You'd think that basics like footwear, a jacket, and proper heat in solitary confinement would be a shoe-in, but the government of Ontario continues its refusal to provide basic human rights in solitary confinement.....

Join us as we mark the unhappy occasion of the one-month mark in Hassan Almrei's hunger strike for heat, shoes, and a jacket. Almrei has spent the past two years in solitary confinement, without charge or bail, on secret evidence neither he nor his lawyer is allowed to see, at what one Federal Court judge describes as Canada's own Guantanamo Bay.

Please bring a pair of running shoes

At one point during the demo, we will ask you to join us (this is of course optional) in taking off our shoes and standing in our stocking feet on the cold, concrete sidewalk in a symbolic act of solidarity with Hassan and other solitary prisoners facing the cold at Metro West.

On Monday, it will have been 29 days since Hassan last ate any food. After three days of court hearings to compel the ministry to provide Hassan with his three demands -- shoes, a jacket, and a guarantee of heat -- the government is refusing to budge. The judge was forced to adjourn to November 5 to continue the hearing, and urged the parties to work something out. Hassan has vowed to continue his hunger strike at least until Nov. 5.

Ministry spokesperson Julia Noonan, in an interview with the Mississauga News, was caught in yet another lie this week. Noonan has maintained that there are no problems with the temperature in solitary, yet when asked whether the ministry would guarantee to keep the solitary cells warm this winter, she replied, "we'll see what happens in court."

We will also publicly announce the beginning of our Ramadan Fast of Solidarity with all detainees held in the so-called war against terror.

KEEP CALLS AND FAXES GOING TO THE MINISTER RESPONSIBLE, MONTE KWINTER. He has been receiving quite a few, and his office needs to continually hear the protesting voices which will hopefully get a solution imposed long before November 5.

Monte Kwinter

Minister of "Community Safety "

25 Grosvenor St., 18th Flr., Toronto, ON M7A 1Y6

(416) 325-0408, fax: (416) 325-6067

please cc us at tasc@web.ca if you can

***If you cannot make it to this demo, please consider removing your shoes for the noon hour in a symbolic act of solidarity. When friends, co-workers, fellow students, and others ask you why you are walking around in your socks, explain that this is the condition faced by Hassan Almrei and all other prisoners who walk the cold concrete floors of their cells in solitary confinement. If you plan to do this, please let us know, and we can announce this at the rally.

For info: (416) 651-5800, tasc@web.ca, www.homesnotbombs.ca

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