Statement from Toronto security-certificate detainees on James Loney:
From Mahmoud Jaballah, Mohammad Mahjoub and Hassan –
Dec. 4,.2005
[original statement in Arabic and English in PDF]
Statement from the three Toronto security certificate detainees. James (Jim) Loney is from Toronto, and has worked on the campaign to abolish security certificates and to free these men.
To the people holding James Loney and the other Christian Peacemaker Team Members in Iraq,
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious and Merciful,
Our names are Mahmoud Jaballah, Mohammad Mahjoub and Hassan Almrei, and we have been detained without charge for between four and five and a half years. Some of us have spent as many as four years in solitary confinement as well. We are being held captive under security certificates because the government of Canada alleges we are linked to terrorist organizations and that we pose a threat to the national security of Canada. Allah is witness to our innocence of these allegations.
We are suffering a great injustice here in Canada because the government stereotypes Muslims and because of our strong faith and daily attendance to mosque. We have been suffering innocently.
Many Canadians have heard of our injustice and have been supporting us in our fight for freedom by contacting politicians, by holding demonstrations in front of the jail, by writing letters to authorities and spreading the word all over Canada by way of media.
James Loney of the Christian Peacemaker Teams is one of thousands of people who have been fighting to right this wrong. He is a person who has organized and motivated people to participate in this struggle for what is right. We have recently seen a photo of him in the newspaper and it has saddened our hearts to learn that he is being held captive in Iraq.
This is the same James Loney who has travelled to Iraq on more than one occasion to help the people of Iraq. This is the same James Loney who has reached out to the families of the Abu Ghraib prisoners. This is the James Loney who was against the U.S. invasion and is against the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
It pains our heart to know that a person of this calibre is being held captive. We care about his freedom more than we do our own.
If you love Allah, if you have goodness in your heart, please deal with this matter as righteous Muslims and not let these kind, caring, compassionate and innocent people suffer. Prophet Mohammad, Peace be upon Him, said, “If you do not thank the people, you do not thank Allah.” The Prophet, Peace be Upon Him, also said, “If someone did a favour to you, try to return his favour.”
We hope and pray to see these captives freed as much as we hope and pray for our own freedom here in Canada, a freedom for which James Loney has worked so hard.
For further information: Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, +1 416 651-5800, tasc@web.ca
See a video>/A> of Jim Loney being arrested protesting a US war plane on CPT’s website.
See other appeals for the CPT hostages.
Torontor Star picks up detainee story from WW4R
Mothers appeal for Canadians’ release
Dec. 5, 2005. 01:00 AM
PHILIP MASCOLL
STAFF REPORTER
Three Muslims detained in Canada under security laws have joined an appeal to save the lives of two Canadian peace activists being held under threat of death in Iraq.
A New York-based website yesterday posted an appeal from Mahmoud Jaballah, Mohammad Mahjoub and Hassan Almrei, who are being held on national security certificates. They called for the release of humanitarian workers James Loney, 41, of Toronto, and former Montrealer Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, who were abducted on Nov. 26 along with American Tom Fox, 54, and Briton Norman Kember, 74.
The members of U.S.-based Christian Peacemaker Teams were snatched in Baghdad by gunmen who identified themselves as the Swords of Righteousness Brigade. The kidnappers threatened to execute the hostages on Thursday if their demands for the release of Iraqi detainees are not met.
Loney’s family issued an appeal yesterday asking the captors to release the men to continue their humanitarian work, said William Payne, a spokesperson for Christian Peacemaker Teams.
Also yesterday, Sooden’s mother spoke to a news network in New Zealand, where her son has been studying for the past three years.
“I want to appeal to those who are holding my son to release him and his companions unharmed,” Manjeet Kaur Sooden is quoted on TV3 as saying. “Harmeet … is a peace-loving man,” she said, her voice cracking. “He went to Iraq to do good. I pray those who are holding Harmeet will look into their hearts (and) see the good that is in my son,” she said.
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said yesterday her country has offered assistance in “working toward the safe release of the hostages.
“This is a terrible act against humanitarian aid workers who had gone to help the people of Iraq,” Clark said.
Pat Kember, wife of the British hostage, made an emotional appeal on the Al-Jazeera network yesterday saying her husband “is a very caring man” who wanted to help alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people.
Matthew Behrens, a Toronto-based organizer with the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, said the statement on the World War 4 Report website had been dictated to him on Saturday by the three men who were being detained in Toronto.
The mission statement on the World War 4 Report site said it had been monitoring the global war on terrorism and its implications for human rights, democracy and ecology since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S.
“We hope and pray to see these captives freed as much as we hope and pray for our own freedom here in Canada, a freedom for which James Loney has worked so hard,” the statement said.
With files from Associated Press