Not Guilty! Non-status Algerians and supporters are acquitted

OTTAWA, February 24, 2006 – 12 protesters involved with the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians were acquitted of mischief in relation to the occupation of the Minister of Immigration’s offices in downtown Ottawa on May 29, 2003, more than two-and-a-half years ago. The verdict, while absolving the defendants of criminal charges, clearly does not resolve many fundamental injustices of this affair: Why were non-status Algerian migrants essentially tortured in order to be arrested on a minor charge? Why were the charges even allowed to proceed in the first place? And, why haven’t the demands of the non-status Algerians on May 29, 2003 still been recognized and acted upon by the Canadian government?