Paul Fromm exposes judicial bias
UPDATE ON ERNST ZÜNDEL CASE
Canada's
fear of Dissenters

Canadian Association for Free Expression
PO
Box 332,
Rexdale, Ontario, M9W 5L3
Ph: 905-897-7221; FAX: 905-277-3914
Paul Fromm, B.Ed, M.A. Director
Hill Times Refuses Ad on Zundel Case:
No Free Speech or Democracy in Ottawa
Elite Organ
Dear Free Speech Supporter:
Canada's press is complacent, conformist, and all too often
no friend of
free speech. The range of debate on the issues of the day has narrowed and
narrowed over the past 20 years.
To the best of my knowledge only a handful of Canadian
columnists took any
note of the fact that Bill C-36, the govrnment's anti-terrorist act would
give control over the Internet to the Canadian Human Rights Commission
where truth is no defence. With few contrary comments, the press has all
but ignored the attacks on the Internet by totalitarian bodies like the
Canadian Human Rights Commission.
With few examples coverage of the Zundel case has been
stridently abusive,
wildly incomplete or non-existant. Even the NATIONAL POST which has covered
the hearings has scrupulously avoided reportage of his horrific prison
conditions -- the very thing which might, dare we day it, create sympathy
for a man who has been made a villain in the sort of coverage which
increadingly reads like a soap opera, with all characters either villains
or "good guys". Objective reporting -- the facts, just the facts, ma'm,
as
Sgt. Joe Friday used to say -- is rare.
The press has given little coverage to the fact that persons
served with a
CSIS national security certificate are subject to secret hearings, with
secret evidence and witnesses, and no chance to know what this evidence is
or to cross-examine these witnesses. Even less reported has been the
inhumane conditions in which Ernst Zundel has been incarcerated in solitary
confinement for over seven months -- no pen, no hardcover books, no post-it
notes, no highlighters, no paperclips, no chair, no herbal medications
that are vital to his health regime, and, until very recently, no pillow.
Back in June, CAFE began to raise money to buy some advertising to
highlight these serious press omissions and to stir public debate on the
Zundel case. We settled on The Hill Times in Ottawa. This weekly reaches
the MPs and senators, their staffers, Ottawa press and policy makers. I
made some inquiries and talked to Advertising Account Executive Craig
Caldbick. He was pleasant and, over the next few months, sent a stream of
e-mails, FAXes and phone calls my way eagerly seeking our business.
With Parliament returning, September 15, I decided to commit to a
half-page ad in the September 15 and 22 issues of The Hill Times. These ads
and, with luck a growing debate, would occur just prior to Mr. Zundel's
next court appearance on September 23 and 24. The text of this ad appears
at the end of this CAFEGRAM.
On September 8, I received a phone call from Mr. Caldbick. In
politically
correct, repressive Canada you can't even pay to get your point of view
into the press. Caldbick conveyed to me the decision of publisher Jim
Creskey. Apparently, the ad had created much discussion and consternation
at The Hill Times. "Unfortunately, the publishers and General Manager have
declined your ad as it's our policy to decline this type of message or
associate with your type of organization," Caldbick told me. That's
interesting: A Canadian newspaper unwilling to associate with advocates of
free speech.These guys ought to consider membership in like minded
organizations of conformist hacks like the Association of North Koreans
Journalists.
They'd looked at our website. "Your organization is too centred on one
issue."
Indeed, that's true. We are a one issue group, freedom of
speech, just as
other groups, like, say the World Wildlife Federation is all about wildlife
welfare.
After much verbal circling, Caldbick indicated that our site
had a lot of
material on Zundel. Well, I explained to him, we've been in existence for
over 20 years and taken up a wide variety of free speech causes. Yes,
there's a lot on Ernst Zundel right now, as he's one of the main thought
crimes victims of the moment. But, so what? Doesn't Ernst Zundel deserve a
defence? Or is the press prepared to convict him in advance and eagerly
await the sentence?
"The feeling here is they didn't want to tackle this message at this
time," Caldbick explained to me apologetically. The Hill Times wasn't being
asked to "tackle" this issue or even to commit to an opinion, merely,
for
money, to air our opinion.
I next took the matter up with publisher Jim Creskey on September 9. He
had problems with the fact that our website "is a one issue one, just about
Ernst Zundel."
I asked whether there was some way we could do business. I
invited him to
check the site more carefully and see the variety of free speech issues
we've adopted.
I awaited his answer. After several days, with September 15 fast
approaching, I called again. Four messages went unasnwered. Finally, on
September 16, Creskey got back to me. The answer still was "no".
On September 18, in Ottawa for my press conference at the Parliamentary
Press Gallery, I decided to visit The Hill Times in person. I spoke to Don
Turner, Director of Advertising who seemed distinctly uncomfortable. I
asked
whether they would consider an ad in the future. Turner hemmed and hawed.
Well, "no" can mean forever, he mused. Perhaps, they'd look at another
submission.
I learned from Turner that, in 13 years of publishing, ours
was the first
ad they'd rejected. "Our policy is not as clear as it might be," he
offered.
Oh, yes it is, Don: "No freedom of speech here!"
Perhaps, we should consider submitting our ad to Gramna, the
organ of the
Cuban Communist Party. At least their rejection would be predictable and
honest, based on their stated totalitarian ideology.
It may or may not mean anything, but among The Hill Times'
contributors is
Liberal Party attack pitbull Warren Kinsella. He he known as a savage
opponent of freedom of speech and a decade ago penned the error-riddled
screed Web of Hate: Inside Canada's Far Right Network.
Paul Fromm
Director
IAN
ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION
______________
Canadian Association for Free Expression
Box 332,
Rexdale, Ontario, M9W 5L3
Ph: 905-897-7221; FAX: 905-277-3914
Paul Fromm, B.Ed, M.A. Director
September 2, 2003
Mr. Craig Caldbick,
The Hill Times,
69 Sparks Street,
Ottawa, ON.,
K1P 5A5
Dear Mr. Caldbick:
The following is the text for the half page ad we've like to run September
15.
Sincerely yours,
Paul Fromm
Director
p.s. Please send me a mock-up of this.
_______________________-
[photo of Ernst Zundel]
How Safe Are Human Rights in Canada?
NOT VERY!
German-born publisher, Ernst Zundel, a landed immigrant since 1958,
has sat in solitary confinement in the Metro West Detention Centre
for 7 months.
CSIS says he's a threat to national security
In 42-years in Canada, he was never charged with or convicted of any
act of violence.
He has * no pen * no pillow * no post-it notes * no hardcover books *
no chair.Yet, he must try to prepare a half dozen legal cases.
He is allowed only children's pencils for writing material.
In Court, July 30, Mr. Justice Pierre Blais called these conditions
"mediaeval>"
Ernst Zundel
Prisoner of Conscience
Secret Trials in Canada?
You'd better believe it!
How would you defend yourself, if you didn't know what the evidence
was against you? You couldn't.
And neither can Ernst Zundel and about 20 other unfortunates ordered
deported under a CSIS "national security" certificate.
In a complete departure from Anglo-Saxon justice where the defendant
can face his accuser and know the evidence against him, Mr. Zundel has
been the victim of secret hearings before each of his detention and
bail review
hearings. He doesn't know the evidence or the identity of the witnesses
and, thus, is handicapped in offering a defence.
_____________________________________
To learn more about the Zundel case, see our website
http://www.canadianfreespeech.com
or write: The Canadian Association for
Free Expression, Box 332, Rexdale, ON., M9W 5L3. 905-897-7221: FAX:
905-277-3914. Donations to the Zundel Defence Fund are gratefully accepted
and all are acknowledged with a thank you piece of art done in prison by
Ernst Zundel.
[THIS AD WAS REJECTED BY HILL TIMES PUBLISHER JIM CRESKEY SEPTEMBER 8,
2003]

This is the text
delivered at a press conference in Ottawa, September 18,
2003 by Paul Fromm in the Parliamentary Press Gallery. An interview with
Mr.
Fromm on CPAC Television will be aired Monday night at 9:00 p.m.
e.s.t. Also, Mr. Mark Weber of the Institute for historical review
will be a guest on the Rense Radio Show at www.rense.com
Canadian Association for Free Expression
Box 332,
Rexdale, Ontario, M9W 5L3
Ph: 905-897-7221; FAX: 905-277-3914
Paul Fromm, B.Ed, M.A. Director
September 18, 2003
For Immediate Release
Indefinite Detention, Secret Hearings, "Mediaeval" Prison Conditions
-- The
Fate of Those Held Under CSIS National Security Certificates
Back in November, 2001, I was in this same room warning of the civil
liberties consequences of the Federal Government's proposed anti-terrorist
legislation, Bill C-36. I wish I could stand here and say, "We were
wrong."
Yes, we must protect Canada from terrorists. However, we must not erase
fundamental civil rights and freedoms in the name of fighting
terrorism. Canada's fight against terrorism has brought us secret
hearings,
deportations with few rights for the accused, and unlimited detention of
men convicted of no crime in conditions of deprivation desgined to
"break
'em" so that they'll give up their fight.
In a number of hearings, I've acted as the legal representative of
German-born publisher Ernst Zundel. He is a victim of Canada's
anti-terrorist legislation and a Canadian Security and Intelligence
Serivice (CSIS) that is out of control and is fanatically hostile to him.
Ernst Zundel, 64, immigrated to Canada in 1958. He was a
landed immigrant
here, a successful graphic artist and an employer for 42 years. He
emigrated to the U.S.A in 2000 and married an American citizen, Dr. Ingrid
Rimland. While in Canada, Mr. Zundel published a number of pamphlets that
questioned the establishment historical view of World War II.
While controversial, he's never been charged or convicted of
any violent
crime in Canada or anywhere else. In February, Mr. Zundel was picked up for
a minor problem with U.S. immigration law and ordered deported. He is
unable to return to the U.S., where his wife resides, for 20 years.
Mr. Zundel was deported February 19 to Canada, his place of last
residence. Germany has a warrant out for his arrest under their bizarre law
that criminalizes questioning the establishment account of World War II.
Return to Germany could mean five years in prison for Mr. Zundel.
Accordingly, he has filed a "refugee" claim. Normally, he would be set
free pending the hearing of his claim.
However, Ernst Zundel has been held in prison since February
19. On May 1,
he was served with a CSIS "national security" certificate co-signed by
Solicitor-General Wayne Easter and Immigration Minister Denis Coderre.
Under the amended Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, this is the
equivalent of a deportation order. The only recourse is a hearing before a
federal judge. Unlike other cases which require proof of guilt "beyond a
reasonable doubt" or "reasonable and probable grounds" for a
search
warrant, the Crown need only prove that the accusations are
"reasonable".
How is a dissident publisher a threat to Canada's national security?
National security is carefully defined in the CSIS Act as being espionage,
sabotage, sedition, foreign run activities or the use of serious acts of
violence against persons or property to promote one's ideology. The Act
makes clear that protest and non-violent dissent, however controversial,
are not threats to national security.
The CSIS statement alleges that Ernst Zundel, while not personally
violent, is a terrorist and supports serious acts of violence in Canada or
abroad. The proof offered is laughable hodge-podge of guilt-by-association.
Zundel is a pacifist who has counselled many young hotheads to obey the law
and avoid violence. One such person, George Burdi, testified May 16 that Mr.
Zundel had thrown him out of his house when he caught him writing violent
lyrics on his computer.
Ernst Zundel believes the certificate stems from a long
hostility by CSIS
against him. On the week of May 16, Mr. Zundel filed a complaint with the
Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), the body that oversees CSIS,
asking that they investigate the shocking information in John Mitrovica's
book Covert Entry, which shows that CSIS knew that the 1995 pipebomb was
coming to Zundel and did nothing to prevent it or to warn or protect him.
In the book, former CSIS operative John Farrell, who was involved in the
interception of mail headed to Mr. Zundel, was warned by his CSIS handler
twice in May, 1995 not to open any package from Vancoucer addressed to Mr.
Zundel. Later that month, a powerful pipebomb arrived with a Vancouver
return address. Police said, after they detonated the device, that it would
have killed anyone within 100 yards had it exploded.
Another problem with the anti-terrorist legislation is that it permits
unlimited detention of people served with a CSIS certificate. On Tuesday,
September 23, Mr. Zundel is back in court in Toronto for the sixth
day of
a detention hearing before Federal Judge Mr. Justice Pierre Blais. Mr.
Zundel has been kept in solitary confinement in the Metro West Detention
Centre. Despite having six legal cases to prepare, he is denied pen,
highlighter, paperclips, post-it notes, hardcover books that he needs for
the case, or a chair. Until two weeks ago, he had been without a pillow
since May 16, despite recommendations by a doctor in July that a man of his
age should have one. While recovering from cancer, Mr. Zundel has been
denied access to the herbs and alternative treatments with which he's
self-medicated himself for 30 years.
On July 30, informed of Mr. Zundel's inhumane prison conditions, Mr.
Justice Blais commented: "Even in medieval times, prisoners were allowed to
use pen and paper," Judge Blais asserted. "I also have respect
for Mr.
Zundel. He is not a criminal. I think he is entitled to a little bit of
flexibility." Since then, all Mr. Zundel has received, after
extensive
lobbying with provincial and prison authorities, is a pillow.
Mr. Zundel, a non-violent man, has now spent seven months in
the sort of
brutal deprivation that would normally only be inflicted on the most
hardened prisoners as punishment for violence in prison. Yet, this sort of
harsh detention has been inflicted on him and others like Egyptian Mahmoud
Jaballah held now for two years under a CSIS warrant.
Before each of Mr. Zundel's court and detention hearings, the
adjudicator
or judge has heard secret testimony. The defence has no idea what the
evidence was, who the witnesses were, or even what the accusations are.
This procedure, permitted by the anti-terrorist legislation, cancels the
basic right under Anglo-Saxon common law of the defendant to know the
charges against him, to face his accusers and to challenge their evidence
in order to make a full and complete defence. This procedure would also
seem to violate the ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada in the Chiarelli
case.

LUCKY HIS NAME
WASN'T ZUNDEL
by Paul From
13 September
2003
Dear Free Speech Supporter:
Like the Globe and Mail, we have consistently opposed
Canada's restrictive
and censorious "hate law".
The Canadian government has spent 8 years trying to deport
Rwandan refugee
claimant Leon Mugesera as an inadmissible person for having committed war
crimes or crimes against humanity; namely, promoting genocide.
It seems that, by any reasonable definition, Mugesera was inciting
listeners to violence and, indeed, genocide against minority Tutsis in a
1992 speech. He repeatedly referred to the Tutsis as "cockroaches"
(verbal
overkill, but permissible) and called for their "extermination". This
would
seem to be a clear incitement to violence.
Not so, says the increasingly bizarre Federal Court. Mugusera is just
another misunderstood would-be "refugee" and may stay.
It's lucky for the Rwanadan that he's not a German or
Ukrainian. It's even
luckier that his name is not Ernst Zundel. In a number of cases, including
that of Helmut Oberlander, our Federal Courts have been quite happy to
order the deportation of Germans and East Europeans for having failed to
admit they had been in certain military units, even when the documentation
of what they actually said has long since been destroyed and their actual
words lost.
While Leon "Exterminate the Tutsi Cockroaches" Mugesera walks free,
dissident publisher Ernst Zundel rots in solitary confinement in the West
Toronto Detention Centre, without pen, chair, post-it notes, paperclips,
herbal supplements and medication, or hardcover books. The Federal Court
has thus far refused him bail. His crime is not advocating violence or
genocide. No, according to the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service
(CSIS), this pacifist, who has never been charged or convicted under the
Criminal Code of Canada of ANY crime, let alone one of violence, is alleged
to be a terrorist.
In the Mugesera case, the Federal Court, apparently, rejected
some of the
evidence as coming from sources that were biased. The entire public -- as
opposed to whatever evidence has been produced in the secret hearings --
case against Ernst Zundel is based on an hysterical guilt-by-association
report from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). Yet, as Mr.
Zundel's defence team has demonstrated in hearings before the Immigration
and Refugee Board, CSIS is not just biased against Ernst Zundel, it is
pathologically hostile, having, according to Andre Mitrovica's book COVERT
ENTRY, been, at the very least, a passive accomplice to a 1995 mailbomb
assassination attempt aimed at Mr. Zundel. CSIS strictly instructed its
mail snooping operatives not to open any package from Vancouver addressed
to Mr. Zundel in May, 1995. That very month a powerful pip bomb with a
Vancouver return address was delivered by mail to Mr. Zundel's Toronto
residence.
Paul Fromm
Director
CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION
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