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Jewish group wants Kazemi exhibit restored Posted on: Sunday, June 12th 2005
MONTREAL A Jewish group in Montreal is accusing city authorities of censorship over its decision to remove a library exhibit showcasing the work of murdered photojournalist Zahra Kazemi.
On Friday, members of the Canada Jewish Alliance Against the Occupation held a mock book-banishing ceremony in front of the Cτte-St-Luc library where Kazemi's photos had been on display.
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Silenced at home Posted on: Friday, June 10th 2005
Removing Zahra Kazemi's photographs from the Cote St. Luc Library makes Montrealers look to the world like a parochial and narrow people
Zahra Kazemi knew how dangerous her photographs were. She knew how dangerous taking them was for her personally. But to her, the reward was worth the risk. Through her photographs, she could give back to women made invisible by their burqas and to children made mute with horror the right to be alive, the freedom to express themselves.
Now, nearly two years after she died an agonizing death in one of Iran's most notorious prisons for daring to take photos outside it, it is the photographer who is being silenced. Right here in Montreal, the city that the Iranian-born Kazemi adopted, that more than any other should celebrate this champion of human rights.
Instead, this week the Montreal borough of Cote St. Luc/Hampstead/Montreal West decided Kazemi's work is too offensive to be shown in a public library. In a move that makes Montrealers look to the world like we are a parochial and narrow people, the borough removed a 23-photograph exhibit of her work.
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CAIR-CAN SEEKS PROBE OF MCGILL 'HARASSMENT' Posted on: Tuesday, June 7th 2005
ACTION ALERT
Muslim students say incidents follow closure of prayer space
(Ottawa, Canada - 6/7/05) - The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) today called for an investigation of reports that Muslim students at Montreal's McGill University are being singled out for harassment by campus security guards.
The reports of harassment follow the eviction of the Muslim students from their prayer space in the university's Peterson Hall last week. Students
said security guards entered the prayer room, asked everyone to vacate the area and changed the locks on the doors.
Now, the Muslim students are reporting that security guards in Peterson Hall are continuing to harass them. In one report, the students say security personnel would not permit them inside the building until they displayed their student cards. The students said the guards then followed them throughout the building until they left.
Another Muslim student reported that a guard told him he could only have two minutes to use the washroom and, when the time had elapsed, the guard started clapping and yelling for the student to leave the bathroom.
According to a similar report, a guard began banging on a bathroom stall door and asked why the student was taking him so long and if he "was praying in there." (Islam forbids Muslims to pray in a washroom.)
Another student said a guard told her he was just doing as instructed after he told her she could not use the washroom.
"Not only were the Muslim students denied a prayer space, which over 20 universities in Canada manage to provide as either a multi-faith prayer area or a designated prayer room, but now they are reportedly being harassed when they try to use the bathrooms," said Halima Mautbur, CAIR-CAN's human rights coordinator.
Ms. Mautbur demanded that McGill University comply with federal and provincial human rights codes that require religious needs to be accommodated.
"It is disgraceful that Muslim students at McGill are being singled out and harassed by security guards in this demeaning manner," she added. "We call on McGill University to halt this treatment and offer an apology to its Muslim students."
ACTION REQUESTED: (Please be polite)
1. Please contact the following people at McGill university and protest the treatment of its Muslim students and the eviction from the prayer room. Ask for the university to stop any harassment that may be occurring, apologize to its students and provide a prayer space.
E-MAIL: Prof. Heather Munroe-Blum, Principal and
Vice-Chancellor; Prof. Anthony C. Masi, Deputy Provost and CIO; Dr. Bruce M. Shore, Dean of Students; and Honora A. Shaughnessy, Executive Director, Alumni Relations/Advancement McGill Alumni Association (The Graduates' Society) Development and Alumni Relations
heather.munroe.blum@mcgill.ca, anthony.masi@mcgill.ca, bruce.m.shore@mcgill.ca, honora.shaughnessy@mcgill.ca
COPY
Canada@cair-net.org
Sikh teen fabricated story of attack Posted on: Sunday, June 5th 2005
B.C. police are calling off a hate-crimes investigation, after a Sikh teenager admitted he made up a story about a group of white men beating him and cutting his hair.
Police had appealed for tips earlier in the week, after the 17-year-old said five men jumped him behind an elementary school in Richmond on May 26.
He said they snatched off his turban and chopped his hair, which for religious reasons had never been cut.
The teenager admitted on Friday that it never happened, Richmond RCMP said at a news conference Saturday.
"He disclosed to us that in fact he had fabricated the entire incident," Cpl. Peter Thiesson said.
"The injuries that we observed on him that required medical attention were self-inflicted, that he cut his own hair and that he disclosed this to no one."
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Air Canada sends mixed meal message: Airline doesn't meet dietary restrictions Posted on: Friday, June 3rd 2005
'Muslim-style' meals won't fly
SIKANDER Z. HASHMI
STAFF REPORTER
Toronto Star
The next time Imtiyaz Khatri flies Air Canada, the most he'll do is enjoy the sight and aroma of his "Muslim meal" without ever tasting it.
If he bothers to order it.
Like other devout Muslims, Khatri a Toronto businessman and frequent flyer doesn't consume meat unless it's from ritually slaughtered animals. But he is getting mixed messages from Air Canada on whether the airline's meals meet strict Islamic dietary requirements and are halal (Arabic for permissible).
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