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Amnesty presses Harper on Omar Khadr amid calls to take other Gitmo detainees
Amnesty planned to release a letter to Harper in Ottawa on Wednesday in which it notes the pending visit of U.S. President Barack Obama on Feb. 19 affords an ideal opportunity for Harper to press the Khadr case. "We'll be addressing the prime minister with a request that he raise the issue of the repatriation with President Obama," Gloria Nafziger, refugee co-ordinator with Amnesty, said Tuesday. "It seems like an opportune moment for Canada once again to show some leadership and repatriate its citizen." The Amnesty push comes after 185 Canadian organizations and public figures signed a letter to Harper calling on him to repatriate Khadr, one of the largest such efforts. The letter, released Tuesday by the Council on American-Islamic Relations Canada, said many Muslims have interpreted Harper's inaction on the Khadr file as a sign his government considers Canadian Muslims to be "second-class citizens." It was signed by Muslim and civil-liberties groups as well as by documentary filmmaker Alexandre Trudeau, son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, former UN special envoy Stephen Lewis, author Naomi Klein and Maher Arar, a Canadian victim of U.S. rendition. Posted by: Fred 2009-02-04 |
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