On March 7, Ghorbanali Mazraekar Spent Another Birthday in a Canadian Prison

Maryam Namazie
Published in Hambastegi English
March 14, 2003

March 7 was Ghorbanali Mazraekar’s birthday; he turned 35 years old. But rather than spending his birthday going out for drinks and dancing, he spent it – for the second year in a row – languishing in a Canadian prison with the serious threat of deportation back to Iran, i.e. torture and execution, hanging over him. Ghorbanali has already been tortured by the Islamic regime of Iran when he was only 17. He has spent years searching for refuge and protection from that regime yet the Canadian government continues to deny him the protection he deserves.

And while the Canadian government wheels and deals with the Islamic regime of Iran, a pillar of international terrorism, and gives it carte blanche to set up shop in Canada, it has the gall to claim that Mr. Mazraekar is a ‘terrorist’ because of his former association with the People’s Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), an Iranian opposition group it has recently and arbitrarily labelled terrorist. [As an aside, since 1998, Mr. Mazraekar has been a member of the Worker-communist Party of Iran.] While the classifying as terrorist of an Iranian opposition organisation is baffling – to say the very least – and has been given further comment elsewhere, it is clear that the Canadian government knows very well that Mr. Mazraekar was never involved in any acts of terrorism. While a member of the PMOI, he was involved in logistical support, participated in demonstrations, and worked as a cook among other activities. He is being found guilty merely by association.

And because he has been deemed such, the Canadian government says he cannot even apply for refugee status and must be deported back to Iran. This is nothing short of an outrage. If the Canadian government fails to recall that it is a signatory to the Convention against Torture and many other rights conventions, then we should help remind it that that government is accountable for Mr. Mazraekar’s life and safety. Mr. Mazraekar must be granted protection in Canada. His deportation to torture and execution in Iran must be stopped. Full Stop.