Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Law Firm Blog

The Latest on Abousfian Abdelrazik

Abousfian Abdelrazik is a Sudanese born Canadian Citizen. He became a citizen after he came to Canada in 1990 and was granted refugee protection by this country in 1992. He has never been charged with any crime, in Canada or anywhere else. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has been interested in Abdelrazik since at least 1999. Abdelrazik knew Ahmed Ressam the "Millennium Bomber" and testified at his trial. CSIS started "harassing" Abdelrazik some years before he returned to Sudan to visit his sick mother. There are reports that CSIS agents visited his sick wife (dying of cancer) in the hospital when Abdelrazik wasn't there; another incident where they refused to leave his home when he asked them to- only leaving when he called the police and they came. It would seem that CSIS was engaging in conspicuous disruption - an apparently acceptable security protocol. Unfortunately, this behavior was predicated on the unacceptable non-legal doctrine of "where there's smoke there's fire". After the death of his wife in Montreal, Abdelrazik decided to visit his ailing mother back in Sudan in 2003. After he arrived in Sudan he was arrested by that country's notorious security service at the behest of CSIS.... Read more →

SSH Law seeks conditional discharge for immigration charges

Bjorn represented our client who was convicted of a criminal offense by returning to Canada illegally. He is seeking a conditional discharge which will not result in a criminal record. From the Calgary Sun: Short jail terms won’t deter people from fleeing danger in their homelands to enter Canada illegally, a lawyer told an immigration sentencing hearing Tuesday. Bjorn Harsanyi said the one-month sentence the prosecution wants for Jorge Aguirre Gonzalez will have little impact on others seeking to breach our immigration laws. As a result, Harsanyi told provincial court Judge Anne Brown that Aguirre Gonzalez should be given a conditional discharge, so he won’t have a criminal record. Harsanyi said Aguirre Gonzalez illegally returned to Canada to escape his native Guatemala after an earlier refugee claim was turned down and he was deported. “Should we be denouncing this kind of behaviour (by imposing jail)?” Harsanyi said. “Should we be denouncing individuals fleeing for their life?” http://m.calgarysun.com/2012/06/05/jail-wont-deter-illegal-immigrants-fleeing-danger-says-calgary-lawyer Read more →