Refugee claimant who has previously lived in Chicago and Dubai plays the "honour killing "card in order to remain in Canada

Jordanian mom hiding in Toronto after deportation order

First posted: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 07:14 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 07:22 PM EDT

Abeer Hassan Al Rifaee, 32, on the run, but believed to be in Toronto with her sons, claiming she will be subject of “honour killing” if deported to Jordan for converting family from Islam to Christianity. Jordanian community claim leaving Islam one of worst crimes in Jordan and she can be stoned to death.

TORONTO – A Jordanian mom of two now hiding in the Toronto-area claims she will be the victim of an “honour killing” if deported to Amman.

She says that is the punishment that awaits for converting her family from Islam to Christianity.

Abeer Hassan Al Rifaee, 32, has been on the run with Mohamed, 10, and Saleem, 8, since March 29 when a warrant was issued for her arrest by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) for not showing up for removal.

Jordanian community and church leaders in Toronto said converting to Christianity from Islam is one of the worst crimes in that country. As a penalty Al Rifaee can be stoned to death.

“I am very scared for my life and that of my children,” Al Rifaee told the Sun from a Toronto-area hideout. “My kids haven’t been going to school and we are scared to leave the apartment.”

The family seldom venture outside fearing they’ll be scooped and placed on a flight home.

“We are very terrified for our lives,” she said on Wednesday. “The kids like me are terrified of being tortured and forced to re-convert to Islam.”

Al Rifaee, her estranged husband, and their sons, arrived here from Dubai in February 2009 as visitors and filed refugee claims that were turned down in March 2011. Subsequent appeals were also denied.

They had previously lived in Chicago for five years and her sons were born there.

Al Rifaee’s refugee claim was tossed out due to credibility issues and she had returned to Jordan four or five times after alleging she’ll be killed there, a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board ruled.

Two men accused of organizing the MV Sun Sea's journey to Canada appear in B.C. Provincial Court in Vancouver on Wednesday, May 16, 2012. It was their first appearance on that charge. Lesly Jana Emmanuel is on the left, with Kunarobinson Christhurajah seated beside him. Jane Wolsak

Men charged with helping to organize MV Sun Sea voyage appear in court
SUNNY DHILLON
VANCOUVER— From Thursday’s Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, May. 16, 2012 9:00PM EDT
Last updated Wednesday, May. 16, 2012 9:09PM EDT

Dressed in red prison-issued clothing, listening intently as a Tamil interpreter translated the proceedings, two men charged with helping organize the MV Sun Sea’s voyage into Canada made a brief appearance in Vancouver Provincial Court.

Kunarobinson Christhurajah and Lesly Jana Emmanuel were each charged this week with one count of organizing entry into Canada contrary to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Both men face penalties of life in prison and/or a $1-million fine.

Mr. Christhurajah and Mr. Emmanuel did not address the court during their first appearance Wednesday. The men stood behind a glass barrier in the prisoner’s box and followed the hearing through the interpreter. They remain in custody and will be back in court June 5 for a bail hearing.

The kirpan, which is a stylized representation of a sword, will be allowed in public areas of Toronto courthouses subject to certain conditions.

The kirpan, the Sikh ceremonial dagger

Sikhs’ ceremonial daggers now allowed in Toronto courthouses

Published On Wed, 16 May 2012

Curtis Rush
Police Reporter

Toronto has become the first city in Canada to develop a formal policy allowing Sikhs to bring their ceremonial daggers into its courthouses.

The kirpan, which is a stylized representation of a sword, will be allowed in public areas of Toronto courthouses subject to certain conditions.

For instance, the court officer must be informed the person is a Khalsa Sikh, which is an initiated Sikh, and that they are carrying a kirpan.

A crowd protests changes to the province's immigration rules in front of Saskatchewan’s legislature on Tuesday. Photo Credit: Whitney Stinson , Global News

Canadian flag waving crowd protests changes to Saskatchewan immigration rules
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 4:11 PM

A crowd protests changes to the province’s immigration rules in front of Saskatchewan’s legislature on Tuesday.
Photo Credit: Whitney Stinson , Global News

A crowd waved Canadian flags in front of the Saskatchewan legislature to protest changes to the province’s immigration rules.

They say the changes announced earlier this month without notice or a phased-in period are a betrayal.

Under the new rules, someone in Saskatchewan can nominate only one family member at a time instead of nominating multiple relatives.

Family category nominees also require a high-skill job offer.

Pirubhai Garasiya immigrated from India in 1994, then moved from Ontario to Saskatchewan in 2010 because of the immigration program.

Garasiya wants to bring his only son to Canada, but worries that may not happen now because his son doesn’t have a job offer.

Police and military personnel wear surgical masks as they board the MV Sun Sea after it was escorted into CFB Esquimalt in Colwood, B.C.,Friday, Aug. 13, 2010. Two people have been charged with helping to smuggle a ship full of Tamil migrants into Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Two charged with helping to smuggle migrants to Canada aboard ship
By: The Canadian Press
Posted: 4:31 PM | Comments: 0 (including replies) | Last Modified: 4:37 PM

Police and military personnel wear surgical masks as they board the MV Sun Sea after it was escorted into CFB Esquimalt in Colwood, B.C.,Friday, Aug. 13, 2010. Two people have been charged with helping to smuggle a ship full of Tamil migrants into Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

VANCOUVER – Two people have been charged with helping to smuggle a ship full of Tamil migrants into Canada.

Lesly Jana Emmanuel and Kunarobinson Christhurajah are accused of organizing and aiding in the operation that brought 492 Tamils by boat to British Columbia’s coast.

The rusty MV Sun Sea landed off Victoria in August 2010 with the refugee claimants on board.

The court indictment against the pair says they planned their crimes between August 2009 and August 2010 in Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand.

The Canadian government has launched an extradition request for a third man charged with similar offences and arrested in France.

Six men from the ship remain in detention almost two years after they landed, while 19 passengers have been issued deportation orders and six people have been accepted as refugees.

Azkar Khan says many members of the Pakistani community in Regina are upset over changes to a Saskatchewan immigration program. (CBC

New immigration rules slammed
CBC News Posted: May 12, 2012 2:52 PM CST Last Updated: May 12, 2012 3:00 PM CST
Azkar Khan says many members of the Pakistani community in Regina are upset over changes to a Saskatchewan immigration program. (CBC)

Anger and frustration were evident at a meeting Friday night in Regina where members of the local Pakistani community voiced their unhappiness with changes to a Saskatchewan immigration program.

The province announced changes to the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program on May 2.

Among other things, the changes put a limit on how many additional family members may apply to immigrate until the original family has settled.

The people at the Regina meeting said the changes came without warning, catching some families who had already been making plans off guard.

Azkar Khan, who recently moved to Regina, said people at the meeting shared concerns that the changes, announced just over a week ago, will create unfairness.

“If I submit my two applications on 30th of April and my friend who is also eligible has those applications ready, but somehow couldn’t make it to the office, now the rules are changes for him,” Khan said.

(…)
“This is about the community and I can see other people are upset,” Khan added. “They’re crying. Because they made this move. It’s not easy to relocate in Canada.”

A rally was being organized for Monday to protest the changes.
With files from CBC’s Dani Mario