Canada and the fate of a Bengal Lancer

Mohiuddin Ahmed Mohiuddin Ahmed, 60, at his arrest in March 2007. (U.S. Immigration/Associated Press)

Mohiuddin Ahmed, a former Bangladeshi military officer and diplomat, has been denied asylum status in USA, having been sentenced in absentia for his role in a 1975 coup.

Mr. Ahmed has been granted a seven-day stay of proceedings by a federal judge in California, an opening that allows his family in Nova Scotia and the Canadian government — to argue that Ahmed be sent to Canada instead as a refugee.

In his ruling, the judge in California charged the Department of Homeland Security with misleading Congress, particularly those members fighting the deportation order.

His supporters in Congress want the Bush administration to allow him to be deported to Canada, where he would not face a return to Bangladesh. Canada does not deport people to countries where they may face the death penalty.

News via CBC