Quebec court blocks extradition of man wanted in Florida murder
Postmedia News July 15, 2011 6:02 PM

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OTTAWA — The Quebec Court of Appeal has blocked the extradition of a Montreal man, 20, accused of murdering a friend’s uncle in Orlando, Florida, four years ago, according to a media report.




Francis Doyle Fowler was 16 when his friend’s uncle was attacked and buried in the backyard. Fowler, who has dual citizenship in the U.S. and Canada, returned to live with his mother in Canada after the attack. U.S. prosecutors claim Fowler helped his friend commit the crime. A man notified police after hearing boasts about the incident.

According to the CBC, the Quebec court ruled the punishment Fowler would face if convicted would be too severe. Since Florida abolished its parole system for juveniles and adults, it would mean Fowler could face decades in prison, which the court called unacceptable and unreasonable.




In Canada, he would face no more than a maximum sentence of seven years for the same crime. Another man involved in case, who was 19 at the time, has been sentenced to 40 years in a U.S. prison.
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Police find dead man’s car
By NEAL HALL, VANCOUVER SUN July 15, 2011 6:02 PM

35-year-old Vahid Mahanian has not been seen since June 27. His family reported him missing on June 30.
Photograph by: Handout, Files

WEST VANCOUVER – Police investigators have located the car belonging to Vahid Mahanian, the 35-year-old man found Tuesday off Cypress Bowl Road in West Vancouver.

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Investigators are asking anyone who may have noticed suspicious activity near the recovery site, or who has information regarding Mahanian’s whereabouts since June 27, to contact the West Vancouver police department at (604) 925-7300.

Four years ago, Mahanian was shot at Richmond’s Dover Park when he was among two groups who opened fire on each other, exchanging more than 150 shots. He spent two full years recovering from his injuries and had 15 surgeries.

Two others wounded in the shootout were gangsters Nikki Tajali and Sahand Askari.

Since the shooting, Mahanian graduated with honours from the University of B.C. and had also applied for a pardon in connection with a home invasion in North Vancouver in 1997, in which his then-girlfriend was his accomplice.




The pair, dressed in black and toting machine guns, broke into the house of a businessman. They received a four-year prison sentence for the crime.

nhall@vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Canada taking in Forces’ Afghan interpreters
By Beatrice Fantoni, Postmedia News July 15, 2011 4:42 PM

Afghan National Army Non-Commissioned Officer recruits march during a parade to mark a graduation ceremony at the Turkish-run Camp Ghazi in Kabul July 7, 2011.
Photograph by: Omar Sobhani, Reuters

The federal government will resettle hundreds of Afghans who worked as interpreters for the Canadian military mission in Kandahar, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Friday in Calgary.




A group of interpreters and their families — 56 people in total — have arrived since the special immigration program was first announced in 2009.

Interpreters working in Kandahar province for Canadian soldiers and officials faced serious risks and threats from insurgents as a result of their work, Kenney said at the time of the program’s announcement.

“There are Afghans who face extraordinary personal risk as a result of their work in support of Canada’s mission in Kandahar,” he said. “Their lives and those of their families may be threatened by insurgents, and some have suffered serious injury and can no longer work.”

Another 33 Afghan nationals are expected to arrive in Canada over the summer, and 130 more in the fall, a spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada told Postmedia News in an email.

The program allows for resettlement of 550 people in total and should wrap up in spring 2012, she said. There are 450 applications in the pipeline and to date, one in three of these applications has met the criteria, she added.

“We are expecting we’ll end up resettling 550 people who qualify for the program,” Kenney said Friday.

To qualify, an interpreter must have worked for the mission starting in 2007 for at least 12 months cumulatively. A detailed application demonstrating “extraordinary and individualized risk” is required and assessed in Kandahar by the departments of National Defence and Foreign Affairs. Spouses and children of interpreters who were killed on the job can also apply until the process closes in September.

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He said that some applications take longer because they are incomplete.

“Not everyone in Afghanistan who wants to come to Canada will be able to, but anyone who makes a proper application and proves that they’re facing risk will be able to,” he said.

“We appreciate the bravery and the courage of local Afghans who have been co-operating with Canadian forces.

“We anticipate that anyone who qualifies will be coming to Canada within a few months.”

Citizenship and Immigration Canada estimates that an application takes about six months to review.

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bfantoni@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/bfantoni
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