Listen to an interview with Ivan by clicking the play button below. You can download the MP3 here.

October 17, 2008

UPDATE: STAY OF DEPORTATION REFUSED; IVAN WILL BE DEPORTED TODAY.

Yesterday, the Federal Court rejected the application for a stay of deportation by Ivan Apaolaza Sancho. Ivan will be deported today - Friday, October 17, 2008.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

If you are in Montreal, you can join us at an emergency gathering that will take place at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport.

Emergency Action
Friday, October 17 at 9am
Departure point: The stop for bus 211 at metro Lionel-Groulx
Contact: 514-222-0205

Phone campaign to demand that Ivan be given all the necessary protection so as to prevent "incommunicado" detention and torture.

Spanish Consulate in Montreal
Phone: (514) 935-5235/219-2391
Fax:(514) 935-4655

Canadian Consular Affairs:
Telephone: 1 800 267-6788

Canadian Border Services Agency:
(514) 283-8700 - Ask to speak with Martin Bolduc or the General Director.

October 16, 2008

DAY OF ACTION IN SUPPORT OF IVAN APAOLAZA SANCHO: STOP HIS DEPORTATION TO TORTURE!

Unless the Federal Court grants a stay, Ivan Apaolaza Sancho will be deported on Friday, 17 October to face probable torture and imprisonment.

Canada must end its complicity in torture and free Ivan immediately!

• Members of the London Coalition Against Poverty delivered a letter on October 16, 2008 to the Canadian Embassy in solidarity with Ivan Apaolaza Sancho. A report is linked below, along with a response from the embassy.

  Report from London Coalition Against Poverty
  
  

• The following letter was delivered by representatives of several community groups to Directeur -Générale de Douane CBSA officials in Montreal on 16 October. They were promised that it would be immediately delivered to Stockwell Day, the Minister of Public Safety. Similar letters were delivered to Canadian officials in London, Dublin and Beirut on 16 and 17 October.

  Support Letter October 16, 2008
  
  

• Beirut - October 16th, 2008 - We had an appointment today with David Da Silva, the first secretary of political affairs in the Canadian embassy. A letter was given to him, and the attached letter [below] was also delivered, which he said he would give the ambassador today. He said he wasn't aware of the situation of Ivan. He listened carefully, and said that he will forward the letter from him to the Ottawa offices.

  Letter to the Canadian Ambassador in Lebanon
  
  

  A video of the action of the Dublin Basque Committee:
  
  
  
  

RALLY

Thursday, 16 October 2008 at noon
Office of the Prime Minister of Canada and Offices of the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) 400, Youville Square, Corner McGill St. (Metro: Square Victoria)

FILL THE COURT

During a last minute court hearing to try to get a stay of deportation Thursday, 16 October 2008 at 2pm Federal Court, 30 McGill Street, Montreal (metro Square Victoria)

Unless the Federal Court grants a stay, Ivan Apaolaza Sancho will be deported on Friday, 17 October to face probable torture and imprisonment.

On this day of action for Ivan, people in Montreal, Beirut, Dublin, London and elsewhere will call on Canada to end deportation proceedings against Ivan and end Canadian complicity in torture. If Ivan is nevertheless deported, both Canada and Spain will be responsible for any ill-treatment he receives.

Let's send a clear message to the government of Canada that he must put an end to Canadian complicity in torture and will be held accountable for the consequences of deporting Ivan.

If he is deported, Ivan is at risk of incommunicado detention, torture, imprisonment and an unfair trial. On this international day of action, people in different parts of the world will call on Canada to end deportation proceedings against Ivan. If Ivan is nevertheless deported, these observers will closely follow his situation and hold both Canada and Spain responsible for any ill-treatment he receives.

STAY TUNED FOR POSSIBLE EMERGENCY DELEGATION TO THE AIRPORT on Friday, 17 October.

Meeting point at 9am outside the Lionel Groulx Metro at the 211 bus stop.

An emergency action is planned for Friday, 17 October, the day that Ivan is supposed to be deported. A delegation will go to leaflet at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport.

NOTE: This action is planned in case the stay of deportation is refused.

If the stay is granted, we will send an update by email.

However, you should check in on Friday morning at 514 691 0471.

October 6th, 2008

BASQUE REFUGEE IVAN APAOLAZA SANCHO ON HUNGERSTRIKE IN MONTREAL PRISON

Ivan faces deportation on Friday, 17 October

Urgent call for support and solidarity, 6 October 2008

Basque refugee Ivan Apaolaza Sancho has been on hungerstrike in a Montreal prison since the evening of Thursday, 2 October.

Last week, Ivan learned that his PRRA application was rejected. The refusal came two days after the Quebec Superior Court refused to allow him the right to argue a motion of habeas corpus. Then on Friday, Ivan was told that 17 October had been set as the date for his deportation.

The prison has responded to the hungerstrike by removing Ivan's glasses, books, clothes, moving him to a 1m by 3m solitary cell with no toilet and walls stained with blood and feaces. They have also strictly limited his telephone access, effectively cutting him off from his parents.

Ivan has been detained without trial in Montreal since June 2007, has been refused his right to apply for asylum in Canada, and is under a deportation order to Spain where he is at risk of incommunicado detention and torture - all on the basis of information that an IRB Commissioner recognized was itself obtained by torture.

Your support and solidarity is requested:

1. If in Montreal, please come out on Tuesday, 7 October at 1pm to a symbolic action at the Immigration and Refugee Board offices (Complexe Guy Favreau, 200 Boulevard Rene-Levesque O. (metro Place des Arts/Place des Armes)).

2. Have your organization write a statement protesting Canada's violation of Ivan's rights and calling on Stockwell Day to intervene (details below, in the 'What you can do' section).

September 24th, 2008

Suffocating Justice: Action to Support Ivan Apaolaza Sancho

See photos of the action here...

Second Torture Canada action, opposing Canadian complicity in torture in the name of "security":

Wednesday, 24 September, 8:30 AM
1 Notre Dame West (metro Place d'armes, corner St. Laurent)
Meet on Notre Dame before main doors

STOP THE DEPORTATION OF IVAN APAOLAZA SANCHO!
END CANADA'S COMPLICITY IN TORTURE!

Come out to help distribute plastic bags outside the courthouse where lawyers will be arguing on behalf of Ivan Apaolaza Sancho. Plastic bags are used by Spanish police to simulate suffocation in their interrogation of Basque prisoners such as Ivan. Simulated suffocation is just one of many torture techniques used by Spanish police, according to witness accounts.

The use of torture in Spain has been documented by such organizations as the UN Committee against Torture and Amnesty International.

Ivan Apaolaza Sancho, a Basque refugee, faces imminent deportation to Spain, where he risks "incommunicado" detention, torture and an unfair trial. On Wednesday, his lawyers will argue that he should be freed from detention under a habeas corpus motion. Please join us outside the courthouse to oppose Ivan's deportation on the basis of information produced under torture and to support his right to asylum in Canada.

Torture Canada

This is one of a series of creative actions being organized in Montreal throughout the fall of 2008 to expose Canadian complicity in torture in the name of "national security". Inspired by the People's Commission on Immigration "Security" Measures, each action will focus on a different case of Canada's current involvement in torture. Photos of the first action, in support of Abdelrazik Abousfian who was detained and tortured in Sudan with the complicity of the Canadian government and is still blocked by Canadian officials from returning home, can be seen here: http://photos.cmaq.net/v/AbdelrazikTortureCanada1/.

From Omar Khadr in Guantanamo Bay, to the three men whose detention and torture abroad with the complicity of the Canadian government is being examined by the Iacobucci Inquiry, to Hassan Almrei, a security certificate victim in Ontario who has been detained without charge for almost seven years under threat of being deported to face torture in Syria, Canadian officials are involved in torture.

The stories of these individuals indicate a dangerous trend to deny certain people their most fundamental human rights, ironically, in the name of "security" and even "civilization". Public ignorance, political exclusion and racism have allowed this to continue for far too long.