Muslim community condemns racial profiling of Arab student at Montreal university

March 24, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Montreal, Quebec, March 24th, 2010- The Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM) calls for increase efforts in fighting racial profiling, including anti-discrimination training and education about human rights, following the recent false arrest of a Canadian Arab student at a Montreal university.


“Racial profiling is a serious social injustice that must be addressed immediately to avoid further deterioration of our social fabric and further erosion of civil rights and liberties in Canada,” stated Salam Elmenyawi, president of MCM. “Mr. Zahaf was singled out amongst all the other students to be questioned, detained, handcuffed, arrested and roughed up. On what basis did the police target him, except for the fact that he was Arab?”

Slimane Zahaf is a Canadian citizen of Arab origin. He is a computer specialist pursuing his MBA at UQAM and was singled out by police on suspicions of being a suicide bomber at the university last week.

 

“There is already enough hysteria being propagated against religious communities and immigrant communities in Quebec, racial profiling only exacerbates the situation,” Elmenyawi said. “It is time we say enough is enough and take measures to address and end such acts. We are committed to building a strong and prosperous nation, but that is only possible when we are all ready to come together to work for justice, human rights, respect and tolerance.”

 

The Quebec Human Rights Commission is currently conducting a consultation on the issue of racial profiling, by police, at schools and in other public services. The study is being done by CREMIS, a research center that is affliated with the Université de Montréal and Université du Québec à Montréal and is based on both court records and police reports.

 

CONTACT:

Salam Elmenyawi

Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM)

Ph.: (514) 748-8427

Fax: (514) 747-9139

E-mail: info@muslimcouncil.org

Website: http://www.muslimcouncil.org

 

The Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM) is an umbrella organization representing a number of Islamic institutions in the Montreal region. There are over 200,000 Muslims in Montreal, about 900,000 in Canada and 1.7 billion worldwide.

 

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