Canada condemns man to Tunisian terror

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by George Maddux

Hasoun M'Barek, 34, was a month away from finishing a Master's degree at the Université Laval. Unfortunately, his graduation plans were abruptly interrupted when Immigration Canada deemed that his claim for refugee status lacked credibility. He was ordered onto a flight to Tunis, Jan. 6, where he was immediately brought into the Ministry of the Interior and given a "helicopter," a Tunisian method of torture that involves binding of the hands and legs and being suspended on a metal bar. He is now serving a 12-year sentence passed down in 1996 while he was in Canada.

M'Barek's crime was to have participated in the Tunisian Students' Association, a group associated with the Islamic opposition Enahdha movement. "It's a tragedy," says Michel Frenette of Amnesty International's Montreal office. "Canada failed in its duty to protect someone in danger and went against its own treaties against torture." He says that human rights conditions under the regime of Ben Ali, who has turned Tunisia into a police state since coming to power in a 1987 coup, have worsened since November.

Montreal lawyer Nathalie Blais has flown to Tunis to offer M'Barek legal assistance in his new trial and will report on the situation next week. Jamel Jani of the Maghreb Human Rights Association describes M'Barek as "shy, sincere and honest," and says that they know of at least two other Tunisians whose refugee claims have been refused by Immigration Canada and who could soon end up in Tunisian prison for their political activities.