Zach LarkinsA LITTLE PROGRESS
Issam Al Yamani has been living quietly in the Toronto area for the past 22 years. He came to Canada from Lebanon in 1985. Today he is fighting deportation. Why? Because of his membership in an outlawed terrorist group, the PFLP [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine].
Not just a member, Al Yamani was involved at the highest level with this terrorist group, serving as the personal secretary to the head of the organization. Jamie Todd, a Department of Justice lawyer, defending the government's right to remove Al Yamani said, "It may not be in the national interest to provide haven for retired terrorists or retired members of a terrorist organization." We'll forgive Todd for this marvelous understatement. "If you are taking dictation from the head of the PFLP in the early 1980s, your involvement is deep. Terrorists can be kept like any other weapon, in an arsenal or silo for future contingencies," he added, raising the spectre of future concerns as well as Al Yamani's past in his arguments to Justice Anne Mactavish. Of course, Al Yamani says he is insulted by the comments. "I am not a sleeper cell or a retired terrorist. I've never been a terrorist."
Let's see. The PFLP is a terrorist organization. It has been outlawed. Al Yamani was the personal steward of the head of the organization. And he says he was not a terrorist. And I'm sure there are plenty of priests who aren't Catholic, too. Sorry, but if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck............
"It is all a fabrication," says Al Yamani. Of course it is. The government just doesn't like the way he combs his hair, so they trumped up these charges. Al Yamani is married and has two Canadian-born sons, one in his late teens and another in his mid-20's. Perhaps he thinks this will save his bacon (so to speak) but I can see his wife following him back to Lebanon. There seems to be no reason to deport the boys.
"I believe in the Palestinian right to self-determination. I believe in ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine," he says. He fails to state how far he is willing to go for his beliefs. He freely admits that he has been a PFLP member at different points over the years and that he handled about $1million in funding that was channeled to a variety of groups in the Palestinian territory that was earmarked for ‘humanitarian' purposes. And we all know how ‘humanitarian' the Palestinians can be toward the Israelis.
Canada outlawed the PFLP in 2003, describing it as a terrorist organization that since 1968 had committed hijackings, car bombings and suicide bombings. The PFLP's bombing of an Israeli pizzeria in February of 2002 killed three civilians. Al Yamani has argued that membership in the PFLP is a form of expression protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. So was joining the Nazi party during WW II, but we've revoked the citizenship of former members and kicked them out of the country. What makes Al Yamani think he's so special?
Al Yamani's lengthy legal fight has allowed him to remain in Canada but his arguments haven't met with any success. After years of litigation, an Immigration and Refugee Board declared him, in 2005, to be inadmissible to Canada on security grounds. The Federal Court of Canada upheld that ruling last year. Al Yamani then appealed to Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety, for ministerial relief. That appeal was denied, so it looks like this is the last kick at the can for Al Yamani. Justice Mactavish has thus far reserved her judgment in the case.
Perhaps the wheels of justice roll slowly, but let's hope they roll in the right direction now. Better late than never.
Sources: Adrian Humphreys Canada Can't Be Haven The National Post
Not just a member, Al Yamani was involved at the highest level with this terrorist group, serving as the personal secretary to the head of the organization. Jamie Todd, a Department of Justice lawyer, defending the government's right to remove Al Yamani said, "It may not be in the national interest to provide haven for retired terrorists or retired members of a terrorist organization." We'll forgive Todd for this marvelous understatement. "If you are taking dictation from the head of the PFLP in the early 1980s, your involvement is deep. Terrorists can be kept like any other weapon, in an arsenal or silo for future contingencies," he added, raising the spectre of future concerns as well as Al Yamani's past in his arguments to Justice Anne Mactavish. Of course, Al Yamani says he is insulted by the comments. "I am not a sleeper cell or a retired terrorist. I've never been a terrorist."
Let's see. The PFLP is a terrorist organization. It has been outlawed. Al Yamani was the personal steward of the head of the organization. And he says he was not a terrorist. And I'm sure there are plenty of priests who aren't Catholic, too. Sorry, but if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck............
"It is all a fabrication," says Al Yamani. Of course it is. The government just doesn't like the way he combs his hair, so they trumped up these charges. Al Yamani is married and has two Canadian-born sons, one in his late teens and another in his mid-20's. Perhaps he thinks this will save his bacon (so to speak) but I can see his wife following him back to Lebanon. There seems to be no reason to deport the boys.
"I believe in the Palestinian right to self-determination. I believe in ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine," he says. He fails to state how far he is willing to go for his beliefs. He freely admits that he has been a PFLP member at different points over the years and that he handled about $1million in funding that was channeled to a variety of groups in the Palestinian territory that was earmarked for ‘humanitarian' purposes. And we all know how ‘humanitarian' the Palestinians can be toward the Israelis.
Canada outlawed the PFLP in 2003, describing it as a terrorist organization that since 1968 had committed hijackings, car bombings and suicide bombings. The PFLP's bombing of an Israeli pizzeria in February of 2002 killed three civilians. Al Yamani has argued that membership in the PFLP is a form of expression protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. So was joining the Nazi party during WW II, but we've revoked the citizenship of former members and kicked them out of the country. What makes Al Yamani think he's so special?
Al Yamani's lengthy legal fight has allowed him to remain in Canada but his arguments haven't met with any success. After years of litigation, an Immigration and Refugee Board declared him, in 2005, to be inadmissible to Canada on security grounds. The Federal Court of Canada upheld that ruling last year. Al Yamani then appealed to Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety, for ministerial relief. That appeal was denied, so it looks like this is the last kick at the can for Al Yamani. Justice Mactavish has thus far reserved her judgment in the case.
Perhaps the wheels of justice roll slowly, but let's hope they roll in the right direction now. Better late than never.
Sources: Adrian Humphreys Canada Can't Be Haven The National Post
