Iran fires air defence batteries in provinces as sound of explosions heard near Isfahan
Iran fired air defence batteries early Friday morning after reports of explosions near the city of Isfahan, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
Supporters of a Canadian man imprisoned in China for a decade and a half want the next federal government to use the 2022 Beijing Olympics as a bargaining chip to bring him home.
And the advocates for Huseyin Celil say they want the deal to be a package that also wins the freedom of two other high-profile Canadian prisoners -- Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.
Kovrig and Spavor recently surpassed a grim 1,000-day milestone in Chinese prisons in what is seen by Canada and its Western allies as retaliation for the RCMP's arrest of Chinese high-tech scion Meng Wanzhou on an American extradition warrant in December 2018.
But Celil's advocates don't want Canadians to forget him either -- or the fact that unlike Kovrig and Spavor, he has yet to be allowed a single visit by Canadian diplomats since his 2006 arrest -- and are calling on whomever wins Monday's federal election to appoint a special envoy to win his freedom.
Canadian consular visits have been banned because China doesn't recognize Celil's dual Canadian citizenship, obtained in 2005, one year before he was arrested in Uzbekistan by the Chinese after his long-standing advocacy for the human rights of his Muslim ethnic Uyghur minority.
"I'm hoping with the 2022 Olympic Games to be held in China that it's another moment where there's another opportunity to secure the release and return of Celil, whether it's part of a package that's done with the two Michaels or a stand-alone," Celil's lawyer, Chris MacLeod, said in an interview Tuesday.
"Obviously, I want all three."
With the Winter Games set to open in February, there are growing calls to boycott the Chinese games or cancel plans to broadcast them amid a chorus of criticism over Beijing's treatment of the Uyghurs, as well as its clampdowns on Hong Kong, Tibet and Taiwan.
Celil's family has been caught up in that geopolitical swirl as they saw their periodic visits to him in prison cut off about five years ago. That's when Beijing began its crackdown on Muslim Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang province, rounding them up into prison camps, citing the need to fight terrorism.
China's treatment of the Uyghurs has sparked worldwide condemnation and allegations of genocide, accusations China vehemently denies.
The upshot for Celil's family and supporters is that they are no longer sure if he is even alive because all contact with his family in China has been cut off, said MacLeod.
"I don't have any communication with the family since the concentration camps opened in China," said Celil's wife, Kamila, in an interview from southern Ontario where she lives with her 16-year-old son -- a child her husband has never met.
Kamila Celil said the current Liberal government hasn't done enough to push for her husband's release, and she would like to see more done.
MacLeod agrees, saying the current government deserves a "terrible grade" for its advocacy on behalf of Celil. He said ministers in the former Conservative government of Stephen Harper were able to commute Celil's original death sentence to life in prison.
Alex Neve, the former Canadian secretary-general of Amnesty International, said successive Canadian politicians have failed Celil and his family.
"Over the span of 15 years of unjust imprisonment and grave human rights violations, two prime ministers and 10 ministers of foreign affairs have had the opportunity and responsibility to secure Huseyin Celil's release from detention in China and return to his family in Canada," Neve said in a statement to The Canadian Press.
"There have been many reassuring words, but little in the way of sustained, high-level government efforts to bring him home. The next government must turn that around. Pursuing freedom for Huseyin through every possible avenue must become an absolute top priority."
Prior to last week's televised federal leaders' debate, Neve joined a coalition of several dozen human rights advocates, lawyers and many others in sending an open letter to the five major party leaders to revive their interest in Celil's case.
While they said they supported the Canadian government's efforts on behalf of Kovrig and Spavor, they were "gravely concerned about Canada's foreign policy and its choice to prioritize some Canadians over others," they said in their letter.
"Canada has been actively building a coalition in support of the two Michaels but has left Huseyin Celil behind. We are very disturbed to see him being treated as a second-class citizen and deprived of his rights."
Foreign policy did not figure prominently in either the French or English language debates. Kovrig and Spavor warranted a passing mention in the English debate.
Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole has said Canada should consider boycotting the Beijing 2022 Olympics. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau in February abstained as prime minister from a House of Commons vote on a motion declaring the atrocities against the Uyghurs a genocide and calling on the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Olympic Games out of China.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh supported that motion.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2021.
Iran fired air defence batteries early Friday morning after reports of explosions near the city of Isfahan, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Nearly half of China's major cities are suffering 'moderate to severe' levels of subsidence, putting millions at risk of flooding especially as sea levels rise.
Prince Harry, the son of King Charles III and fifth in line to the British throne, has formally confirmed he is now a U.S. resident.
The judge presiding over the trial of a man accused of fatally running over a Toronto police officer is telling jurors the possible verdicts they may reach based on the evidence in the case.
Health Canada will change its longstanding policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned. The federal health agency has adopted a revised directive removing the ban on gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, effective May 8.
Colin Jost, who co-anchors Saturday Night Live's 'Weekend Update,' revealed who he thinks is one of the best hosts on the show.
A male columnist has apologized for a cringeworthy moment during former University of Iowa superstar and college basketball's highest scorer Caitlin Clark's first news conference as an Indiana Fever player.
Sophie Kinsella, the best-selling author behind the 'Shopaholic' book series, has revealed that she is receiving treatment for brain cancer.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.
While many people choose to keep their medical appointments private, four longtime friends decided to undergo vasectomies as a group in B.C.'s Lower Mainland.