/ 10 November 2009

Huntley lawyers condemn refugee-status challenge

Brandon Huntley’s lawyers have slammed a Canadian government bid to overturn his crime-refugee status as driven by pressure from South Africa and ”based on misguided politically correct notions”, the Star reported on Tuesday.

They have also dismissed Canada’s bid to challenge the decision granting 31-year-old Huntley refugee status based on his race as an ”abuse of process” and a ”politically abusive application” founded on concerns about opening floodgates to white South Africans.

Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney wants the country’s Federal Court to review Immigration and Refugee Board chairperson William Davis’s decision, and then to send Huntley’s case back to the board for rehearing.

Huntley was granted refugee status after claiming he was being persecuted by ”African South Africans”.

His lawyers insist that he suffered seven attacks because he is white.

The lawyers argue Kenney would not have tried to challenge Davis’s decision if it were not for the ”racist allegation driven pressure” of the South African government. — Sapa