Canada denied refugee status Thursday to a US paratrooper who walked out on the 82nd Airborne Division to dodge combat in Iraq, in a decision that will dismay scores of other US deserters.
Jeremy Hinzman, 26, had filed for refugee protection arguing he would face persecution over his political beliefs or cruel or unusual punishment if returned to the US.
But Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) found that Hinzman, his Laotian-born wife and young son would benefit from fair and independent justice in the US.
Hinzman, a veteran of the Afghan war, denied conscientious objector status in the US, will now take his battle to stay in Canada to federal court.
"I am not going to kill people just so the US can build a big gas station in the Middle East," Hinzman said, hours after the verdict was handed down. "When you are faced with committing evil acts, you have no other choice but to act and that is what I did by coming here."
Should Hinzman's court appeal founder, his last resort would be a plea to Canada's immigration minister for leave to stay on compassionate grounds.
The South Dakota-born soldier argued in a three-day tribunal here in December that he was within his rights to leave his unit because he viewed the war in Iraq as illegal and could be asked to commit atrocities.
But the IRB had already ruled that it would not consider the legality of the Iraq War in coming to its determination in the case.
"We don't believe that people should be imprisoned if what they're asked to do is illegal," Hinzman's lawyer, Jeffry House argued Thursday, adding that the legality of the war would be questioned in the appeal.
The case was seen as a barometer for seven other US soldiers who have also applied for refugee status in Canada, who also absconded over the Iraq War.
Up to 100 other US deserters, yet to file refugee claims, are believed to be sheltering in Canada, reviving memories of an "underground railroad," which spirited Vietnam war draft dodgers over the border in the 1960s.
IRB member Brian Goodman found in his judgment that Hinzman would be offered protection by a fair and independent military and civilian justice system should he be returned to the US.
It also ruled "Mr. Hinzman was not a conscientious objector," and that the punishment he would likely receive in the US was not "excessive or disproportionately severe."
Hinzman faces court-martial for desertion and a five-year prison term if his bid to stay in Canada is ultimately unsuccessful and he is returned home.
He fled to Canada with his wife and two-year-old son last year after learning he was to be sent to Iraq.
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