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UNITED NATIONS - / www.MaximsNews.com @ U.N.
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- 26 April 2007 –
The Honourable Peter MacKay,
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities
Agency, today made the following statement on the April 24 trial and sentencing
of human rights lawyer Anwar al-Bunni to five years’ detention, as well as the
conduct of the April 22 and 23 legislative elections:
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“The Government
of Canada is very concerned about the outcome of the trial of Anwar al-Bunni on
charges related to his efforts to build a culture of human rights in Syria and
denounce torture in Syrian prisons. We are also concerned about the ongoing
trials of opposition figure Kamal Labwani and intellectuals Michel Kilo, Mahmoud
’Issa, Khalil Hussein and Suleiman al-Shummar.
“Syria must
ensure that its domestic laws and practices are in keeping with its
international human rights obligations. Canada urges Syria to release all
political prisoners and take concrete steps toward respecting and protecting
human rights, and guaranteeing freedom of expression, assembly and association,
starting with the recall of its 44-year-old Emergency Law.
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Syria
must also take firm measures to stop arbitrary arrest, incommunicado
detention, torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, as well as to
investigate allegations of these practices, prosecute perpetrators and
provide remedies for the victims.
“The
Government of Canada is furthermore concerned with the shortcomings of the
Syrian election law, system and process. Syria should guarantee its citizens
the right to genuinely democratic legislative and presidential elections, as
part of a fully fair and participatory political process, as part of a move
toward providing its citizens freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule
of law.”
April
26, 2007 (10:00 a.m. EDT)
No. 63
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Kennedy, Ian Williams, Stephen Schlesinger, Sen.
Timothy E. Wirth, Marc Morial, Amb. Jayantha
Dhanapala (Sri Lanka), Amb. Pierre Schori
(Sweden), Amb. William H. Luers, Dr. Susan Roosevelt
Weld, Rory Kennedy, Mehri
Madarshahi, J. Michael Adams, Gloria Feldt,
Jeffrey Laurenti, Dr. Rodney D. Smith, Ashley
Bommer, Rory
O'Connor, Genevieve Stamper, Dr. Max Stamper and
others.
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