Paralysed Refugee Claimant Wins Deportation Reprieve

by Rob Walker | January 9, 2008 at 10:41 am

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In a repeat of a similar deportation effort a month ago, hundreds of protesters threatened to blockage border agents to keep a paralysed man from being reported.

A paralysed would-be refugee won another reprieve of his deportation
early Wednesday after hundreds of supporters threatened to blockade
border agents.

The Canadian Border Services Agency cancelled the removal of
Laibar Singh scheduled for 4:30 a.m. PT because Surrey’s Guru Nanak
Sikh temple declared sanctuary for the disabled man.

"It has been a very long night with a great deal of uncertainty about what was going to happen to Laibar Singh," Singh’s lawyer Zool Suleman said early Wednesday morning.

"There will be no removal of Laibar Singh today. But I also want to be very clear that this is not about winners and losers today. What this is about is a spirit of cooperation and understanding between the minister’s representatives the RCMP, the community representatives and Laibar Singh."

Suleman, along with community leaders, left the temple in an unmarked RCMP car about 45 minutes before the scheduled arrival of CBSA. A tractor-trailer truck was parked behind a locked a gate preventing access to the grounds of the complex.

The trio returned an hour later, went inside the temple to inform Singh of the news and then waded through the throng of protesters to address the media.