heavily censored documents, shows how Canadian actions directly led to his detention and torture in a compelling, chilling presentation that will challenge all viewers to ask not only how such things can happen, but how we can act to ensure they never occur again.
Hadayt Nazami is a respected Toronto human rights, immigration and refugee lawyer who represented Ahmad El Maati at the Iacobucci inquiry.
This event is part of an ongoing speakers series that explores Canadian involvement in torture. Organized by Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture and Christian Peacemaker Teams, we last month presented a talk with Abousfian Abdelrazik, who was also targetted for torture by CSIS, and next month we will present a talk with Benamar Benatta, an Algerian refugee who was Canada's first post 9/11 rendition to torture.
