Canadian activists launch campaign to support U.S. war resisters

[Judi Lynn]

Canadian activists launch campaign to support U.S. war resisters

NOAH LOVE

TORONTO (CP) - Two U.S. soldiers fighting for refugee status in Canada should be applauded for their actions and allowed to stay in the country, the organizers of a new campaign said Thursday.

Seven activists and scholars launched the War Resisters Support Campaign to show support for Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey, who fled their respective military bases after refusing to fight in the Iraq war. Gerry Condon fled the U.S. in 1969 after enlisting in the Green Berets. He first went to Sweden, then spent his last three years in exile in Canada before returning to the States in 1975 after his 10-year court martial sentence was overturned.
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Hinzman and Hughey are currently the only two resisters known to the group. Right now, Hinzman is the only one with a refugee status hearing, scheduled for July 7.

The group of seven, squeezed into the back of a community centre dance studio in mid-town Toronto, argued that the refugee claims are no different than any other and say the two soldiers, just like other refugee claimants, would be subject to persecution in their native country were they to return.
(snip/...)

http://canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040527/CPN/25497019

[DarkPhenyx]

1. You mean "support the deserters." n/t