Wednesday, July 16th @ 9:30 am – 11:30 am. Federal Court Building. 701 West Georgia Street on the 3rd floor

This is a critically important security-related situation that requires your support. Please come out! A recent June 2008 report reveals that thousands of refugees in Canada are living in legal precarity and limbo due to security checks and processes. The ever-expanding security apparatus is less about protecting society than it is about creating a culture of fear and stigmatization in the post 9/11 climate.

Mr. Momenzadeh Tameh is an accepted Convention Refugee in Canada since 1993. After 14 years in limbo, waiting for permanent residency, Minster Stockwell Day recently denied him permanent residency on the basis of the Canadian Border Services Agency’s recommendation to declare Mr. Tameh “inadmissible to Canada on security grounds”. This occurred despite the fact that CSIS has approved his security clearance and recommended he be granted permanent residency status in Canada. This case is a clear demonstration of the fundamentally unfair and arbitrary nature of the post 9/11 national security apparatus in Canada that does more to create insecurity in the lives of refugees like Mr. Tameh. Mr. Tameh will be appealing CBSA’s decision before the Federal Court of Canada on July 16th, 2008.

Please come to show your support at Mori’s hearing, it is really important to have as many concerned members of our various communities present:

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*** If you arrive late, please look up Mr. Tameh’s name on the courtroom list.

We want to make sure the courtroom is packed so please RSVP to: 604.251.7974 or Email: mori.support@gmail.com by Sunday July 6th

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* Background Information regarding Momenzadeh (Mori) Tameh.

Mr. Momenzadeh Tameh is an accepted Convention Refugee in Canada. Minster Stockwell Day recently denied Mr. Tameh Ministerial Relief and permanent residency in Canada on the basis of the Canadian Border Services Agency’s recommendation to declare Mr. Tameh “inadmissible to Canada on security grounds”. This occurred despite the fact that CSIS has approved his security clearance and recommended he be granted Ministerial Relief and permanent residency status in Canada.

Mr. Tameh was born in Tehran, Iran on April 21st, 1960 and became a supporter of Mujahedin-E-Khalq (MEK) between May 1979 (the year of the Iranian Revolution), until September 1982. Up until 1981, MEK was a legal
political party in Iran running in federal elections. In the post- Iranian revolution period, Mr. Tameh was jailed by the Iranian government as a supporter of an opposition party and he was tortured in jail between December 1981-1986. Mr. Tameh terminated his involvement with MEK upon his arrest and jailing. In 1991, MEK contacted Mr. Tameh in order to re-recruit him, however he declined and subsequently fled to Turkey and then to Canada as an asylum-seeker.

He arrived at the Vancouver Airport on December 18th, 1993 and filed a refugee claim. He was accepted as a Convention Refugee on May 12, 1994 on the basis that the Immigration and Refuge Board member believed that he faced a well-founded fear of persecution if he were to return to Iran. As an accepted Convention Refugee, Mori then applied for Permanent Residency in May 1994.

In May 2005, the MEK became listed as terrorist organization in Canada, 24 years after Mr. Tameh’s involvement with MEK had terminated. On December 21st 2007, Canadian Border Services Agency communicated to Mr. Tameh that he was being declared inadmissible to Canada, despite the fact that CSIS and CIC supported permanent residency status for Mr. Tameh. The CBSA had never met nor interviewed Mr. Tameh, yet chose to go against the recommendations of CSIS and CIC.

Mr. Tameh came to Canada to escape political persecution and to build a new life in a stable environment. He is deeply loved by his network of friends and community members. Given the legal limbo he is in, Mr. Tameh also cannot leave Canada to visit his family; his parents have extensive health issues and Mori fears that he may not be able to see them again.

The process of being declared inadmissible by CBSA has created much undue anxiety and daily stress for Mr. Tameh. As is evident, the CBSA is unjustly declaring Mr. Tameh to be inadmissible on security grounds. This case is a clear demonstration of the fundamentally unfair and arbitrary nature of the post 9/11 national security apparatus in Canada.