Hacked By DiJiT4L

“I’m worrying every day, to be honest,” said Benatta. “…ask any Algerian… he will tell you what will happen to me if I am deported.” He said, that if he is returned to Algeria, he could face torture, lifelong imprisonment or even execution. —ACLU

“No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.” —Article 9, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the U.S. helped create and which the U.S. is a signatory to!

“It is now apparent that the overwhelming majority of the men who were detained had simply overstayed their visas or committed similar civil immigration infractions that, ordinarily, would not have led to detention at all.” —ACLU

Actions against Benamar Benatta and others “…violates human rights principles found in two important international instruments:
· The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (which the U.S. helped create after World War II)
· The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (whose provisions are similar to our Bill of Rights)
“The United States is a signatory to both these documents.” —ACLU

By asking the United Nations to shine a global spotlight on the U.S. government’s indiscriminate roundup of immigrants, the ACLU warns the government that it cannot escape justice through secrecy. The United States government has done everything in its power to hide its actions from public view. The government refused to disclose the names of the men it secretly held, and then deported them before they could tell their stories. The government clearly hoped that these immigrants had disappeared forever. But just as the United States is crossing borders abroad in the name of security, we will cross borders in the name of justice to vindicate human rights abuses. —ACLU

Benatta’s “fears about returning to Algeria center on the country’s violent Islamic fundamentalist movement as well as its military. “I had a problem with the terrorists who wanted to kill me and the military, which was beating and torturing people,” he told The Washington Post.” —ACLU

Ahilan Arulanantham, a former staff attorney at the ACLU’s Immigrants Rights Project, recalls what he saw and heard at the Brooklyn detention center:
“I remember being very struck that the men’s wrists were shackled, their legs were shackled at the ankle, their arms were shackled to their waist. There was a guard on each arm and another guard behind and a guard in front.

“The detainees described physical abuse, that they were thrown up against the wall, that lights were on constantly, that it was freezing. They tried to put blankets on themselves, but guards would get angry about that when they had ‘counts.’” —ACLU

…the ACLU and other groups filed a Freedom of Information Act request demanding government documents in response to reports that it is intentionally sending detainees to countries known to engage in torture and other illegal interrogation techniques. If successful, this action will help us determine whether the U.S. has violated the Convention Against Torture, one of the few human rights treaties that the U.S. has actually signed and ratified. —ACLU

I believe that the U.S. has indeed violated any or all of the conventions against torture that are presently in place.

It’s very sad.
Ruschia

I am Benamar Benatta’s lawyer. The circumstances of Benamar’s case are the worst I have ever heard. An innocent man, he was illegally transferred to the U.S. by Canadian officials on September 12, 2001 with nothing but prejudicial suspicions. He was locked away in the Metropolitian Detention Centre in Brooklyn under John Ashcroft’s insidious “preventative detention” regime. He was forgotten by Canada. He was tortured, abused and arbitrarily detained for nearly five years. Where do we even begin to obtain justice for Benamar?

Well, first of all, we need answers. We need to put pressure on the Canadian government to review the circumstances of Benamar’s illegal transfer. We need to call Canadian officials to account for their illegal actions. We need to reaffirm human rights principles and the rule of law. We need to make sure this never happens again.

I hope that when you read about Benamar’s case, you feel compelled to lend your voice in speaking out against the injustices he endured. Join the Benatta Coalition for a Public Review and post a comment of support. Benamar regularly views this site and your expressions of support mean more than words can describe.

Together, we will find the truth. In truth, there will be justice. That is what Benamar, and Canadians alike, deserve.

Nicole

1. Canada should give Mr. Benatta citizenship now.

2. Both Canada and the United States owe Mr. Benatta public apologies and financial compensation.

3. Canadian and American officers and officials involved in Mr. Benatta’s transfer, imprisonment and torture should be prosecuted.

We must stand up to injustice like this or we lose our humanity. We must affirm the rights of EVERY individual, and demand right be done for EVERY atrocity or we consent to the same abuse being visited upon us.

The Canadian government MUST be TOLD that THIS IS NOT RIGHT and is not acceptable.

Benatta has support on my (the US) side of the border, too. Sadly, United States citizens are becoming more and more used to arbitrary detention and torture. Our government (both wings) is giving up on international approval and the rights of the individual. If Canada still cares about her reputation in the world, now is the time to distance herself from the brutality Benamar has gone through by MAKING RIGHT for their part in this horrible wrong. Ben did the right thing by not participating in the torture he saw in Algeria, and he was “rewarded” by being tortured himself. He needs citizenship and compensation, so that he can put his life back together from the years of suffering and dehumanization to which he was subjected.