Will No One Save Us From That Dreaded Name?
Damnation! Just when I breathed a sigh of relief, certain in my naivette that my eyes and ears would never again be assailed by the mewlings of Maher Arar, he's back in the news again. Gone and done with, I thought, the matter settled. This poor unfortunate man with his blighted experience has been dealt with, we've expressed remorse, handed over a delectable pile of cash and he's off!
But then of course, post-settlement-and-apology came that event in Ottawa sponsored by The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in Canada at the Islamic Circle of North America, and the Muslim Association of Canada to honour the good Mr. Maher and his goodlier wife, Monia Mazigh. I heard about all the mad scrambling of the human-rights-sympathetic agencies to attend, Amnesty International and the Canadian Labour Congress - to lift a toast to a brave brace of sufferers.
Quite the self-congratulatory event it must have been on February 14, with Canada's best sanctimony-blatherers offering their sympathetic presence at this huge sweetheart valentine of an event for Maher Arar, replete with Muslim elites like Imam Aly Hindi, the NDP's Jack Layton and Alexa McDonough happily mingling with the mosque-Canadian establishment. Not to be outdone, Stephane Dion and Michael Ignatieff were also present to massage their immigrant- and religious-minorities credentials.
Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, a blessedly moderate Muslim group in Canada, putting the intelligence quotient back into the debate, has brought all these delicate little details into focus. He maintains that the plight of another Arab-Canadian, one of Egyptian descent was known by all those in attendance at this soiree, but no one there, not the politicians, nor the engagingly-Canadian Muslim groups, nor even the toastees made mention of their concerns for the well-being of this man.
Myself, I'd only learned about his apprehension and arrest a week ago, and wondered, when news of Mohammed el-Attar's trial opening in Egypt was being broadcast why no consular presence was there on his behalf, since the man does hold Canadian citizenship and a Canadian passport. This is a man accused and in the process of being convicted of being a spy for Israel, ostensibly commissioned by his political masters to spy on the activities of Egyptian-Canadians.
Unsurprisingly, Mr. el-Attar now declares himself innocent of all charges, despite his confessions of guilt under initial duress. Duress meaning not threats and pleadings, but this being the Middle East, torture. Reports from Cairo, it would appear, quote experts on the Egyptian justice system, supporting claims that Mr. el-Attar's confession should be treated with extreme skepticism.
"If you want me to be frank, 95% of the confessions extracted by Egyptian police are false. The defendants are forced into signing them, and there's only one way of getting them to sign. You hang the suspects up, and you beat the hell out of them," said Maymoud Qatari, a retired police brigadier-general. Well, that's getting the goods from the horse's mouth, isn't it?
So, Mr. Fatah asks, why are not the Canadian Islamic Congress, the Canadian Arab Federation, CAIR-Canada and professor Tyseer Abol Nasser who chairs the Canadian Muslim Network, and to all of whom Mr. Fatah wrote on the matter, concerned? Why haven't they bothered to come to this man's defence, why haven't they raised the issue of his detention and forced confession under torture?
Tarek Fatah has his own answers, two possibilities of which anyone can take their pick from and come to think of it the two answers can likely be rolled into one: Because Mr. el-Attar had 'confessed' to being an Israeli spy? Or because he's an Arab gay? Still, as Mr. Fatah points out it's the lack of interest evinced by Maher Arar, victim extraordinaire and wife Monia Mazigh, human-rights activist unparalleled that disappoints the most.
Why am I not surprised?
But then of course, post-settlement-and-apology came that event in Ottawa sponsored by The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in Canada at the Islamic Circle of North America, and the Muslim Association of Canada to honour the good Mr. Maher and his goodlier wife, Monia Mazigh. I heard about all the mad scrambling of the human-rights-sympathetic agencies to attend, Amnesty International and the Canadian Labour Congress - to lift a toast to a brave brace of sufferers.
Quite the self-congratulatory event it must have been on February 14, with Canada's best sanctimony-blatherers offering their sympathetic presence at this huge sweetheart valentine of an event for Maher Arar, replete with Muslim elites like Imam Aly Hindi, the NDP's Jack Layton and Alexa McDonough happily mingling with the mosque-Canadian establishment. Not to be outdone, Stephane Dion and Michael Ignatieff were also present to massage their immigrant- and religious-minorities credentials.
Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, a blessedly moderate Muslim group in Canada, putting the intelligence quotient back into the debate, has brought all these delicate little details into focus. He maintains that the plight of another Arab-Canadian, one of Egyptian descent was known by all those in attendance at this soiree, but no one there, not the politicians, nor the engagingly-Canadian Muslim groups, nor even the toastees made mention of their concerns for the well-being of this man.
Myself, I'd only learned about his apprehension and arrest a week ago, and wondered, when news of Mohammed el-Attar's trial opening in Egypt was being broadcast why no consular presence was there on his behalf, since the man does hold Canadian citizenship and a Canadian passport. This is a man accused and in the process of being convicted of being a spy for Israel, ostensibly commissioned by his political masters to spy on the activities of Egyptian-Canadians.
Unsurprisingly, Mr. el-Attar now declares himself innocent of all charges, despite his confessions of guilt under initial duress. Duress meaning not threats and pleadings, but this being the Middle East, torture. Reports from Cairo, it would appear, quote experts on the Egyptian justice system, supporting claims that Mr. el-Attar's confession should be treated with extreme skepticism.
"If you want me to be frank, 95% of the confessions extracted by Egyptian police are false. The defendants are forced into signing them, and there's only one way of getting them to sign. You hang the suspects up, and you beat the hell out of them," said Maymoud Qatari, a retired police brigadier-general. Well, that's getting the goods from the horse's mouth, isn't it?
So, Mr. Fatah asks, why are not the Canadian Islamic Congress, the Canadian Arab Federation, CAIR-Canada and professor Tyseer Abol Nasser who chairs the Canadian Muslim Network, and to all of whom Mr. Fatah wrote on the matter, concerned? Why haven't they bothered to come to this man's defence, why haven't they raised the issue of his detention and forced confession under torture?
Tarek Fatah has his own answers, two possibilities of which anyone can take their pick from and come to think of it the two answers can likely be rolled into one: Because Mr. el-Attar had 'confessed' to being an Israeli spy? Or because he's an Arab gay? Still, as Mr. Fatah points out it's the lack of interest evinced by Maher Arar, victim extraordinaire and wife Monia Mazigh, human-rights activist unparalleled that disappoints the most.
Why am I not surprised?
Labels: Inconvenient Politics
posted by Pieface | 11:49 AM
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