A few other media outlets have already reported on this over the weekend but Paul Koring at the Globe and Mail got caught up with the latest on the Abousfian Abdelrazik story today and brought a little something extra to the table.
The government has unveiled new and unprecedented reasons barring the return of Canadian citizen Abousfian Abdelrazik, claiming every country he might fly over on the way home from Khartoum needed to give explicit permission.
In a federal-court filing, the government says its hands are tied and that neither Mr. Abdelrazik's Charter right as a citizen to enter Canada nor the UN's specific travel-ban exemption permitting those on its terrorist blacklist to return home requires it let him fly back to his family in Montreal.
It says the UN travel ban "prohibits other states" from allowing Mr. Abdelrazik or anyone else on what's called the 1267 list of al-Qaeda suspects "to enter into and travel through their territories which includes land, airspace and territorial waters."
What a sharp government we have. They've figured out what so many others appear to have missed: the 1267 travel-ban exemption is meaningless and unworkable unless the individual in question is already in the country next door to his country of citizenship. We've got some pretty good legal talent working for us, eh?
Except...what's this?
Only two days before Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon rescinded the government's written promise to issue Mr. Abdelrazik a travel document to fly home, another person on the 1267 blacklist flew from London to Nairobi after the British government received a routine exemption from the UN Security Council 1267 Committee.
...
Mr. Ciise's flight across Europe and Africa would have transited the airspace of as many as a dozen countries, depending on the weather and the routing. None of them was required to approve his travel plans.
And in case it needs to be said:
The Harper government has never applied for a travel-ban exemption for Mr. Abdelrazik, despite insisting that he was being provided all possible consular assistance.
How much more embarrassing can this government get? Okay, that was probably a dumb question.
Koring is doing great work, isn't he?
And this:
Has the ring of truth, yes?
"after the British government received a routine exemption from the UN Security Council 1267 Committee"
Not even really trying to be make a convincing case for keeping him out any more, are they?
And the 'can't talk about it due to pending litigation' angle is crap too. Back in Sept 2008, Abdelrazik's lawyer Hammed offered to drop the lawsuit seeking to force the government to repatriate him in exchange for passage home.
Too bad (for them) that those "conservatives" are all such stupid mother-fuckers.
I recently went to India. I only had to clear customs at the airports that I stopped at, NOT any of the other countries that I flew over.
harper is dying of a brain disease. It's tragic and it might account for his bizarre behaviour. But they can't operate because the nature of his condition is such that were they to open up his skull a bunch of smelly yellow puss would pour all over the place.
First, Paul Koring almost always does great work - he's one of the best journalist working in Canada today as far as I'm concerned. I hope he wins a bunch of awards for his work on this story.
Second, FUCK Stephen Harper and the goats that pulled his chariot to Ottawa. I have the overwhelming urge (again) to call a few people I know in Western Canada that voted for that evil sack of shit because "the Conservatives and the Liberals are just the same and at least he won't favour Quebec blah blah blah blah fucking blah" and blast an air horn over the line into their ear at 4 am. I don't much like Iggy either but at this point I'd be more inclined to go with the devil I don't know. I've never been keen on Jack Layton since he was a city councillor in Toronto. He may be a lot of things and I may not trust him, but I guaran-fucking-tee that if he were made prime minister Friday, Abdelrazik would be eating poutine on Rue St. Dennis with his kids by Sunday afternoon.
Third, Fuck Stephen Harper and all the lying fucking fucks who sail in him. I'm looking at you Lawrence Cannon!
My abject apologies for the profanity, but as an longtime expat it really infuriates me that the government of my homeland feels it can have one of its citizens thrown in a foreign prison, tortured and then disown and abandon them when it looks like they fucked up and are afraid of getting sued.
My abject apologies for the profanity...
No problem. I've been known to turn the air a bit blue myself when the subject turns to the Hapless Government™.
What the Rev said, minus the last paragraph (never been an ex-pat). 'Cause why be redundant?