THE LEBANESE CANADIAN COORDINATING COUNCIL (LCCC)
Email lccc@10452lccc.com
Phone & Fax # (905-2729389)
Web site http://www.10452lccc.com
27/8/2001
To: His Excellency
Mr. Don Sinclair
Acting Director General for North Africa & Middle East Affairs
Regarding: Savage infringements on Human Rights in occupied Lebanon
Dear Sir:
On behalf of the LCCC, I would like to share with your Excellency the following very
serious concerns:
Tony Orion (A Lebanese citizen) would have celebrated his 25th birthday with friends and
family on August/16/2001, had he not distributed flyers of a recent speech by Lebanese PM
in exile, General Michel Aoun earlier in the month. Mr.Orion, a Free Patriotic Movement
(FPM) supporter and a school teacher, turned 25 while in Roumieh Prison, (near Beirut),
where he is serving a six-weeks sentence. On Saturday, he leaked a letter from prison
announcing an open-ended hunger strike to protest his arrest and that of several other FPM
members. Tonys mother, Layla, told The Lebanese media on Sunday that her son had
began his strike on Thursday. He also stopped drinking water on Saturday, she
said. Now that he leaked out this letter, we were told that he would be sent to
solitary confinement.
In a flyer that was distributed on August 5/2001, PM, General Aoun criticized the Beirut -
Syrian installed regime for being beholden to Syria. He also lambasted the Lebanese -
Syrian appointed President, Emile Lahoud, accusing him of threatening sovereignty by
giving Syrian intelligence agencies free Rein. Aouns comments on
political events in the country appeared in a weekly statement on the movements
website at www.lebanon-world.org, and they were also published in local Lebanese
newspapers. Free Patriotic Movement supporters often distribute Aouns statements as
flyers to motorists and pedestrians, after they are published in the media. Mr. Tony was
arrested on August 5/2001, while distributing one such flyer, which had already been
published in at least two local newspapers. He was charged with harming ties with a
sisterly country and publicizing information that was not permitted by the government. He
was sentenced to six weeks in prison along with two other FPM supporters.
I, the undersigned, Tony Orion, a prisoner since Aug. 5, announce my open-ended
hunger strike until the following demands are met, his letter said. Tony listed two
demands in the letter. He called for the repeal of all sentences and arbitrary and
illegal judicial proceedings against FPM activists and demanded the prosecution of
those guilty of torture and inhumane treatment of protesters at the Defense Ministry and
the Justice Palace during a sit-in earlier this month. Tony said his hunger strike was a
message to legal and spiritual authorities and humanitarian organizations to
prod them into taking exceptional stances against the exceptional brutality that
targeted and is targeting the noble people and the purest among the pure.
Tonys mother said that if she signed any form consenting to have him force-fed, he
threatened to disown her.
According to his mother, Tony has been arrested for FPM-related activities five times
previously, often spending more than one week in prison. I completely believe in
what hes doing, and Im behind him all the way, even though its painful
to see him in distress, she added. The FPM issued a statement on Sunday, holding the
authorities responsible for Tonys health and
demanding that an independent team of non-prison doctors be allowed to examine
Tony around the clock. Tony's mother called her son a hero for his
decision, and said that he planned to keep with the strike until death.
His morale is very
strong, she added.
Dear Mr. Sinclair,
the LCCC believes that Mr.Tony's life is in actual danger. Accordingly it strongly
requests that the Canadian Ministry for Foreign Affairs takes the following urgent steps
to support Mr. Tony Orion's human rights genuine case.
1- Put pressure on the Beirut authorities to assign an independent committee of physicians
in a bid to check on Tony's health around the clock and ensure his over all physical and
psychological safety,
2- Pressure the Beirut regime to release immediately Mr. Tony who is a prisoner of
conscience,
3- Boycott the Francophone Summit conference to be held in Beirut (October 2001) in case
the Beirut Regime maintains its brutal infringes on the Christian Community's freedom of
speech and does not put an immediate end to the savage
atrocities inflicted on opposition figures and members.
4- Support openly the Lebanese opposition in its endeavor for implementation of the UN
Resolution 520 and respect for human rights of the Lebanese people.
5- Put on hold all kinds of financial Canadian aids to both regimes in Syria and Lebanon.
6- Strong Canadian condemnation for the inhuman and illegal actions the Beirut regime is
forcing on the Lebanese Christian community and its political patriotic activist and
leaders.
Our beloved Canadian government was and is still one of the most outspoken advocates for
human rights in the world. The Lebanese people are struggling peacefully for freedom,
independence and respect of their human rights. Let us
support their struggle.
Yours truly
President & Media Chairman
Elias Bejjani