Amnesty International Oakville film screening on Huseyin Celil on Nov. 14
Amnesty International Oakville, 14 November 2016
Inside Halton — Amnesty International Oakville is hosting a movie screening on Monday, Nov. 14 to help bring more awareness to its mission to free prisoner of conscience Huseyin Celil. A Canadian citizen, born in China, Celil is currently servicing a life sentence in that country while his wife and four sons live in Burlington.
He was arrested on a family trip to Uzbekistan in 2006 and deported to China. A native Uighur from northwest China, Celil worked on human rights for his people in the 1990s before he fled the country.
He came to Canada and Burlington in 2001 as a refugee from Turkey . Three of his four children, aged six to 15, were born in Canada.
The Chinese consider Celil to be a Chinese national and do not recognize his 2005 Canadian citizenship.
He was arrested for what his family and supporters say are trumped-up terrorism charges.
Amnesty Oakville has been working on Celil’s case since 2009.
Its screening of the National Film Board movie Uighurs: Prisoners of the Absurd will be held at 7 p.m. at Film.Ca Cinemas, 171 Speers Rd. Admission is by donation.
Celil’s wife, Kamila will be in attendance at the screening.