Canadian boy, parents arrive in Toronto after Texas prison stay

Last Updated: Thursday, March 22, 2007 | 7:41 AM ET

CBC News

A nine-year-old Canadian boy and his Iranian parents arrived safely in Toronto on Wednesday night after being held for six weeks in a Texas detention centre.

"Thank you for everybody who helped us," Kevin Yourdkhani said, clutching his bags at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

Masomeh Alibegi holds up immigration papers as she walks with nine-year-old son Kevin Yourdkhani and his father Majid after arriving at a Toronto airport on Wednesday.
(Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Kevin and his parents, Majid Yourdkhani and Masomeh Alibegi, flew into the airport from Houston, landing in Toronto at about 5:45 p.m. ET. The couple had tears in their eyes after leaving the plane.

The family was allowed to come to Canada after Immigration and Citizenship Minister Diane Finley agreed to give them temporary residency permits two weeks ago. The permits arrived in Texas on Monday.

Finley said she granted the permits in the best interest of the boy. The family is now trying to claim refugee status.

Kevin's parents arrived in Canada 10 years ago seeking asylum, but were unsuccessful and deported to Iran in December 2005. Kevin was born when they lived in Canada.

The parents said they faced torture in Iran and made another attempt to seek refuge in Canada with the use of stolen Greek passports.

But on a flight to Toronto from Guyana on Feb. 4, a passenger suffered a heart attack and died, resulting in the plane being diverted to Puerto Rico.

U.S. officials discovered their false documents and detained them for five days before sending them to the T. Don Hutto detention centre near Austin, Texas. The converted medium-security prison has been condemned by human rights groups and is the subject of a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The family said living in the centre was awful.

'I will go back to my school, to my teachers.'—Nine-year-old Kevin Yourdkhani

"It was miserable condition they had over there," Majid Yourdkhani said, standing by his wife as he spoke to reporters at the Toronto airport.

"There are almost 200 children that live there in very bad conditions. Now most of the children there have chicken pox, eye infections, flu."

His wife said the family is relieved to be back in Canada, and young Kevin said he can now resume his life in Toronto.

"I will go back to my school, to my teachers," the boy said.