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Messages from the Bennis family
Khadija Bennis (Anas' twin sister) and Mohamed Bennis (Anas' father) were out of town at the time of the anniversary march to honour the memory of Anas Bennis on December 4th, 2010. Both of them sent messages addressed to supporters of the Justice for Anas Coalition. Their messages are included below...Khadija Bennis
Good morning to you all,
Thank you for coming on what I imagine is a cold day.
God knows how much I would have liked to be there with you at this moment… you should know that my heart is with you.
It has been five years already since the loss of my dear brother Anas, and much ground has been covered since that tragic day. Your presence and support throughout this ongoing ordeal warm my heart and the hearts of the rest of my family, and gives us hope and pushes us to continue our struggle for truth. Anas and so many others are dead. Let us persevere in our quest for justice to remember them and so that their lives will not have been stolen in vain.
Thank you again
Thank you so much
Khadija Bennis, Anas’ twin sister
Morocco, December 4th, 2010
Mohamed Bennis
Ladies, gentlemen,
I am very touched, once again, by the support and sympathy that you continue to show for the Anas Bennis cause. I salute your perseverance, your determination and your struggle to ensure that the truth comes out by means of a public inquiry, which is our only remaining hope to learn the exact circumstances in which Anas Bennis lost his life — or rather, the circumstances of the assassination of Anas Bennis.
Anas Bennis was a victim of arrogance. Anas Bennis was a victim of the incompetence of the police force of station 25 in Côte-des-Neiges, on the morning of December 1st, 2005.
On that particular morning, of December 1st, 2005, the Montreal police were carrying out an opera- tion at five different locations in the city. The objective of this massive operation was to dismantle a network of people suspected of being terrorists. Considering that the people targeted for arrest - one of whom resided directly across the street from the mosque - were presumably extremely dan- gerous, and that Anas was walking on that same street (I imagine he may even have witnessed the raid), officers Roy and Bernier were quite simply frightened of him because of his appearance, his clothing and his beard. Bernier, in his cowardice, shot Anas twice although he was already on the ground (according to information found in the Quebec City police report).
In the investigation report, agent Bernier insists several times that he was afraid for his life, that he was attacked with a knife and that he acted in legitimate self-defense. To lend credibility to his claims, his colleagues in the Quebec police illustrated their report with a photo of Bernier with a six centimeter wound on his neck, supposedly caused by a knife that police accidentally forgot to analyze or even examine for fingerprints. Strangest of all is the fact that the same report mentions in black and white that there was no trace of blood on the shirt of Mr. Bernier. […]
I am very hopeful that the public inquiry will reveal many aspects about this tragedy that struck my family five years ago. The arrogance of the former Minister of Public Security deprived me of access to investigation documents on the pretext of ministerial policy and of state secrets, but the reality could not be further: this is quite simply the police family trying to protect one of its own to the detriment of the life of a citizen.
The day these documents are made public, believe me, ladies and gentlemen, will be a shameful day in the history of Quebec police.
Thank you all once again.
Mohamed Bennis, Anas’ father
Casablanca, December 3, 2010