Brandon Huntley's Next Canadian 'African White Refugee' Asylum Hearing within next 3 Months
Huntley's lawyer: Russell Kaplan is brother of Robert Kaplan, who was brutally assaulted, tortured and left for dead in his home in Johannesburg on 1 May 1997
05 July 2012 | Andrea Muhrrteyn | IOL: Noelene Barbeau
Brandon Huntley shall be having his second 'White Refugee' Asylum Hearing in Canada within the next three months.
In 2010 news of his former Asylum application was supported by 74% of white South Africans, who agreed with Huntley; while the ANC and liberals were deliberately indifferent to the issues of concern legitimizing Huntley’s White Refugee Status.
Huntley's lawyer Russell Kaplan is the brother of Robert Kaplan who was robbed, tortured and left for dead in his Johannesburg home on 1 May 1997: “Rob, who ran a computer training center for blacks, had been shot twice in the chest, stabbed, beaten, pistol-whipped and tortured for hours with a household heating iron by three Zulu-speaking robbers seeking the keys to a nonexistent safe.” Mr. Kaplan's sister, Lara testified on behalf of Huntley's asylum application detailing the realities of crime in South Africa, as experienced by her family, prior to her emigration to Canada.
Brandon Huntley File:
IRB RULING: MA8-04910: » 27 Aug: Transcript of Huntley IRB Ruling
FED. CRT. CANADA: IMM 4423-09: » 04 Sep '09: ‘Canada’ Applic. for Review || » 13 Sep '09: ‘White Refugee’ Petition to CA || » 30 Sep '09: ‘Canada’ Memo. of Argument || » 21 Oct '09: ‘White Refugee’ Petition Response || » 02 Nov '09: ‘Huntley’ Memo. of Fact and Law || » » Affidavit: Amina Sherazee || » » Affidavit: Stefanie Gude || » 10 Nov '09: ‘Canada’ Reply Memorandum || » 24 Nov '10: Judge James Russel Ruling
Huntley takes another route to stay in Canada
July 6 2012 at 10:31am | Noelene Barbeau | IOL
Brandon Huntley, who sought refuge in Canada by citing his fear of black South Africans, is gearing up for a new bid after his refugee status was revoked.
This time, the former Cape Town man will try to convince Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board that he will come to harm if he has to return to SA, because the extensive media coverage of his case has placed him in the spotlight.
The board’s decision to grant Huntley refugee status in April 2008 received considerable publicity and was criticised as racist by the SA government.
Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney later successfully sought to quash the decision in the Federal Court. The court granted his application for judicial review to set aside the decision, on the basis it was unreasonable in light of the evidence.
A date for a new hearing is expected to be set within weeks, Huntley’s lawyer Russell Kaplan told the Daily News this week. He expects the hearing to take place within the next three months.
“The board would hear argument that he is at risk of returning to South Africa because of fear of being attacked by black South Africans, and because he is now a well-known white South African,” Kaplan said.
Huntley had at first applied for refugee status because of his fear of discrimination, harassment and possible death in his country of birth, and also after reportedly being attacked and assaulted by black South Africans.
He married a Canadian citizen, Melani Crête, in August 2007, and successfully applied for refugee status eight months later. The couple separated in December 2008.
At the time, the board believed his allegations of the persecution of white South Africans were enhanced by the oral testimony of another South African, Lara Anne Kaplan – his lawyer’s sister.
According to court papers, she had testified that “things started to shift to the disadvantage of the white South Africans” after Nelson Mandela’s release from prison and his election as president.
The board had said her evidence was the lifeline to Huntley’s claim.
In papers to the Federal Court, Huntley had argued that there was an abuse of process in his case, because the minister had brought the review application in response to diplomatic pressure from the SA government. He felt this would create an apprehension that it was biased and lacked independence.
However, Justice James Russell rejected this argument and referred the matter back to the board.
Huntley then applied to the Federal Court of Appeal in October last year, but his appeal was dismissed.
Kaplan said the appeal was on a separate argument to the refugee claim. The appeal was about the SA government getting involved in the case, he said.
The court, he said, would also not consider Huntley’s claim about being a white victim.
If successful at the hearing, Huntley would become a permanent resident of Canada, but should he fail, he will be allowed to appeal against the board’s decision.
» » » » [IOL]
74% of White SA’s Agree with Huntley; ANC & Liberals Deliberate Malicious Indifference Legitimize Huntley’s ‘White Refugee’ status
21 January 2010 | Excerpt: White Refugee
Was the IRB’s Ruling Justified?
1. Do other white South Africans feel that they are being persecuted in South Africa for reasons of their race/membership of a particular ethnic group?
2. Is the South African Government unwilling or unable to acknowledge that this group of South Africans feel the way that they do?
White South African’s Feelings of Persecution: Media Surveys: 74% Agree with Huntley
Beeld Newspaper (1 September 2009)
“Is Canada correct in granting a White South African refugee status?”
1. Yes (83%) (5869 votes)
2. No (4%) (261 votes)
3. All races suffer under crime (13%) (924 votes)
Die Burger Newspaper (1 September 2009)
“A White South African was granted refugee status after Canada’s immigration board found that the South African government could not properly protect White South Africans from persecution. What do you think?”
1. Preposterous - Everyone is a victim of crime, poor people in townships even more so (15%) (515 votes)
2. It is true that the government cannot control crime, but unnecessary to stereotype Black people. (23%) (789 votes)
3. Kanada here I come! (62%) (2131 votes)
Independent Online Survey (02 September 2009)
A South African man has been granted refugee status in Canada, where an immigration board found “clear and convincing proof” he was persecuted for being white. IOL asked its readers: Is applying for foreign citizenship on racial grounds justified?
Most IOL readers thought there was nothing wrong with applying for foreign citizenship on racial grounds.
1. Yes (65%) (691 votes)
2. No (35%) (373 votes)
Rapport Newspaper (2 September 2009)
“Are there grounds to grant White South Africans asylum in foreign countries (due to crime)?”
1. It is hogwash-White and Blacks are equally affected by crime (13%)(761 votes)
2. Whites are a preferred target (87%)(5266 votes)
Conclusion: Seventy Four Percent of white South Africans feel --- exactly the same way Huntley does -- that they are being persecuted in South Africa for reasons of their race/membership of a particular ethnic group!
» » » » [Read Further]
Ask Ernie Els: “No Normal Sport, in an Abnormal Society”
Ask Ernie: In (i) Memory of Golfing Fan & Journalist Peter Cassidy; and (ii) Honour of Lara Kaplan; I ask: Is Ernie Els South African Sports Julius Malema?
02 February 2010 | Excerpts: White Refugee
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According to the Transcript of the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board ruling of Mr. William Davis, in the case of Brandon Huntley, Lara Kaplan testified on behalf of Brandon Huntley’s white refugee claim.
[122] (c) Multiple attacks. The witness, Laura Kaplan, was attacked and threatened with guns by African South Africans on two separate occasions because of the colour of her skin and perceived wealth.
[123] (d) Laura’s brother Robert who was tortured and shot by African South Africans and miraculously lived, now has major physical and psychological problems.
[124] (e) Laura’s brother Robert and her father survived only because of their wealth, being able to install electronic and guard protection for themselves both inside and outside their homes.
[125] The evidence of the claimant and the witness and the documentary evidence which I accept as credible shows a picture of indifference and inability or unwillingness of the government and the security forces to protect White South Africans from persecution by African South Africans.
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The Guerrilla War of Racially Motivated Gratuitous Violence in White South Africa’s Backyards: From Robert Kaplan (1997) to the Lotter Sisters (2009):
According to Salon Magazine, in their article What Happened to Rob Kaplan (PDF), written in June 1997:
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The No. 1 Web site in South Africa is not about the beautiful countryside, the miraculous overthrow of apartheid or the glory of Nelson Mandela. It's about “a brutal act of violence” that has left its white victim “battling to breathe.”
“We just wanted our friends from all over the country to leave their own get well messages," said Irnest Kaplan, who found his elder brother Rob, 34, near death in his Johannesburg home on May 1. Rob, who ran a computer training center for blacks, had been shot twice in the chest, stabbed, beaten, pistol-whipped and tortured for hours with a household heating iron by three Zulu-speaking robbers seeking the keys to a nonexistent safe.
“Our intention now,” said Irnest, who works for The Internet Solution, one of South Africa's largest Web development and server companies, “is to have a meeting with Mr. Mandela, show him the responses and demand radical action ... We hope to leverage the Internet.”
The Kaplan incident was typical of the horrendous street crime that has enveloped South Africa. Carjackings, shootings, knifings and rapes have become so common that many newspapers have simply stopped reporting them unless the details are particularly grotesque -- a burning, for example, or a machete maiming. But Kaplan's Web site immediately attracted attention. In its first week it racked up 120,000 hits; in its second week, 1 million hits.
So far President Mandela's office has remained silent, no doubt aware of the racial dimension of the issue. The Kaplans are white and those complaining most vocally about violent crime are white. And the alleged perpetrators are mostly black. They almost always involve a high degree of gratuitous violence. Gang rape is a growing phenomenon.
Are these merely post-apartheid expressions of white racism? No, says former New York Police Commissioner William Bratton, who was asked to come up with a crime reduction proposal for South Africa's minister of police. “The situation seems to be getting worse ... The climate of fear has meant so many guns and people tend to shoot first. We did not meet a single person who did not know a victim of serious crime.” The former Lebanese ambassador, who fled the country after his house was broken into once too often, was quoted as saying that Beirut, even in its worst days, was safer than Johannesburg today.
The exodus of whites has grown since the advent of black majority rule, and crime is usually cited as the most compelling reason. As you read through Kaplan's site you get the feeling that for the average white South African, the guerrilla war of the apartheid era is not over -- it simply moved to their backyards, to their roads, stoplights, parking lots and to any place where they or their families are a target. Still, says Bratton, “They shouldn't lose optimism.” Crime can be lowered, he says, but it requires something he says the Mandela government has so far not shown: “leadership.”
» » » » [Read Further]
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