That's What We Get For Trusting You...
It's a rather sad story, one repeated time and again. An incautiously naive young person goes abroad and places himself into a vulnerable situation, taking for granted his place in a society not his own. We see it time and again; protestations of innocence of the charges brought against them in totalitarian societies concerned with policing their populations - let alone aliens who may seek to bring the scourge of hard drugs into their precincts.The sentences are invariably harsh beyond anything relatively minor infractions would bring them in their home countries. And despite the most strenuous diplomatic overtures and governmental efforts of consular officials and politicians reaching out to assist their passport-holders, the end results are often tragic. Lives, young and old gone to waste as they languish for years in a medieval prison system of a far-off country.
On occasion charges levelled against someone merely passing through as an innocent tourist are false, yet that person caught is in no more improved condition than the one who has been incautious enough to attempt to ferry drugs in or out of an alien country. Consider the case of Bert Tatham, a Canadian who worked in Afghanistan as an anti-narcotics officer and adviser for the Afghan government.
En route back to Canada when his assignment was completed, he ventured a brief sight-seeing stopover in Dubai. Where he was searched, and found wanting. A few poppy bulbs were found in his suitcase, carelessly tossed in as an exhibit he planned to use for future lectures in Canada. And in one of his jeans pockets a dusting of hashish was triumphantly discovered, as well. Game over.
He was sentenced to a four-year prison term for drug possession, on the basis of those two bulbs, that sprinkling of hashish; an unfortunate leftover from his exposure in anti-narcotics work in poppy eradication in Afghanistan. Apart from the diplomatic overtures by Canadian government officials, his parents' business contacts also made representation on his behalf, but to no perceived avail. He spent eight long months in jail.
The conditions he experienced there bore no resemblance to an exotic vacation anywhere in the world. He was exposed to physical abuse, and psychological torment. But just as there are more than a few ways to skin a cat (pardon) there are other avenues for pleading forgiveness. All the efforts on this man's behalf to gain his release from custody did not go unnoticed in Dubai; authorities there recognized that they had a potentially prize prop.
The United Arab Emirates have just recently brought Dubai-owned Emirates Airlines into Canada. The Emirates are quite anxious to be awarded unlimited landing rights in Canada. An "open skies" treaty would enable the airline to compete directly against Air Canada and even undercut the national airline service. In addition, the UAE has, with what some might consider to be unmitigated gall, expressed a wish to have Ottawa drop visa requirements for its nationals visiting Canada.
Canadians wishing to take advantage of enticingly low ticket prices to places like Australia, for example, in the inaugural Emirates flight from Canada, were free to do so. Mind, the voyage took somewhat longer than usual. The fact being that Australia-bound Canadians were flown first to Dubai, then on to Australia, making their flight somewhat tediously longer than anticipated. Waste of fuel? Easy to come by in the country that sucks it out of the ground.
Mr. Tatham has now been released. Canada is adamant that no bargaining has taken place to effect even this tardy release, since other foreigners arraigned and sentenced for like offences rarely have spent that long in a Dubai prison. There are bargaining tools and there are human rights promises used for trade leverage. All seems fair in enterprising challenges for trade advantages.
Labels: Canada, Human Fallibility, Justice
posted by Pieface @ Friday, December 21, 2007
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