A Letter To Hon. Peter MacKay

Hon. Peter MacKay click for his web site
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6


Telephone:
992-6022
Fax:
992-2337

Dear Hon. Peter MacKay

Re: Huseyin Celil,
Resident of Burlington, Ontario
1026 Glendor AveBurlington, ON L7R 4M7(905) 632-7893

We are writing to request your help for a Canadian citizen who was detained in Uzbekistan.

Huseyincan Celil, citizen of Canada, arrived in Canada as a Convention Refugee from China. He is of Uygur descent, acted as a political leader back in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China. He was born in 1969 in Kashgar, former Eastern Turkistan Republic, occupied by the Communist Chinese regime in 1949 and incorporated into China in 1955. He advocated for the rights of the oppressed and silenced Uygur people in Xinjiang. He fought for freedom of his people and revival of their national consciousness. He was arrested in China and brutally tortured for a year. He escaped from the prison and sought asylum at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and granted status pursuant to the Geneva Convention upon which Canada recognized him as a refugee and accepted him for resettlement in Canada. He left his three children back in China whom the Communist regime does not allow to unite with their parents in Canada.

He wanted to visit his cousins and relatives in Uzbekistan by their help, he thought he might succeed reuniting his family. Upon his arrival to Uzbekistan via Bishkek with his Canadian passport on a Temporary Visa, he was detained and held incommunicado somewhere in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

After several unsuccessful attempts with Canadian officials, it appears that Canada is reluctant to intervene in the case and does not want to get involved.

Mr. Celil holds only Canadian passport, he denounced his Chinese citizenship which he has never recognized even though they occupied his native lands in 1949.

His three Canadian born sons and his wife, all of whom hold only Canadian passports, are desperately waiting in Uzbekistan to be rescued. He was detained on March 26, 2006 at a government building somewhere in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. His wife and children are helpless in hiding. Uzbekistan intends to repatriate him to China where he will face a definite execution because of his past political activities. As mentioned above, UNHCR has recognized him as convention refugee and Canada granted immigration pursuant to UNHCR’s recommendations and subsequently naturalized him as Canadian Citizen.

We would like you to take immediate action to rescue our Canadian citizens from Uzbekistan’s Gulag. We do not want to see another Maher Arar.
Should you require any further information, I am always ready to assist as much as possible.


Burhan Celik

148 A Woodridge Crescent,
Nepean, Ontario, K2B 7S9
(613)721 5275
celikbur@yahoo.ca

For further details of Uygur situation in XUAR in China,
Please refer to Amnesty International web site at www.amnesty.org

or US Department of State Human Rights Reports at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61605.htm

or United Kingdom Home Office Reports at www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/country_reports.html
No Canadian Reports readily available in this regard.