URGENT ACTION NEEDED!  Another former US soldier, Robin Long, has been detained by Canadian immigration and is currently in jail facing possible deportation this Monday July 14.  Call Canadian officials below and demand that this harassment stop, that he be immediately released, and that deportation actions cease against Mr. Long and Mr. Glass and all war resisters, as supported by Canadian Parliament and a majority of Canadians.  More at www.refusers.ca

Support refuseniks seeking asylum in Canada

STOP THE DEPORTATION OF

COREY GLASS ON JULY 10

"I signed up for the National Guard to ... do humanitarian work, filling sandbags if there was a hurricane ... I should have been in New Orleans, not Iraq."

Corey Glass, Iraq veteran and war resister

In Philadelphia - Wed 9 July, 11:30am - 12:30pm

Speak-out & delegation to Canadian consulate
1650 Market St (1 Liberty Place)

War resisters in Canada and everywhere won a huge victory on June 3, when, due to international campaigning, the Canadian Parliament called on the government to “immediately implement a program to allow conscientious objectors and their immediate family members […] to apply for permanent resident status and remain in Canada; and … the government should immediately cease any removal or deportation actions … against such individuals.”

Yet Corey Glass is under imminent threat of deportation. The Canadian and American governments want to set an example to the hundreds of US refuseniks who have taken refuge in Canada, and to prevent their refusal from spreading to Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. They could face deployment to Iraq, long-term imprisonment, and punitive discharges, including the forfeit of medical benefits and income, and prejudicing future employment. If forced to serve, they would likely be involved in war crimes.


On July 9, similar actions are planned in 14 US cities and Munich Germany as part of a day of action called by Courage to Resist, Veterans for Peace, & Project Safe Haven.

Great news!  On Friday, the Canadian Federal Court sided for the first time with a US war resister, disagreeing with the Immigration and Refugee Board decision and ordering a re-hearing for Joshua Key, his wife Brandi, and their four children. The court found that Key was required to systematically violate the Geneva Conventions as part of his military service in Iraq.

 

Please call and write Canadian officials

 

Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley

Phone (+1) 613-996-4974

Email minister@cic.gc.ca finled1@parl.gc.ca

Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Phone (+1) 613-992-4211 Fax: (+1) 613-941-6900

Email pm@pm.gc.ca

 

See War Resisters Support Campaign website: www.resisters.ca/actions.html.
Also see model letter from Courage to Resist at
www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/499/89/  

 

Corey Glass and other war resisters have been supported by many organizations including Amnesty International, Canadian Friends Service Committee, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and Veterans for Peace. A recent poll show that 64% of Canadians favor giving refuge to U.S. soldiers who don't want to fight in Iraq.

Refusing to kill is not a crime
Refuseniks in the US and Canada are part of an international movement of men and women resisting in spite of being harassed, persecuted, tortured (like Mehmet Bal and Halil Savda in Turkey), sentenced to years in jail after being put on trial time and time again (like Lazaros Petromelidis in Greece and refuseniks in Israel – such as Daniel Cronberg, sentenced to jail again last week). Their only “crime” is refusing to kill.

 They are the tip of a huge anti-militaristic iceberg, a hidden part of the international anti-war movement which must support them. All of us must have the right to refuse to kill, to live in a world free of war and dictatorship, a world which invests in caring, not killing. Refusing to kill is not a crime and this protection of human life must be supported, not punished.

Philadelphia action organized by Payday men’s network & Global Women’s Strike, co-sponsored by AFSC Youth and Militarism Program, Brandywine Peace Community, Delaware Valley Veterans for America, Veterans for Peace Chapter 31

 
For more info, call Payday at 215-848-1120 or payday@paydaynet.org
For more info about international refuseniks: www.refusingtokill.net

 

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