Sharma Harsanyi In the News

Sharma Harsanyi In the News (Calgary Sun, July 4, 2010):

'Quashed Torture Conviction Derails Deportation"

Nadia Moharib

Having his criminal conviction for torturing a snitch quashed has renewed an Iraqi man’s fight against a deportation order.

A new trial has been ordered for the man whose deportation order was based on that overturned guilty verdict as well as a long history of crime.

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Ibrahim boasted a lengthy criminal record at the time, including a 2002 conviction for carrying a concealed weapon, kidnapping and assault with a weapon and was serving a conditional sentence for a weapons conviction.

In 2004, he was handed a deportation order based on serious criminality,

A three-year stay of deportation was granted in 2006 with the possibility it could become permanent if Ibrahim showed good behaviour, says one of his lawyers.

As a result of the 2008 convictions, the stay was cancelled and deportation order was again enforceable.

The prospect of a new trial, conceivably, means the possibility of being acquitted of torture-related allegations.

And, says Ibrahim’s immigration lawyer, Raj Sharma, given the conviction no longer exists the stay should be reinstated making the ultimate fight against deportation even more viable.

“The conviction doesn’t exist anymore,” Sharma says.

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“Mr. Ibrahim is in the unenviable position of dealing with very serous criminal matters and at the same time facing very serious consequences” should he be deported, Sharma says.

“The immigration decision was based on a conviction that has now been quashed.

“Why should my client suffer under the threat of an enforceable deportation order when the conviction has been set aside?”

This week, Sharma put an application before immigration officials to revisit the decision to cancel his stay of deportation.

Sharma represented reputed gangster, Jackie Tran, garnering several legal victories delaying his ultimate deportation and prompting critics to lash out at loopholes in the immigration system.

The lawyer defends his pursuits on behalf of Ibrahim.

“There’s no ‘working-of-the-system,’” he says.

“Whatever legal avenues are there for my client, I will take them and if I don’t, I would argue that’s unethical.

“The presumption of innocence is the fundamental principle in our legal system.”

Ibrahim, who was denied bail, remains in custody.

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