Does it take an impending beheading for the Canadian government to challenge another nation and help one of its own?
Something isn’t adding up in the case of the New Brunswick farmer languishing in a Lebanese prison, and the feds claiming they can’t do anything. Henk Tepper’s lawyer, Jim Mockler, is sure they can. Such a stark difference of opinion is odd.
Tepper has been held in a Beirut jail since March 23 under an international arrest warrant over allegations that potatoes he exported to Algeria in 2007 were rotten, and that he’d forged documents. He’s reportedly not doing well lately – little wonder given his circumstances.
His farm has also sunk deeply into debt during his long absence and is currently under creditor protection. Friends and family in the Grand Falls, N.B., area continue to rally to raise the profile of the case.
In the latest exchange, Mockler said the Lebanese justice minister told him face-to-face Tuesday in Beirut that he needs a letter from Canada to release the farmer. Diane Ablonczy, Canada’s minister of state for foreign affairs, responded that the Lebanese say that isn’t so. The officials there told her they must act in accordance with Lebanon’s international legal obligations when faced with a request for extradition.
Surely that information is verifiable – and worth a followup.
The Canadian government has been eerily reticent to get involved.
The allegations have no ring of authenticity. Tepper’s lawyers say the potatoes were inspected in Canada before shipment and met standards for Algeria, their destination.
Surely that is verifiable too, with the telltale paper trail. Present those to the Lebanese officials. But jailing a Canadian citizen for going on a year with no due process is outrageous.
We don’t expect the Canadian government to thwart justice in another country. But when the allegations are as sketchy as these, when the wheels aren’t even turning, we expect this country to stand up for a citizen.
