human rights and social justice

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For Immediate Release. Please share.

Re: Saudi human rights activists, Al-Huwaider and Al-Oyouni sentenced to 10 months in prison and two year travel ban upon endeavoring to aide Canadian, Nathalie Morin and her children.
(Ottawa, Canada – June 17, 2013) - Muslims for Progressive Values MPV Ummah Canada (MPV Canada) calls upon Canadian and Saudi authorities to immediately demand and obtain the release of Saudi human rights activists, Wajeha Al-Huwaider and Fawzia Al-Oyouni and guarantee the freedom and safety of Canadian, Nathalie Morin and her children.

At MPV Canada we support women’s agency and self-determination in every aspect of their lives. We affirm that justice and compassion should be the guiding principles for all aspects of human conduct. We repudiate militarism and violence, whether on an individual, organizational, or national level. We are committed to work toward societies that ensure social, political, educational, and economic opportunities for all. We believe that freedom of conscience is not only essential to all human societies but integral to the Qur'anic view of humanity. We believe that secular government is the only way to achieve the Islamic ideal of freedom from compulsion in matters of faith.

At MPV Canada we are shocked and appalled at the recent Saudi Court decision in which Saudi human rights activists, Wajeha Al-Huwaider and Fawzia Al-Oyouni were sentenced to ten months in prison along with a two year travel ban for the offence of “trying to sabotage the marital relationship” between Canadian, Nathalie Morin, formerly of Montreal and her Saudi husband “and abetting her to escape”.

According to The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (http://gc4hr.org/news/view/437 ) :

-   on June 7, 2011, Al-Huwaider and Al-Oyouni, received a text message saying that Canadian, Nathalie Morin and her three children were being subjected to violence and that her Saudi husband had locked them in the house. The text message also said that the children were starving of hunger.

-   Shortly thereafter, Al-Huwaider and Al-Oyouni brought food to Morin’s house and discovered that the husband had trapped them (as well) after he discovered and seized the mobile handset from which Morin had sent the text message.

-   When the Saudi police arrived they arrested Al-Huwaider and Al-Oyouni on charges of trying to smuggle the wife and her three children away from her husband.

Following sentencing, Al-Huwaider and Al-Oyouni declared in a statement issued June 15, 2013:

"It was clear to us from the very beginning when we were summoned to the investigation by the prosecutor in Dammam (Saudi Arabia) that the issue was malicious and those who moved this case against us from the concerned authorities wanted to harm and harass us, and stop our humanitarian activities, because that case since the night in which it occurred two years ago, had been revoked by order of the Amir of the Eastern region and closed the file…"

"Finally we will appeal this judgment at the Court of Appeal, and we will raise our objection to it."

According to The Gulf Centre for Human Rights Al-Huwaider and Al-Oyouni:

“have been targeted with fabricated charges that lack proper evidence solely due to their long, ongoing defense of women's rights in the country and their active participation in women's rights campaign in addition to their demand of the right of women to drive a car.”

MPV supports the Gulf Centre for Human Rights in its demand on the authorities in Saudi Arabia to:

1.   Immediately and unconditionally drop all charges against Al-Huwaider and Al-Oyouni and quash the prison sentences against them, and safely release them;

2.   Immediately and unconditionally remove the travel ban imposed on Al-Huwaider and Al-Oyouni;

3.   Reconsider the legal codifications of "Takhbib" or inciting women against their husbands, as this practice is judged without safe and protective legal measures. Additionally, most women rights' defenders would be liable if attempting to help women in domestic distress; additionally, it has no basis in Islam.

4.   Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.

MPV joins the Gulf Centre for Human Rights in reminding the authorities of Saudi Arabia that Saudi Arabia is bound by the United Nations Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by consensus by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1998, and recognizes the legitimacy of the activities of human rights defenders, their right to freedom of association and to carry out their activities without fear of reprisals, specifically providing at:

Articles 5 (c): "For the purpose of promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, at the national and international levels: (c) To communicate with non-governmental or intergovernmental organizations" and

Article 6 (c): "Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others: (c) To study, discuss, form and hold opinions on the observance, both in law and in practice, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, through these and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to those matters."

MPV calls upon Prime Minister Stephen Harper, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz bin Saud, and all other relevant Canadian and Saudi authorities to immediately demand and obtain the release of both Al-Huwaider and Al-Oyouni and guarantee the freedom and safety of Canadian, Nathalie Morin and her children.

Muslims for Progressive Values MPV Ummah Canada
Chair: Shahla Khan Salter
www.mpvottawa.com
email: mpvottawa@gmail.com
613 262 28798


This statement is being distributed to the following authorities:
Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia
King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud
c/o The Ambassador of Saudi Arabia in Canada, Osamah Al Sanosi Ahmad:
amboffice.ott@mofa.gov.sa
Deputy Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia
Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud
FAX: 1-401-1336
Prime Minister Stephen Harper: pm@pm.gc.ca
Ambassador to Canada in Saudi Arabia, Thomas MacDonald, ryadh@international.gc.ca
Minister of Consular Affairs, Diane Ablonczy: diane.ablonczy@parl.gc.ca
Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird: john.baird@parl.gc.ca
Minister for the Status of Women, Rona Ambrose: rona.ambrose@parl.gc.ca

Leader of the Opposition Thomas Mulcair: thomas.mulcair@parl.gc.ca
Opposition Critic Consular Affairs and Foreign Affairs, Paul Dewar: paul.dewar@parl.gc.ca
Opposition Critic for Women, Niki Ashton: Niki.ashton@parl.gc.ca
Opposition Critic for Justice and Human Rights, Francoise Boivin: Francoise.Boivin@parl.gc.ca
Liberal Opposition Leader, Justin Trudeau: justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca

This statement is being sent to the following human rights organizations and allies of MPV Canada:
Amnesty International Canada, Alex Neve
Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice, Rev. Frances Deverell
Human Rights Watch Beirut, Nadya Khalife
Human Rights Watch Canada, Jasmine Herlt
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Sukanya Pillay
CAIR, Ihsaan Gardee
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights
The Saudi Center for Democracy and Human Rights
The Toronto Unity Mosque El-Tawhid Juma Circle, El-Farouk Khaki
The Canadian Council of Muslim Women, Alia Hogben
Muslims for Progressive Values USA, Ani Zonneveld
Muslims for Progressive Values France, Ludovic Mohamed-Zahed
Muslims for Progressive Values Chile, Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente Nasreen Amina
Muslims for Progressive Values Australia, Shawon T. Khan
The Nathalie Morin Support Committee, Johanne Durocher