Even if it wasn’t happening in the middle of summer, Ahmed Assal’s human rights tribunal would be a media circus. To put his case one particularly lampoonable way, Assal says he needs a satellite dish to exercise his religious and cultural rights. To put it another way… well, that first way pretty much sums it up. Tuesday, August 1, room 303 in the Dalhousie Student Union Building became the next best thing to a court room, complete with lawyers and witnesses, court reporter, a bible for swearing on and 12 people in the audience–most of them reporters. The first break in testimony produced this impressive scrum around Assal.
This article appears in Jul 27 – Aug 2, 2006.