Monia Mazigh at a Bill C-51 rally.
Image Credit: YouTube
May 01, 2015 - 10:55 AM
KAMLOOPS – Human rights activist Dr. Monia Mazigh will be speaking about Muslim womanat Thompson River University later this month.
Mazigh was thrust into the spotlight when she was forced to fight for the release of her husband Maher Arar from a Syrian prison. Arar was detained by the United States when returning back to Canada from a holiday in Tunis. Suspected of being a member of al-Qaeda, the United States sent him to Syria where he was jailed and tortured for over a year.
In the fight to restore her husband’s reputation Mazigh sought reparations. In 2007, after a lengthy inquiry, the Canadian government issued Arar and his family an apology and offered financial compensation.
Mazigh is an author, human rights activist and Tunisian immigrant who came in 1991. She authored a memoir of her ordeal entitled Hope and Despair. Mazigh currently lives in Ottawa with her husband and two children.
The lecture, Muslim Women Between Fiction and Reality, will take place Wednesday, May 13, at 6 p.m. in the Alumni Theatre located in the Clock Tower building. Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.
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