June 15, 2020

(Surrey) – No One Is Illegal – Coast Salish Territories is calling on the CBSA to immediately release Dr. Mohammed Al-Humaikani from detention and halt his deportation. Dr. Al-Humaikani has been indefinitely imprisoned in Fraser Regional Correctional Centre and the Surrey Immigration Holding Centre since he arrived in Canada on November 21, 2019. Dr Al-Humaikani fled Yemen in 2016 travelling through Turkey, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and the USA. The five-year-long war in Yemen has left 100,000 dead, with more than 20 million people in Yemen needing humanitarian assistance.

“I am looking for anywhere where I can live safely with my wife and son,” Dr Al-Humaikani says. “I’ve faced so much discrimination and violence as an Arab who can’t speak Spanish, and I could not stay in the US because of the ban on Yemenis. Then, Canada put me in jail.”

Canada Border Services Agency is seeking to remove Dr Al-Humaikani to Mexico, where COVID-19 deaths have hit a new daily high of 1,092 deaths. Dr Al-Humaikani has presented to CBSA proof from the Mexican government that he has renounced his Mexican permanent residence, but CBSA is still attempting to deport him to the country dealing with a skyrocketing pandemic, where he no longer has any immigration status.

Dr. Al-Humaikani has been unfairly detained already for six months and twenty-four days, since November 21, 2019, because Canada says they do not think he will appear for proceedings. He has been so frustrated with the conditions that he began a hunger strike.

“This is just another example of the twisted logic behind Canada’s immigration detention regime,” says Omar Chu, a member of No One Is Illegal. “Dr Al-Humaikani has been clear that he is searching for the right to safety, and Canada responds by imprisoning him. Meanwhile, they lifted the freeze on arm exports to Saudi Arabia, who are leading a coalition that continues to bomb Sana’a, his hometown.”

Contact: Omar Chu