JURIST - Paper Chase: US soldier seeks asylum in Canada after Iraq objections

[JURIST] US Army Pvt. Brandon Hughey [advocacy website], who fled to Canada after refusing a deployment order to Iraq and deserting his unit at Fort Hood, formally asked the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board [official website] for asylum Thursday. Hughey has claimed that the war in Iraq is illegal and that he had a moral obligation to desert; he told the Board he would go to prison if forced to return to the US and that he refused "to kill people or lose my life under false pretenses." Jeremy Hinzman [advocacy website], a US reservist who served in Afghanistan and accused the US of war crimes in Iraq [JURIST report], also sought asylum in Canada [JURIST report], but his application was denied [JURIST report] by the Board in March after it ruled it was not convinced that Hinzman would face persecution or cruel and unusual punishment if returned to the United States. Seven other American military personnel have so far applied for Canadian refugee status. KWTX has local coverage.

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