++UPDATED++

Following several days of announcements in a Lebanese daily newspaper and
on the official Lebanese TV station, the Lebanese General Security forces,
in cooperation with the Iraqi government and the UNHCR, today started
deporting 353 Iraqi refugees back to Iraq in what they described as a
"voluntary repatriation".

Mary Foster, an organizer with the Montreal-based Iraq Solidarity Project,
is currently in Beirut, and accompanied Lebanese activists from IMC Beirut
and other groups when they went to interview Iraqi refugees facing removal
to Iraq this morning. The people they spoke with left no doubt that the
deportations are anything but "voluntary". (The full report is reposted
below.)

Please take the time to respond to email UNHCR and Lebanese authorities to
protest the deportation of Iraqi refugees back to a brutally occupied war
zone.

 
For more than one year Palestinian refugees in Montreal and throughout Canada have been struggling against deportation and fighting for their status. On September 18th, the Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees and their supporters are calling for your participation in a large-scale demonstration on the streets of Montreal.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 18th, 2004
Gathering Point:
2:00 PM, corner Atwater & Ste-Catherine (Atwater metro)

See also:

• Still waiting -- 216 days later, the Ayoub family is still under church sanctuary (The Link · Concordia)
• No to Deportations: Montrealers Rally in Support of the Ayoub Family

 
Depuis plus d'un an, les réfugiés Palestiniens habitant à Montréal ainsi que partout au Canada luttent contre leur déportation et se battent pour leur statut. Le 18 septembre, la Coalition contre la déportation des réfugiés palestiniens, ainsi que leurs alliés, vous invitent à participer à une manifestation à grande échelle dans les rues de Montréal.

SAMEDI 18 SEPTEMBRE 2004
Point de rassemblement :
14h00, au coin d'Atwater et de Ste-Catherine (métro Atwater)

Montreal – Prime Minister Paul Martin is coming under fire this week for his Minister’s decision to refuse protection from torture to secret trial detainee Adil Charkaoui. Amnesty International, the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG), Ed Broadbent and other Members of Parliament are among those sounding the alarm about the recent decision by Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan.

Le Premier ministre Paul Martin est critiqué de toute part cette semaine pour la décision de sa ministre de refuser la protection contre la torture, au détenu des procès secrets, Adil Charkaoui. Amnistie Internationale, la Coalition pour la surveillance internationale des libertés civiles (CSILC), et des membres du Parlement dont Ed Broadbent sont parmi ceux qui s’élèvent contre la décision de la ministre de la Sécurité publique Anne McLellan.