Deserter dealt blow in seeking asylum

Jeremy Hinzman is a Rapid City Stevens High School graduate.

By Journal staff and wire services | Friday, November 16, 2007

Previous Page

Share

• del.icio.us
• Digg
• NewsVine
• Fark

Print

Email

TORONTO -- The Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear the appeals of a former Rapid City man who deserted the military and sought refugee status to avoid the war in Iraq.

Jeremy Hinzman was one of two U.S. military deserters seeking the status that would have allowed them to remain in Canada.

The court's decision now leaves him and Brandon Hughey without a legal basis to stay in Canada, dealing a blow to other Americans in similar circumstances.

Hinzman, a Rapid City Stevens High School graduate, captured national attention when he fled Fort Bragg, N.C., for Canada.

Hinzman and Hughey deserted the army in 2004 after learning their units were to be deployed to Iraq to fight in a war they have called immoral and illegal. The court refused Thursday to hear their appeals, and, as is usual, did not provide a reason for the decision.

Jeffry House, defense lawyer for Hinzman and Hughey, who also represents 40 other U.S. military deserters, believes there are as many as 300 other American war resisters hiding in Canada who were counting on the Supreme Court's decision.

"None of these cases are helped by today's decision, and some of them are substantially harmed. I'm not able to say every single case is lost, but a good number of them are," House said.

Hinzman and Hughey applied for refugee status in 2004. Hinzman, who had argued that he would have been taking part in war crimes if he had been deployed with his unit, claimed he would be persecuted if forced to return to the United States.

Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board rejected their claims in 2005, ruling that they would not be at risk of "cruel and unusual treatment or punishment" if they returned to the U.S.

Canada's Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal also refused to review the cases.

"(My clients) are basically taking the same position as Canada did regarding the war," House said. "There's a strong chance that they will be sent to jail if they return to the U.S., and people should not be sent to jail for standing up for what they believe in."

Canada opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and did not send troops.

The Pentagon has urged the deserters to return to the United States and take up their concerns at their respective military bases.

Without conventional refugee status, the two men have no legal basis to be in Canada. House said they will apply for landed immigrant status.

Hinzman, 28, fled from Fort Bragg, N.C., in January 2004, weeks before his 82nd Airborne Division was to be deployed to Iraq. He had served three years in the Army but had applied for conscientious objector status before his unit was sent to Afghanistan in 2002, where he served in a noncombat.

Hinzman lives with his wife and young son in Toronto, where Quakers and anti-war groups have taken on his cause.

Hughey, 22, was part of the 1st Cavalry in Fort Hood, Texas, and fled to Canada in March 2004.

"Today's decision means that the situation is urgent for the many others seeking refugee status," Lee Zaslofsky, coordinator of the War Resisters Support Campaign, said.

"It's time to get Canada's parliament to act in a way that Canadians believe in -- that the war is wrong, and not wanting to fight in it is a person's right."