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By:
Elias Bejjani
National Post - Canada
13/12/04 (Editorials page A15)
(Re:
Ottawa's Selective Deportation
Policy, No. 22)
Numerous members of the SLA, even
those who served in civilian
positions, were denied refugee
status by the Canadian government
and were deported. The Canadian
immigration authorities have
declined to accept numerous refugee
requests and appeals in spite of
strong advocacy by prominent
Lebanese-Canadian groups and
organizations, including the
Canadian Lebanese Human Rights
Federation (CLHRF).
The alleged crime of these
individuals is their affiliation
with a local Lebanese militia that
was composed of Lebanese citizens in
1976 from all walks of life,
religions and denominations. They
organized to defend their southern
villages, cities and towns against
all terrorists.
Among the terrorists were the PLO in
the 1980s and Hizbollah, followed by
many other fundamentalists and
Arabists, whose main aim was, and
continues to be, to wage a guerrilla
war from Lebanon against Israel and
to destroy Lebanon's democracy and
independence status.
The SLA's 3000-men militia was
forced to dismantle in 2000 in the
aftermath of Israel's sudden
withdrawal from South Lebanon in
accordance with UN Resolution 425.
Those SLA members who stayed in
Lebanon after the Israeli withdrawal
were subjected to vigilantism and
unfair trials, which resulted in
harsh sentences and death penalties
against more than 70 individuals.
Many of those men are still in
Beirut's jails deprived of all their
basic human rights, while their
families suffer persecution,
poverty.
Former militia members who ended up
in Canada should not face
deportation, but should be given
respect, protection and safety in
view of the fact that the Canadian
government (as well as those of the
United States and Australia,
Denmark), have listed the
organization against which the SLA
fought, Hizbollah, as a terrorist
organization.
To this day, the Syrian-appointed
Beirut regime remains in complete
defiance of the the United Nations,
including UN Security Council
Resolution 1559, passed this year.
Since the Israeli withdrawal,
thousands of residents and members
of the SLA have been persecuted,
charged and sentenced without due
process. The mockery of the trials
was well documented by Human
Rights Watch, Amnesty
International, Red Cross and
numerous Human Rights organizations.
To escape this persecution, more
than 6000 citizens, among them many
former members of the South Lebanese
Army, took refuge in Israel. Many of
them eventually immigrated to
Canada, Germany, Australia, France,
the United States and other
countries. They applied for refugee
status for humanitarian reasons.
While many countries helped these
victims of terrorism, fundamentalism
and persecution, it is regrettable
that Canada did not provide any
assistance. To date, there is no
clear Canadian position on this
human tragedy.
Deportation will force them to
return from Canada to occupied
Lebanon, where they are labeled as
traitors and likely to suffer
unthinkable reprisals. The
government of Canada should not be
an accomplice to a human rights
disaster in the making, especially
at this time when Syria and
Hizbollah are on the defense against
a worldwide campaign to end their
violent grip on Lebanon.
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