“Neither in law nor in equity should Canada be, or is it obliged to be, the great refugee milch-cow.” Today, Mohamed Zrig’s life is not threatened by Tunisian authorities. The humanitarian reasons that Canada could have had not to expel him are not valid anymore.
Version française ICI
Update for the English version
This article was first published in French shortly before the Tunisian elections. This English translation is being published after the elections. La Presse (Montreal) just announced that Firdaous Oueslati (Ennahda) and Mabrouka M’Barek (Congress for the Republic) will represent the extraterritorial Tunisian riding in which Canada is included. Mohamed Zrig to whom this article is dedicated will not represent Ennahda at the Tunisian Constituent Assembly.
Tunisians will vote on October 23, 2011 in order to elect a constituent assembly. The Tunisian government has included Canada in an extraterritorial electoral riding identified as that of the Americas and the rest of Europe. France, Italy and Germany constitute distinct ridings. The list of candidates running in the riding that includes Canada is available on the website of the Tunisian board responsible for overseeing the elections.
The Islamist party Ennahda that applies the Muslim Brotherhood program in Tunisia presents Mohamed Zrig living in Canada and Firdaous Oueslati (Netherlands) to represent this riding.
Ennahda’s Facebook (Americas and Europe Nahdha)
Many Tunisians are worried about what the future will bring if the October 23 election leads to a domination of their country by the Islamists. In 2002 and 2003, Mohamed Zrig who represents the Muslim Brotherhood in this election, took part in a hunger strike to support Radhia Nasraoui who was campaigning to have her husband freed from jail.
Today, Radhia Nasraoui is turning against Zrig’s organization and other Islamists. She declares that they are threatening Tunisian women’s rights.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Opposed to the Inclusion of Canada in a Tunisian Extraterritorial Riding
On September 22, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird, has expressed in a communiqué that he opposed the inclusion of Canada in a Tunisian extraterritorial riding because it was interfering with Canadian sovereignty:
“Canada welcomes the opportunity for Tunisians in Canada to cast absentee ballots in these elections. We have done the same thing for 12 other countries so far this year alone.”
“But we have expressed to Tunisia our wish that it not create a foreign voting district or riding that would include Canada. No one should represent Canada—or a part of Canada—as a constituency in a foreign elected assembly.”
“This policy does not apply uniquely to Tunisia; it is a matter of Canadian sovereignty.”
On October 18, 2011, AFP announced that Canada and Tunisia came to a compromise. The Tunisian ambassador in Canada, Mouldi Sakri, asserted that those elected will have “no mandate in order to eventually claim to represent Canada in a foreign assembly.”
Canoe.ca: Les Tunisiens du Canada pourront voter cette semaine (Canada’s Tunisians will be able to vote this week) October 18, 2011
Taïeb Moalla, a journalist with the Journal de Québec and a close relation of Mohamed Zrig, criticized the initial Canadian position.
Other countries have established extraterritorial ridings in the past. During the 2002 and the 2007 elections, Algeria had included Canada in a riding with the rest of the Americas, Asia and Oceania. On these two occasions, it is a Canadian resident, Rachid Boudjarane who represented the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP), the Muslim Brotherhood’s organization in Algeria. He was defeated on both occasions. Point de Bascule has published an article about Boudjarane’s background in December 2010 after he criticized MNA Monique Richard who had opposed, in the Québec National Assembly, the financing of a Montreal school controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood.
Zrig is still in Canada in spite of having been refused political refugee status for the last 20 years
Ennahda’s candidate, Mohamed Zrig, arrived in Canada in 1992. He then claimed political refugee status. The Canadian immigration authorities refused his claim because he had been an accomplice of terrorist activities since he kept on leading the Movement of the Islamic Tendency (MIT that became Ennahda) while its militants were involved in bombings, acid throwing in the faces of opponents and so forth.
Unsuccessful at obtaining political refugee status from 1992 to 2003, Zrig then tried to obtain permanent residence without more success. In both cases, his claims were rejected because of his association with a terrorist organization.
The number of procedures initiated by Mohamed Zrig in order to obtain refugee status and later permanent residence is considerable. We listed them in the third part of a chronology further down in the text. It is entitled Judicial Information.
Before ending up in Canada in 1992, Zrig spent time in Gaddafi’s Libya and in Turabi’s Sudan, Rachid Ghannouchi, the leader of Ennahda to which Zrig belongs, and the Sudanese Hassan Turabi, are two important leaders of the international Muslim Brotherhood network.
In the case X (Re) 2000 CanLII 21343 (IRB), it is reminded that Rachid Ghannouchi considers Hassan Turabi “to be his teacher and friend” (section 5.3.6) and that both men do belong to an Islamist International (section 5.3.7).
In this decision, the tribunal demonstrated the closeness between Turabi and Ghannouchi by quoting an article from the British Independent (August 13, 1993) mentioning that after having left Tunisia, Ghannouchi was using a Sudanese diplomatic passport to travel.
Zrig was safe in Turabi’s Sudan. In the 2000 case (section 5.3.20), the tribunal noted that “Neither in law nor in equity should Canada be, or is it obliged to be, the great refugee milch-cow of all the world, especially where other Convention signatories have been shown to be willing to entertain claimants’ claims to Convention refugee status.”
Today, Mohamed Zrig’s life is not threatened by Tunisian authorities. It is confirmed by the fact that he is trying to get elected at his country’s Constituent Assembly. The humanitarian reasons that Canada could have had not to expel him are not valid anymore.
Consequently, the government of Canada should expel Mohamed Zrig from Canada as it did with his compatriot Said Jaziri in 2007.
Candidates Mohamed Zrig and Jamel Jani: rivals and collaborators
Many other candidates who will take part in the Tunisian elections live in Canada. Jamel Jani is one of them. He represents the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP). Wikipedia describes it as “left-tending secular political force.”
LaPresse.ca: Tunisiens à Montréal: comme un goût d’élections libres (Tunisians in Montreal: Hungry for Free Elections) October 15, 2011
Although they are rivals in the upcoming election, Mohamed Zrig and Jamel Jani frequently cooperate, in particular within the Association des droits de la personne au Maghreb (ADPM – Association for human rights in Maghreb). Zrig is the Association’s Secretary-General and Jani is often its spokesman. Together, they took part at least to three hunger strikes (2002, 2003 and 2004) in order to protest against the human rights situation in Tunisia.
In 2005, on behalf of ADPM, Jamel Jani defended Abderraouf Hannachi, a Tunisian citizen, identified in Ahmed Ressam’s trial in the United States as an al Qaeda recruiter. It was Hannachi who organized Ressam’s trip to Afghanistan so that he could train before a terrorist attack that was planned in the United States for the 2000 millennium day. The operation failed when Ressam was arrested at the Canada-US border in a vehicle packed with explosives.
US v. Ressam, 474 F. 3d 597 – Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit 2007
CBC News: Ahmed Ressam: The would-be millennium bomber July 27, 2005
Stewart Bell (National Post): Tunisia convicts Montreal-based Qaeda suspect January, 11, 2005
In 2006, Jamel Jani was an assistant to Meili Faille, the Bloc Québécois Immigration critic in Ottawa. At the time, Mohamed Zrig contacted him in order to get information on his own immigration file in Canada. This information is mentioned in a 2009 case involving Zrig.
Ar Zrig v. Canada 2009 FC 629 (CanLII) (section 11)
While she was an MP in Ottawa, Meili Faille accepted to travel to the United Arab Emirates in order to facilitate the opening of an Islamic centre run by the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) in downtown Montreal. MAC is the Muslim Brotherhood’s organization in Canada. Her trip was paid for by MAC. After having been criticized, Faille eventually reimbursed the cost of her trip.
Maclean’s: Meili Faille’s Muslim Brotherhood junket September 10, 2010
Point de Bascule: Meili Faille committed to reimburse MAC while blaming Point de Bascule for Islamophobia September 24, 2010
Presentation of the Chronology
Point de Bascule presents a chronology about Mohamed Zrig. The information is divided in four sections:
Mohamed Zrig’s biographical information comes from three main sources:
- Case Zrig v. Canada 2001 FCT 1043, [2002] 1 FC 559
- Short bio read (in French) before a debate between four representatives of Tunisian political parties held in Montreal on April 16, 2011 (video 19:15)
- Ennahda’s Facebook
1957
Mohamed Zrig was born in Gabes (Tunisia) on August 29, 1957.
Zrig v. Canada 2001 FCT 1043, [2002] 1 FC 559 (section 2)
1979
In October 1979 Mohamed Zrig begins his studies at the science faculty of the University of Tunis. At that time, he also starts his union and political activities.
Zrig v. Canada 2001 FCT 1043, [2002] 1 FC 559 (section3)
Note: In the short biography read before the debate in Montreal, Zrig’s first year in university was rather 1978. (Video 19:25)
1981
Zrig gives up his studies in Science.
Zrig v. Canada 2001 FCT 1043, [2002] 1 FC 559 (section 5)
March 10, 1992 – October 2, 1992
On March 10, 1992, Mohamed Zrig leaves Tunisia and stays in Libya from March 10 to March 30, 1992. Then he stays in Sudan until April 20, 1992 before going back to Libya. In the eighties and nineties, Libya and Sudan were involved in terrorism.
Mohamed Zrig leaves Libya on June 16, 1992, stops in Malta, then Austria before arriving in Germany on June 23, 1992. He stays there until October 2, 1992.
Zrig v. Canada 2001 FCT 1043, [2002] 1 FC 559 (section 13)
October 2, 1992
Mohamed Zrig leaves Germany for Canada. He then claims refugee status.
Zrig v. Canada 2001 FCT 1043, [2002] 1 FC 559 (section 13)
April 1993 ?
Mohamed Zrig’s wife and their three children arrive in Canada and obtain political refugee status.
Ar Zrig v. Canada 2009 FC 629 (CanLII) (section 3)
2. PARTICIPATION IN VARIOUS ASSOCIATIONS
Ennahda Movement – Terrorist and Political Activist
1980
According to Mohamed Zrig’s testimony, he became a sympathiser of the Movement of the Islamic Tendency (MIT – Ennahda’s predecessor) in 1980. MIT / Ennahda represents the Muslim Brotherhood in Tunisia. At the time, he did not have any particular duties to perform in the movement. Rapidly though, Zrig got involved and became a leader of the organization.
In the eighties and nineties, while Zrig was active with Ennahda, the movement organized many terrorist attacks in order to bring down the Tunisian government. The Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) listed many terrorist activities executed by Ennahda in order to justify its refusal to grant political refugee status to Mohamed Zrig:
“Use of Molotov cocktails;
“Acid thrown in people’s faces;
“Physical attacks in schools and universities;
“Burning of automobiles;
“Threatening letters;
“Conspiracy to murder leading figures in the Tunisian government;
“Attempted fires in faculties;
“Bomb attacks at Sousse and Monastir on August 2, 1987;
“Arson at Bab Souika in February 1991, where a man died;
“A bomb attack in France in 1986;
“Weapons trafficking in 1987, and so on.”
Zrig v. Canada 2001 FCT 1043, [2002] 1 FC 559 (sections 4, 9 and 20)
In a 2003 decision by the Federal Court of Appeal involving Mohamed Zrig , Ennahda’s leader and Zrig’s associate, Rachid Ghannouchi, is described as “a terrorist who is an integral part of the international Islamist movement. (Ghannouchi) is regarded by some sources as one of the masterminds of terrorism. Mr. Ghannouchi has called for violence against the U.S. and threatened to destroy its interests in the Arab world. He has also demanded the destruction of the state of Israel.”
Zrig v. Canada 2003 FCA 178, [2003] 3 FC 761 (section 20)
In the section The Movement And Political Freedom And Democracy of his book Priorities of the Islamic Movement, the spiritual guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Youssef Qaradawi, writes that one of the key principles guiding the action of the Muslim Brotherhood is “changing wrong by force whenever possible.” Since the Muslim Brotherhood considers that sharia is an ideal that must be pursued, they justify acid-throwing on their opponents’ faces, organizing bombings, resorting to the kind of violence justified by Qaradawi as a way to “change wrong” and to implement Islamic law.
End of November – Beginning of December 1990
Mohamed Zrig started assuming responsibility for the Ennahda political office in Gabès after the organization was destroyed by waves of arrests.
Zrig v. Canada 2001 FCT 1043, [2002] 1 FC 559 (section 9)
Besides Ennahda’s use of violence for committing serious non-political crimes, Canadian tribunals have mentioned other points in Ennahda’s program that prove that the organization is pursuing objectives contrary to the Universal declaration of Human Rights:
Apostasy is a crime that must be punished
Ennahda’s leader, Rachid Ghannouchi, claims that abandoning Islam is not a manifestation of religious freedom but a crime that must be punished:
“Apostasy is an offence that has nothing to do with the religious freedom recognized by Islam … It is a political offence that corresponds, in other systems, to the offence of armed revolt against the state system and an attempt to bring it down … Apostasy must be punished in accordance with its scope and danger.”
X (Re) 2000 CanLII 21343 (IRB) (section 5.3.16)
Ghannouchi’s position on the matter is identical to what is being promoted by Youssef Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual guide. Qaradawi also advocates for the killing of apostates.
The manual of sharia Umdat al-Salik (Reliance of the Traveller) supports the same position at section o8.1. This manual is endorsed by many Muslim leaders, including Tariq Ramadan in his book Radical Reform (New York, Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 302-303) and by the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). Ramadan, IIIT and Ghannouchi are all associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
A Muslim woman is not allowed to marry a non-Muslim on pain of death
The Shari’ah, as interpreted by the Islamists, is clearly contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women which guarantees a woman’s freedom to choose her husband with no restrictions as to religion.
Zrig v. Canada 2001 FCT 1043, [2002] 1 FC 559 (sections 59-61)
Union générale des travailleurs tunisiens (UGTT) – Trade union organizer
1982
Mohamed Zrig joins the trade union and applies the Muslim Brotherhood’s program at the Société Arabe des Engrais Phosphatés et Azotés where he works.
Zrig v. Canada 2001 FCT 1043, [2002] 1 FC 559 (section 6)
Note: According to the short biography read before the debate in Montreal, Zrig’s implication in the UGTT trade union rather started in 1984. (Video 19:35)
January 1988
Mohamed Zrig is elected Secretary-General of his trade union.
Zrig v. Canada 2001 FCT 1043, [2002] 1 FC 559 (section 7)
In his book Priorities of the Islamic Movement, the spiritual guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Youssef Qaradawi, expands on the importance to use trade unions in order to promote the Brotherhood’s program. (The Islamic Movement and the Working Classes)
Dar al-Iman Institute (Montreal) – Administrator
2001
In documents submitted by the Dar al-Iman Institute to the Canada Revenue Agency, Mohamed Zrig is identified as a member of the Institute’s board of directors. The Institute manages a school that goes by the same name in Montreal.
Canada Revenue Agency: 2001 Dar al-Iman Institute Statement
The construction of Dar al-Iman school was partly paid for by a $232,000 grant (p. 5) given in 2000 by the Islamic Bank of Development based in Saudi Arabia.
According to information supplied by MAC to the Canada Revenue Agency, Lazhar Aissaoui was named on their board of directors in August 2002. Two months later, he gave the school and the land on which it is built to MAC. The official document confirming the transaction is stamped October 8, 2002 and it is available HERE.
At the notary, Lazhar Aissaoui represented the Institut canadien d’enseignement de la langue arabe Dar al-Iman (donor) and Sharaf Sharafeldin represented MAC (donee). MAC represents the Muslim Brotherhood in Canada.
Other associations (Canada)
In Mohamed Zrig’s biography read before the debate of representatives of Tunisian political parties in April 2011, his participation to three organizations in Canada was mentioned (vidéo 19:15):
- President – Association socioculturelle Er-Rissalla (Socio-cultural association Er-Rissalla) established in 1996;
- Secretary-General – Association des droits de la personne au Maghreb (ADPM – Association for human rights in Maghreb);
- Founding member – Collectif pour la liberté et la démocratie en Tunisie (CLDT – Association for freedom and democracy in Tunisia).
Association socioculturelle Er-Rissalla
In the case X (Re) 2000 CanLII 21343 (IRB) (section 5.3.10), it is mentioned that at the end of the eighties, Ghannouchi’s MIT/Ennahda gave a similar name (El-Rissalli) to a network whose mandate was to organize a coup to overthrow the Tunisian government and secure the evacuation of the Islamist leaders in case of failure.
The existence of the organization Er-Rissalla in Canada is mentioned in a 2002 Guide maghrébin.
Association des droits de la personne au Maghreb
August 14, 2010
Various leaders of organizations related to the Muslim Brotherhood send a message to Gilles Duceppe, the Bloc Québécois leader, in order to congratulate him on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of his election as an MP in the House of Commons. Mohamed Zrig is one of the signatories. He identifies himself as the Secretary-General of the Association des droits de la personne au Maghreb (ADPM).
Le Devoir (archived on Vigile) : Gilles Duceppe – Esprit d’ouverture à souligner (Gilles Duceppe – A spirit of openness that should be highlighted )
May 20, 1992
Mohamed Zrig is sentenced in absentia to 21 and a half years in prison by the Gabès Court of Appeal (Tunisia). The conviction is broken down as follows:
- 8 years for membership in a criminal association;
- 8 years for supporting such an association;
- 2 years for participating in an unauthorized organization;
- 2 years for manufacturing explosives;
- 1 year for possession of weapons without a licence;
- 4 months for carrying weapons without a licence;
- 2 months for collecting money without authorization.
Zrig v. Canada 2001 FCT 1043, [2002] 1 FC 559 (section 14)
October 2, 1992
Mohamed Zrig arrives in Canada and claims refugee status.
Zrig v. Canada 2001 FCT 1043, [2002] 1 FC 559 (section 13)
April 1993 ?
Mohamed Zrig’s wife and three children arrive in Canada. They claim refugee status and obtain it.
Ar Zrig v. Canada 2009 FC 629 (CanLII) (section 3)
June 30, 1994
The Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) rejects Mohamed Zrig’s claim for refugee status. The IRB states that Zrig is excluded from the definition of refugee under section F of Article 1 of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees because he was a leader of the terrorist organization Ennahda while it was involved in terrorism.
Ar Zrig v. Canada 2009 FC 629 (CanLII) (section 4)
July 6, 1995
Mr. Justice Pinard of the Federal Court allows Zrig’s application for a judicial review of the June 30, 1994 decision. A new hearing is ordered. It is schedule January 27, 2000.
Ar Zrig v. Canada 2009 FC 629 (CanLII) (section 4)
Zrig v. Canada 1995 CarswellNat 2409 (section 5)
January 27, 2000
The Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) reviews a claim for refugee status by a person simply identified as X.
All the facts of the case lead us to conclude that, in fact, X is Mohamed Zrig. Furthermore, in a recap of Zrig’s case done in 2009 (section 5), it is specified that a decision was made public in Zrig’s case on January 27, 2000.
The IRB concludes that Zrig’s fear of persecution is founded but his claim for refugee status is rejected because he was an accomplice of serious non-political crimes.
In the 2000 decision (section 5.3.12), it is also specified that Rachid Ghannouchi, Ennahda’s leader, tried to let the world believe that the refugee status was refused to Zrig by the Canadian authorities simply because he belongs to Ennahda. Ghannouchi did not say a word about Zrig’s complicity to many terrorist acts exposed by the IRB.
Ar Zrig v. Canada 2009 FC 629 (CanLII) (section 5)
X (Re) 2000 CanLII 21343 (IRB)
The X (Re) 2000 CanLII 21343 (IRB) decision is a rich source of information to understand the Muslim Brotherhood’s recent history in Tunisia and what motivates its supporters.
Mohamed Zrig applied for a judicial review of this decision. His demand was heard on September 24, 2001.
September 24, 2001
Zrig’s demand for a judicial review of the January 27, 2000 decision is rejected. Zrig appealed this decision. It was heard on April 7, 2003.
Ar Zrig v. Canada 2009 FC 629 (CanLII) (section 6)
Zrig v. Canada 2001 FCT 1043, [2002] 1 FC 559
April 7, 2003
The Federal Court of Appeal rejects Mohamed Zrig’s appeal.
Ar Zrig v. Canada 2009 FC 629 (CanLII) (section 7)
Zrig v. Canada 2003 FCA 178, [2003] 3 FC 761
June 23, 2004
Mohamed Zrig receives a letter informing him that his application for permanent residence as a dependent of his spouse had been rejected because there are reasonable grounds to believe that he engages, has engaged or will engage in terrorism.
Ar Zrig v. Canada 2009 FC 629 (CanLII) (section 9)
June 3, 2005
Zrig v. Canada 2005 FCA 212 (CanLII)
2006
Mohamed Zrig contacted Jamel Jani while he was Meili Faille’s spokesman. At that time, Faille was the Bloc Québécois’s critic for Immigration. Zrig was asking Jani to get some information regarding his Immigration file.
Ar Zrig v. Canada 2009 FC 629 (CanLII) (section 11)
March 29, 2007
After having been unable to obtain refugee status because of his complicity with terrorists in the past, Mohamed Zrig tried to obtain permanent residence as a dependent of his wife. This demand was rejected. The officer responsible of Zrig’s case stated that he was not admissible for serious crimes and on grounds of security.
Zrig challenges the decision and asks for a judicial review. His request was heard on June 12, 2009.
Ar Zrig v. Canada 2009 FC 629 (CanLII) (sections 12-15)
June 12, 2009
Zrig’s request for a judicial review of the March 29, 2007 decision is rejected. Zrig is not obtaining permanent residence after having been refused refugee status.
Ar Zrig v. Canada 2009 FC 629 (CanLII)
February 19, 1989
The MIT adopts its new name Ennahda which means Renaissance. The word Islamic disappears from the organization’s name. Other dates were suggested for the name change in the 2000 decision (December 1988 and January 1989).
The switch from MIT to Ennahda was strictly motivated by the organization’s desire to conform to a 1988 Tunisian law forbidding religious parties. This does not mean in any way that Ghannouchi and his supporters had gone away from Islamic principles.
X (Re) 2000 CanLII 21343 (IRB) (section 5.1)
May 21, 1998
The Toronto Star (p. 1) reported that Canadian Immigration authorities had barred Tunisian Ennahda party leader, Rachid Ghannouchi, from entering Canada because he and his organization were involved in terrorism in Tunisia.
Allan Thompson (Toronto Star): Canada bars exiled Tunisian activist
July 1, 1998
Faisal Kutty, a lawyer associated with the Muslim Brotherhood who is based in Mississauga (Ontario) defends Ghannouchi. Kutty quotes Ghannouchi while he was trying to fool a Toronto Star journalist by claiming that “Using violence to achieve political goals is refused in our view of Islam.”
October 10, 2007
The president of Tunisia Zein El Abidine (Ben Ali) gave an award to Ruqaia Alalwani, the daughter of an important Muslim Brotherhood leader living in the United States. GMBDR noted that her award is “somewhat of an anomaly given the poor relationship” between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Tunisian government.
October 23, 2007
Said Jaziri is supported by Jamel Jani and the ADPM.
L’Association des droits de la personne au Maghreb (ADPM – Association for human rights in Maghreb) protests against the expulsion of the Islamist Said Jaziri to Tunisia. La Presse (October 23, 2007) identifies Jamel Jani as the ADPM’s spokesperson on this occasion.
In 1991, Said Jaziri was convicted in his absence in Tunisia to three months in jail for belonging to the Islamist organization Ennahda associated to the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1994, he was convicted in France to 18 months in jail for having been an accomplice in an aggression and damages to property.
After his time in jail, Jaziri was transferred to Tunisia and came back illegally to France in 1995. He was then convicted to eight months in jail. In 1996, he was arrested at the airport in Brussels while trying to take a plane to Montreal with a forged passport.
He eventually arrived in Canada from London with another forged passport. In 1997, Jaziri arrived in Montreal and obtained, one year later, his refugee status.
On June 22, 2006, Jaziri lost his refugee status because he lied to Canadian authorities by not declaring that he had a criminal record in France and was expelled to Tunisia.
On October 15, 2007, Jaziri was arrested by Canada Border Services Agency for not conforming with the Immigration law and expelled a few days later.
On March 12, 2011, La Presse (Montreal) announced that Jaziri has been arrested after having tried to illegally enter the United States from Mexico.
Wikipedia (French)
Jaziri c.Canada 2007 CF 1086 (CanLII)
Fabrice de Pierrebourg, Montréalistan – Enquête sur la mouvance islamiste (Investigation on the Islamist movement), Montréal, Stanké, 2007
October 23, 2007
Canwest News reports that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR),an organization associated to the Muslim Brotherhood, asked the Minister of Immigration Diane Finley to cancel Jaziri’s expulsion to Tunisia because he is facing torture.
November 2009
The Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID), an organization founded in 1998 by John Esposito from Georgetown University and close to the Muslim Brotherhood network holds a workshop in Tunisia. (GMBDR)
January 21, 2011
While in Québec, the president of the organization Ni putes ni soumises (Neither whores nor submissive), Sihem Habchi, denounces the “obscurantist temptation” in Tunisia:
(Translation PdeB) “I am astounded to see that outside Tunisia, and notably in France, the leader of a Tunisian Islamist movement (Ennahda’s Rachid Ghannouchi) introduces himself as a moderate.”
“I am worried for Tunisian women because they had rights and these rights were protected.”
“We must support them and be aware of the danger (of supporting) this obscurantist temptation either for reasons of facility, political games or international geopolitics.”
AFP – Infos françaises
January 29, 2011
When the return of Ennahda’s leader, Rachid Ghannouchi, was announced to Tunisia, GMBDR publishes a report about him.
April 12, 2011
Le Devoir (p. A3) reveals that the Collectif pour la Liberté et la Démocratie en Tunisie (CLDT – Mohamed Zrig belongs to this organization) is one of the individuals and organizations who could get an award for having promoted Québec’s influence abroad. The contest is organized by the CERIUM (Université de Montréal) and Radio-Canada TV show Une heure sur terre.
April 16, 2011
Debate among four representatives of Tunisian political parties organized in Montreal by the Collectif pour la Liberté et la Démocratie en Tunisie:
Mustapha Ben Jafaar – Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties (DFLL)
Candidate’s short bio (video 16:01)
Karim Samaali – Congress for the Republic (CFR)
Candidate’s short bio (video 16:50)
Jamel Jani – Progressive Democratic Party (PDP)
Candidate’s short bio (video 18:28)
Mohamed Zrig – Ennahda Movement
Candidate’s short bio (video 19:25)
Wikipedia: Tunisian political parties
May 8, 2011
Journalist Taieb Moalla relays on Twitter a message originating from Mohamed Zrig about the role that the Muslim Brotherhood gives to mosques. Taieb Moalla and Mohamed Zrig are both members of the Association des droits de la personne au Maghreb (Association for human rights in Maghreb). The message comes from Nahdha Quebec, an Ennahda website for Tunisian expatriates.
(Translation PdeB) Mohamed Zrig: “We are against partisanship in mosques, but we are also against the neutrality of mosques.”
According to Ibrahim Abu-Rabi, one of the main Muslim Brotherhood intellectuals in North America, Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Islamist organization, must be credited for having changed the role of the mosque:
“(Hassan) al-Banna went about organizing his movement with ceaseless zeal, bringing about radical changes in certain key concepts and practices. One of the changes al-Banna hoped to introduce was the status of the mosque, bringing it from a static place of worship to a center of Islamic revolution.”
Ibrahim Abu-Rabi, Intellectual origins of Islamic resurgence in the modern Arab world, State University of New York Press, Albany, pp. 76-77 Google Books
Until his recent death, Ibrahim Abu-Rabi was the chair of Islamic Studies at the University of Alberta (Edmonton).
Another Twitter from Mohamed Zrig that was transmitted by Tunisian journalist Taieb Moalla based in Canada:
(Translation PdeB) Mohamed Zrig: “The train of freedom is well on its way, although there are counter-revolutionary forces.”
October 31, 2011
Point de Bascule highlights in a Press Release that Mohamed Zrig, a Muslim Brotherhood candidate in the recent Tunisian elections, still lives in Canada, although all his requests for refugee status and permanent residence have been rejected since 1992. The Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) invoked Zrig’s association with a terrorist organization to justify its refusals. The IRB stated that Zrig’s organization in Tunisia was involved in acid attacks against individuals, bombings, weapons trafficking, and so forth.
