In an open letter posted to Facebook, journalist Stacey Newman called out Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for staying quiet and not dealing with candidate Azim Rizvee.
“I will be brief. I understand that my “file” is at the PMO this week. I was assaulted and harassed by the Milton Liberal candidate Azim Rizvee while he was a candidate in 2015,” the letter begins.
Newman details in the letter how she was a Liberal for decades, and despite still respecting the Prime Minister, demands an apology and for the party to do something about Azim Rizvee.
“I was a Liberal for decades. I was and somehow still am one of your staunchest supporters. This situation has broken my heart. This man assaulted me, hurt me, harassed and threatened me. This is not a he said she said situation. There were witnesses and other less vocal victims. I have provided testimony under oath. I have been cross-examined, vigorously,” Newman writes.
“With great respect Mr. Prime Minister, I humbly beg you to stop this man, acknowledge my pain with an apology, and allow me to once again support the party whose values, I have always believed, align with my own,” she adds.
“Please hear me. I walked past your office today…as my husband and I are in Ottawa (he is a national award recipient this evening). It prompted tears and great emotion to be so near to the place where you are deciding whether or not to believe me,” she concludes..
Trudeau, who has been very open about being a feminist, has yet to respond to the letter.
It may also be worth nothing that Trudeau himself was accused of groping a female reporter in 2000.
