“freehenktepper” Please Mr Harper!!!
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Telegraph Journal 5 januai 2011
A former Canadian diplomat says the federal government often uses letters from the prime minister to help free Canadians jailed abroad.
Gar Pardy, a former Canadian diplomat, says the answer to freeing Henk Tepper may lie with Algeria and not Lebanon.
It works roughly half the time, according to Gar Pardy, former Canadian ambassador to Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and El Salvador.
But in the ongoing saga of New Brunswick potato farmer Henk Tepper, the Canadian government may be focusing its attention on the wrong country, and should be looking to Algeria, the source of the criminal charges, Pardy said.
He also said Lebanon may not be willing to provide Canada a with a political favour because of its pro-Israel foreign policy stance.
Canada’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy has insisted that a simple letter to Lebanon will not return the imprisoned farmer home. Tepper’s lawyer and a New Brunswick senator have stated otherwise after meeting with Lebanese Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi in Beirut.
“It’s a technique we have used over the years,” Pardy said. “Sometimes you can use a letter from the head of government here to the head of government there.
“It’s a common technique that one uses, every government uses it.”
Tepper was imprisoned on March 23 as he arrived in Lebanon on a trade mission.
He has been held on allegations that some potatoes he exported to Algeria in 2007 were rotten.
An Interpol “red notice” that remains in place stating that the Algerian government called for his detention for the alleged use of a forged document to clear rotten food for sale for human consumption.
Pardy, who retired as director general of the consular affairs bureau in 2003, said he is unaware how often the Harper government flexes its political muscle, but added that the letter could be crafted in a way to evoke humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
“In Henk’s case: ‘The poor man is suffering from this incarceration, his family and business in Canada is going to the dogs,’?” Pardy said. “That’s what you cue on here and the one thing you do not do is accuse the other government.
“You take the soft peddle and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.”
Pardy said such a letter was used in the cases of Maher Arar, detained in Syria in 2002 for almost a year, and William Sampson who was detained in Saudi Arabia in 2000 for 32 months.
“We used to use the prime ministerial letter with some regularity,” he said.
Pardy said that a letter to Lebanon could do little since the country is stuck in the middle of the dispute and is not dilomatically well-disposed to Canada.
“The solution to the case is not necessarily in Lebanon,” Pardy said. “I think it is expecting too much for the Lebanese government to ignore the Interpol request.
“Canada’s relationship with countries in the Middle East is not very good, it’s getting worse, largely based on the decision by the Canadian government to put Israel on top of our relationship totem in the Middle East.”
Pardy said the Lebanese government is “dominated” by the Muslim militant group and political party Hezbollah.
“Hezbollah has Israel on the top of its list for other reasons,” Pardy said, noting the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War, which killed an estimated 1,200 people, mostly Lebanese citizens, while displacing roughly one million others.
“It is in part in that larger context that you may never get a positive decision by the Lebanese government for it to ignore the Interpol request,” he said.
“It doesn’t get talked about because this government does not want to talk about the collateral damage as result of its policy on Israel and the Lebanese are quite prepared, I’m sure, to hide behind the Interpol notice.”
Pardy said Canada stands a better chance with Algeria, citing a better political relationship and the successful presence of Canadian oil and gas producers in that country.
“It could be the better way to go,” he said. “In my mind the answer is more in Algiers than in Beirut.”
Kim Richard Nossal, director of the Centre for International and Defence Policy at Queen’s University, said that, even with persuasion from political officials, the extradition of an citizen from one country to another is a lengthy process.
“Extradition is a slow process that involves the legal systems of different countries,” Nossal said. “Our legal system grinds incredibly slow even for Canadians and then add the international factor to that and you’ve just got an incredibly slow process.
“The only way to make it less slow is when the political leadership involves itself in the process and then those who say you have to be careful when doing that are absolutely correct.”
He added: “You really do have to worry about being seen as pushing your weight around and trying to interfere in the process because keep in mind if the shoe was on the other foot.”
Pardy said that Tepper’s detention is not an extraordinary case.
“There is a process that goes into play here,” Pardy said. “Even nine months in a Lebanese jail is not a long time.
“Extradition is a very large, oval process.”
When can we finally shake hands with Henk?
Dag en nacht strijden voor neef Henk/ Struggling day and night, for cousin Henk
Dag en nacht strijden voor neef Henk
INTERVIEW HENK TEPPER
Door René Beishuizen ( DvhN 27 dec 2011)
(English translation scroll down)Het jaar 2011 nadert zijn einde.
Twaalf maanden liggen achter ons. Maanden waarin op wereldschaal zoveel gebeurde maar waarin ook tal van OostGroningers in hun veel kleinere wereld mooie en minder mooie avonturen beleefden. Tien van die Oost- Groningers vertellen daar de komende dagen op deze plek over. Vandaag aflevering 6: Henk Tepper uit Zuidbroek.
Zuidbroek ”Wanneer ’s avonds laat de telefoon gaat, hoop je dat je Canada aan de lijn hebt. Zegt die meneer aan de andere kant van de lijn dat hij verkeerd verbonden is.”
Henk Tepper uit Zuidbroek lacht als een boer met kiespijn.
Sinds 23 maart van dit jaar zit zijn neef Henk Tepper (44), aardappelboer in Canada en tot zijn 12de jaar woonachtig in Kropswolde, in de gevangenis in Libanon. Tepper heeft sinds ruim vier jaar een zakelijk conflictmet Algerije over de levering van aardappelen. Een deel zou verziekt zijn door ringrot. Hij spande vanwege dit conflict en het mislopen van veel geld een proces aan. Algerije zette hem op de Interpollijst van gezochte personen.
Tepper wist dit niet en werd in Libanon aangehouden en in de cel gezet.
Daar zit hij, onder erbarmelijke omstandigheden, met meerdere personen in een cel.
Sinds die tijd strijdt Zuidbroekster Henk Tepper 24 uur per dag, zeven dagen in de week voor de vrijheid van zijn neef. Dit ’gevecht’ kost niet alleen veel tijd, maar ook energie. Daarom stapte hij in september dit jaar uit de gemeenteraad van Menterwolde. Tepper: “Ik ben een familiemens. Familie gaat boven alles.” De VVD’er was via voorkeurstemmen in de raad terechtgekomen.
“Ik heb het gevoel dat demensen achter de schermen bezig zijn om hem vrij te krijgen”, zegt Tepper.
Volgens hem hoeft de Canadese regering alleen maar te bellenmet de officier van justitie in Libanon en neef Henk, die Canadees staatsburger is, kan terug naar Canada. “Libanon zit ook met Henk in de maag.
Canada zegt dat Libanon niet heeft gevraagd te reageren. Je houdt het niet voor mogelijk.”
De Zuidbroekster wordt er bijkansmoedeloos van. “Na dertig dagen dachten we ook dat hij naar huis zou komen. Na zestig en negentig dagen dachtenwe datweer.”
Maar Tepper is een vechter en zal niet eerder stoppen voor zijn naamgenoot vrij is. Via zijn weblog freehenktepper.nl houdt hij dewereld op de hoogte. Inmiddels besteden de Canadesemedia bijna dagelijks aandacht aan deze zaak. Dat biedt de familie hoop. “Ik snap niet dat de wereld zo in elkaar zit.”
English Translation (by Chris Ubels)
Struggling day and night, for cousin Henk
INTERVIEW HENK TEPPER
By René Beishuizen
The year 2011 approaches its end.
Zuidbroek ”When the Phone rings at night, you hope it will be Canada on the other end. And then the man on the line says he has the wrong number…”
Henk Tepper uit Zuidbroek laughs in a painful manner.
Since march 23rd cousin Henk Tepper(44), who is a farmer in Canada and lived in Kropswolde, Netherlands, until the age of 12, has been in a prison cell in Lebanon. Tepper has had a business conflict with Algeria for four years regarding the shipment of potatoes. Part of which alegelibly was infected with Ring-Rott. He then sued Algeria for this conflict and for losing a lot of money. Algeria then put him on a Red Notice for wanted people with Interpol.
Tepper was not aware of this and was arrested on arrival to Lebanon and was put in jail.
There he resides, in terrible circumstances, with many inmates crammed together in a cell.
Ever since Zuidbroek citizen Henk Tepper struggles 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for freedom for his cousin. This fight not only consumes a lot of time, but also energy. That is why Tepper stopped being a councilor in Menterwolde, the county to which Zuidbroek belongs. Tepper: “I am a family man. Family goes above everything.” The VVD (liberal) member was directly chosen by many voters.
“I have the feeling that behind the curtains people are trying to get him out.”, Tepper states.
According to him all the Canadian government has to do is call the disctrict attorney for Lebanon and cousin Henk, who is a Canadian citizen, can return to Canada. “For Lebanon this case is difficult too. But Canada sais Lebanon did not ask to respond. I cannot believe it”
The man from Zuidbroek is almost despirited. “After thirty days we thought it would be over. After sixty and ninety days we thought the same thing…”
But Tepper is a fighter and will not rest until his cousin, who has the same name, will be free. Through his weblog www.freehenktepper.nl he keeps the World posted. Now the Canadian media gives attention to the matter on a daily basis. That offers hope to the family. “I cannot understand the World can work this way.”
Ottawa could free Henk Tepper with a letter
Vertaling/samengevat: scroll naar beneden
International law expert finds the federal government’s actions ‘confusing’
An expert in international law can’t understand why the Harper government is not acting swiftly to get Henk Tepper back to Canada.
The New Brunswick farmer has spent nine months in a Beirut jail for allegedly exporting bad potatoes to Algeria.
Paul Cavaluzzo, a lawyer, says two Canadian senators have said that Lebanese authorities would release Tepper if Canada sends a letter requesting he be returned. If that’s true, Cavaluzzo says, then Ottawa’s concern about interfering in Lebanon’s judicial system is not a valid one.
“It’s very confusing as to the intransigence they seem to be demonstrating because the Lebanese obviously, I think, are looking for a reason to release Mr. Tepper back to Canada, and what they seem to be waiting for is a letter,” he said.
Cavaluzzo says there’s an even more compelling reason to have Hank Tepper back in Canada.
“The most important fact here is that [the alleged crime] occurred in Canada, by a Canadian. And as a result of that, Canada has jurisdiction if a crime occurred, to prosecute him. He’s a Canadian, he should be prosecuted in Canada,” he said.
Tepper, 44, has been behind bars in Beirut with no charges against him since March. He was arrested on the Interpol warrant while on a trade mission trip sponsored by the Canadian government. He says he was innocent and his lawyers argue that the potatoes were inspected in Canada and met Algerian standards.
Cavaluzzo was involved in the Maher Arar case, which he says was resolved once enough political pressure was put on the federal government. The lawyer believes the same would happen in Henk Tepper’s case.
Vertaling en samengevat: De Canadese regering zou alleen maar een brief hoeven te schrijven met de vraag aan de Libanese regering Henk Vrij te laten. Dat vragen de Libanese regering. Volgens een deskundige over de wet van Canada kan het helemaal niet. De aardappelen zijn goed gekeurd door de Canadese foodinspectie, volgens de Algerijnse normen. Henk kan niet geknoeid hebben met de documenten, want hij was in Canada en niet in Algerije. De RCMP( canadese politie waren op de hoogte) De Canadese regering liet Henk met een delegatie naar Libanon gaan, op kosten van de regering. Deskundigen buigen zich nu over de case.
Ottawa says letter won’t free Henk Tepper
Baird’s office denies claims of legal expert
Posted: Dec 22, 2011 1:43 PM ET
Last Updated: Dec 22, 2011 9:29 PM ET
Related
Related Links
P.O.V. : Should the prime minister intervene on Henk Tepper’s behalf
RCMP gave potato farmer’s financial details to Algerians
Tepper farm gets creditor protection extension
Jailed potato farmer in limbo over letter dispute
External Links
Read the Interpol ‘red notice’ for Henk Tepper
(Note:CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external links.)
A letter from the federal government counters the claims of an expert in international law about how to free N.B. potato farmer Henk Tepper.
Tepper has spent nine months in a Beirut jail for allegedly exporting bad potatoes to Algeria.
Paul Cavaluzzo, a lawyer, says he can’t understand why the Harper government is not acting swiftly to get Tepper back to Canada.
He also says two Canadian senators have said that Lebanese authorities would release Tepper if Canada sends a letter requesting he be returned. If that’s true, Cavaluzzo says, then Ottawa’s concern about interfering in Lebanon’s judicial system is not a valid one.
“It’s very confusing as to the intransigence they seem to be demonstrating because the Lebanese obviously, I think, are looking for a reason to release Mr. Tepper back to Canada, and what they seem to be waiting for is a letter,” he said.
In a letter originally sent to Senator Pierre Ringuette, then forwarded to CBC News Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Minister of State of Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy “correct the record regarding incorrect information.”
The letter goes on to say that the Lebanese government has communicated to the government of Canada that “a resolution through the Lebanese legal system is not as simple as sending one letter.”
The government also lays out the work it says it’s done to bring Tepper home, citing the sending of letters and diplomatic notes.
Meanwhile, Cavaluzzo says there’s an even more compelling reason to have Tepper back in Canada.
“The most important fact here is that [the alleged crime] occurred in Canada, by a Canadian. And as a result of that, Canada has jurisdiction if a crime occurred, to prosecute him. He’s a Canadian, he should be prosecuted in Canada,” he said.
Tepper, 44, has been behind bars in Beirut with no charges against him since March 23. He was arrested on the Interpol warrant while on a trade mission trip sponsored by the Canadian government. He says he is innocent and his lawyers argue that the potatoes were inspected in Canada and met Algerian standards.
Cavaluzzo was involved in the Maher Arar case, which he says was resolved once enough political pressure was put on the federal government. The lawyer believes the same would happen in Henk Tepper’s case.
Bring Home Henk Tepper
Irwin Cotler Member of Parliament, Mount Royal
This week, family and friends have intensified their pleas for the release of Henk Tepper, a New Brunswick farmer who has been languishing in a Beirut prison absent any criminal charges since March.
While his loved ones hope to see him returned to Canada in time for the holidays, his case and other high-profile cases of Canadians detained abroad raise important questions about what Canada’s role ought to be in such situations. Further, the Government’s action — or rather, seeming inaction — on the file raises questions about the nature of the relationship between Canada and Lebanon.
By way of background, Tepper was arrested on an Interpol warrant while on a trade mission sponsored by the Canadian government. Allegedly, he forged paperwork to export a rotten shipment of potatoes to Algeria in 2007. Tepper insists he is innocent and his lawyers assert that the potatoes were inspected in Canada and met Algerian standards.
Serious questions have been raised about why, given the incident in question occurred in 2007, Mr. Tepper has been able to leave and re-enter Canada with no problems since and why he was not arrested here if in fact the supposed criminality occurred on Canadian soil.
Absent formal charges, Canada should not acquiesce in Tepper’s detention. Indeed, even if he were to have engaged in some criminality, he should be in Canada and afforded due process before Canadian courts.
The Government has been probed on the matter in Question Period and has provided essentially stock responses insisting Mr. Tepper is receiving consular assistance. On November 30, the Government revealed that it was choosing to resolve the situation through “quiet and diplomatic channels.”
While there is merit to quiet diplomacy — particularly with close allies — it is curious that the Government has not come out more strongly against Lebanon. Indeed, Hezbollah, a listed terrorist entity in Canada, officially forms part of the Lebanese government.
Further, as the New York Times reported this week, the Lebanese Canadian Bank has been a hub for the financing of Hezbollah. Simply put, why are we tip-toeing around a Government bound-up with a designated terrorist entity under Canadian law and whose own dealings appear replete with money-laundering operations?
Regrettably, Tepper’s dubious detention will not be the last of a Canadian citizen abroad. In this regard, I recently re-introduced legislation entitled the Protecting Canadians Abroad Act (C-359), which died in the last Parliament without debate. This legislation, the first ever of its kind in Canada, would affirm rights and obligations — including rights to consular access, consular visits, and repatriation — for Canadians detained, disappeared, or captured abroad.
Further, the bill would establish reporting requirements for Canadian officials when they suspect a Canadian detained or captured abroad has been or may be tortured. Moreover, the bill would require that the government request the repatriation of a Canadian detained abroad in situations where there are reasonable grounds to believe that the Canadian has or may be tortured, is being subjected to conditions constituting cruel or unusual punishment, or is being arbitrarily detained.
The legislation also — and perhaps most importantly — allows recourse against the federal government should it not undertake its obligations and responsibilities. Indeed, it would specifically allow suits against ministers if they did not undertake certain obligations, such as seeking someone’s repatriation.
In short, the conferral of Canadian citizenship upon an individual implies certain obligations on the part of the federal government and all Canadian citizens deserve to benefit equally from the rights conferred through citizenship. Indeed, all Canadian citizens deserve government protection while located abroad. In this case, it means bringing Henk Tepper home.
Irwin Cotler is the Member of Parliament for Mount Royal and the former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. He has extensively on Middle East matters, including Lebanon
CBC News 20 dec Henk Tepper Libanon
Samengevat EN VERTALING SCROLL NAAR BENEDEN
Harper urged to bring Canadian jailed in Beirut home
Henk Tepper of New Brunswick held in Lebanon with no charges
Two Liberal senators and the wife and sister of Henk Tepper were on Parliament Hill on Tuesday morning, appealing to the federal government to bring the New Brunswick potato farmer jailed in Lebanon back to Canada.
Senators Pierrette Ringuette and Mac Harb recently visited Tepper in jail with his lawyer, and they are pressing for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to issue a written request to Lebanese authorities to free him.
“Why is Stephen Harper not acting for Henk? Is he a second-class citizen because he was not born in Canada?” Ringuette said. “Stephen Harper is responsible for Henk Tepper.”
Tepper, 44, has been behind bars in Beirut with no charges against him for nine months.
The wife and sister of Henk Tepper, a Canadian being held in a Lebanese jail, were on Parliament Hill Tuesday asking for the federal government’s help to release him. (Facebook photo) The federal government denies that a letter with a written request to release him is all it would take to free him, a claim made by Tepper’s lawyer based on information from Lebanese authorities.
The New Brunswick farmer is accused of forging paperwork over a shipment of potatoes to Algeria in 2007, and was arrested on an Interpol alert issued by Algeria. He has been in jail since March.
Harb said that the crime Tepper is accused of committing would have happened on Canadian soil, not Algerian or Lebanese, and he should be brought home to face the Canadian justice system.
Tepper’s lawyer says Lebanese authorities told him it’s up to Canada to initiate the release request.
But Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dianne Ablonczy told the House of Commons last week that government officials and ministers have been in touch with “senior Lebanese officials,” and Lebanon hasn’t communicated this information to the Canadian government.
Vertaling en samen gevat:
De senatoren vragen zich af, als je niet in Canada bent geboren of je dan geen echte Canadese staatsburger bent, althans zo stelt de Canadese regering zich op. Algerije beweert dat Henk geknoeid zou hebben met de documenten voor het verschepen van eetaardappelen. Pierrette maakt duidelijk dat dat niet kan, want allen weten( ook RCMP en de Canadese regering) dat Henk in Canada was en niet in Algerije. De foodinspectie van Canada heeft de aardappelen goed gekeurd en de documenten verzonden naar Algerije. ( Heb navraag gedaan in Nederland bij de Nederlandse aardappelorganisatie www.nao.nl) en die zeggen ook dat het niet mogelijk is, om zieke aardappelen te exporteren) De RCMP ( politie Canada) was al lange tijd op de hoogte van de Algerijnse Red Alert en ze lieten Henk gewoon in naar Libanon gaan, zelfs op kosten van de Canadese regering, delegatie van pootaardappelboeren. Waarom laat Libanon Henk niet vrij, omdat men wil dat Canada vraagt om hem vrij te laten en daar is het antwoord van Canada, “Libanon heeft ons niets gevraagd” Canada laat het tot nu toe afweten en deze arme jongen met een vrouw en twee kinderen die de kerst alleen moeten doorkomen. Harper waar wacht je nu nog op, zorg dat je ook iets doet voor deze staatsburger en wel voor de feestdagen. Nu is het mooi geweest, een aardappelboer die al meer dan 9 maanden gevangen zit, omdat de politiek het laat afweten.
Senator Pierrette Ringuette
For Immediate Release: December 15, 2011
On the eve of the Christmas Holidays, bureaucratic indifference, political foot-dragging condemn Canadian farmer to wither away on foreign shores
Beirut - Hendrik Tepper’s hopes of coming home to his distraught family for Christmas — or anytime soon — are quickly dying.
The New Brunswick potato farmer did everything by the book in his efforts to broker quality potatoes from his and other Eastern Canadian farms to international buyers and to keep a few more jobs in the region.
Instead of the support and recognition one would expect from the Canadian Government, Mr. Tepper is being swept under the rug and forgotten in the Middle East.
Bureaucratic foot dragging and political apathy have so far thwarted efforts to bring Mr. Tepper home to his family.
In an eleventh-hour bid to repatriate the farmer, a Canadian delegation of two Senators has accompanied Mr. Tepper’s legal counsel to Beirut to make a personal appeal to the Lebanese government.
“Lebanon is being made an unwitting party to an abuse of process”, says Pierrette Ringuette, the New Brunswick Senator involved in the file. “This senseless situation could have been resolved weeks — even months — ago. All the Lebanese have been waiting for is a clear request from Ottawa to send our farmer home. But instead of an official one-sentence request that would bring Mr. Tepper home to defend his interests, we get a deafening silence that is effectively imposing a life sentence on Henk to see him rot away in a foreign detention centre.”
“This is a national disgrace.”
For Additional Information:
Tim Rosenburgh
Office of Senator Pierrette Ringuette (613) 943-2248
Jailed potato farmer in limbo over letter dispute
CBC News New Brunswick
Jailed potato farmer in limbo over letter dispute
Minister says Lebanon has not requested letter from Canada in Henk Tepper case
A Canadian potato farmer jailed in Beirut for nine months remains in diplomatic limbo, with the federal government denying his lawyer’s claims that a simple written request would bring him home.
Lawyers for New Brunswick farmer Henk Tepper say Lebanon’s foreign minister has told them a letter from Canada is all that is needed to secure Tepper’s release.
But Canada says Lebanon has not asked for a letter.
Henk Tepper, 44, has been behind bars without charges since March. He’s accused of forging paperwork over a shipment of potatoes to Algeria in 2007 and was arrested on an Interpol alert issued by Algeria.
Tepper’s lawyer says Lebanese authorities told him it’s up to Canada to initiate the release request.
Henk Tepper has been held in a Beirut jail since March. Submitted photo
But Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dianne Ablonczy told the House of Commons Wednesday that government officials and ministers have been in touch with “senior Lebanese officials” and Lebanon hasn’t communicated this information to the Canadian government.
“The Lebanese government specifically dismisses the allegation that a simple letter would release Mr. Tepper and affirms that it must act in accordance with Lebanon’s international obligations when faced with a request for extradition,” Ablonczy said in question period, while expressing concern for Tepper and his family.
Tepper’s lawyer, James Mockler, met with the Lebanese justice minister Tuesday and said he was told the case is no longer stuck in legal proceedings and Ottawa could intercede.
Mockler told CBC News he will do anything necessary to assist the federal government in drafting a letter to Lebanon.
New Brunswick Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc accused the government of dragging its feet.
“The government of Canada is either willfully blind to Mr. Tepper’s horrible circumstances or grossly negligent or perhaps both” he said. They need to send a letter today, indicating they want him home.”
Financial trouble
Adding to Tepper’s problems is that his business in Canada is $11 million in debt. It’s under protection from its creditors in a ruling that expires this week.
“This person is a Canadian, he’s a New Brunswicker, the people of New Brunswick want him back. His family want him back,” said NDP New Brunswick MP Yvon Godin. “It hurt his business and everything. This is totally unfair.”
Mockler says after nine months in jail, Tepper is showing signs of emotional strain.
“He’s beyond desperate. He needs to go home now. He needs assistance, as well. I believe that he needs psychological assistance,” Mockler said.
Liberal Senators Pierrette Ringuette and Mac Harb have visited Tepper in jail with his lawyer and have called on the government to do more to bring him home to Canada.
TELEGRAPH JOURNAL on 15 dec 2011
Letter not enough: minister ( Telegraph Journal)
Published Thursday December 15th, 2011
Politics: Ottawa says Lebanon will abide by international extradition law in Tepper detainment case
Adam Huras
Legislature Bureau
Canada’s minister of state for Foreign Affairs says a simple letter to Lebanon will not return New Brunswick potato farmer Henk Tepper home to Canada.
Diane Ablonczy made the statement Wednesday, a day after Tepper’s lawyer met with Lebanese Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi in Beirut and said an official request from Canada had not been made, but was all that is needed.
“The Lebanese government specifically dismisses the allegation that a simple letter would release Mr. Tepper and affirms that it must act in accordance with Lebanon’s international legal obligations when faced with a request for extradition,” Ablonczy said, responding to questions from Conservative MP Mike Allen and New Democrat MP Yvon Godin in the House of Commons.
The minister went a step further on Wednesday to say that the government had already written to Lebanon.
“Government officials and I have been in contact with senior Lebanese authorities and I have personally written to the Lebanese government on Mr. Tepper’s behalf,” she said. “We have been actively providing consular assistance and support.
“We will continue to work on behalf of all Canadians who find themselves in distress abroad.”
Reached by phone from Beirut, Henk Tepper’s lawyer Jim Mockler said that Ottawa had not given him an indication as to whether it will act in asking the justice minister of Lebanon to send the beleaguered potato farm home to Canada.
“I stress that a letter asking for the repatriation of Henk would be very helpful and we have now also provided templates used by other nations in the past to do so,” Mockler said. “At this time we have not received a response from the Government of Canada that would suggest to us that they are acting on the information that we have given them.
“I’m willing to offer any assistance that I can either to the embassy here or the department in Ottawa to help draft any letter that is necessary or offer any advice in any way that I can in initiating an effort to seek the repatriation of Mr. Tepper.”
John Babcock, a spokesman for Ablonczy, said Lebanon has never indicated that a request from Canada would provide the weight to return Tepper home.
“The Lebanese government has never communicated this information to the Government of Canada,” Babcock said. “Information we have received suggests that public profile and political grandstanding would not be in Mr. Tepper’s best interest at this point.”
Tepper was imprisoned March 23 as he arrived in Lebanon on a trade mission.
He has been held on allegations that some potatoes he exported to Algeria in 2007 were rotten.
An Interpol “red notice” that remains in place stating that the Algerian government called for his detention for the alleged use of a forged document to clear rotten food for sale for human consumption.
“I understand that often these things take time,” Mockler said. “But the window of opportunity here exists only for the time being.
“Eventually, the Lebanese minister of justice has a political decision to make and that is ‘what do I do with Mr. Tepper?’ I have a request for extradition from the Government of Algeria and I have nothing from the Government of Canada.’?”
New Brunswick Liberal Agriculture critic and Caraquet MLA Hédard Albert used part of question period in the legislature in Fredericton on Wednesday to call for Premier David Alward to assist in urging the federal government to act.
“I do not know how (much) higher you can go than directly to the prime minister of Canada,” Alward said. “I have done that on two occasions.” Alward said he has also contacted Tobique-Mactaquac MP Mike Allen after hearing of the new developments in the Tepper case.
“I have had communications with Mr. Allen as recently as within the last 24 hours,” Alward said on Wednesday. “The reality is that this is a very complex issue.
“I can assure the people of New Brunswick, Mr. Tepper’s family, and the community that the federal government is doing the work that it has to do.”
Ottawa’s help needed to free jailed potato farmer
Ottawa’s help needed to free jailed potato farmer
Henk Tepper could be released if Canada asks Lebanon, lawyer says
CBC News
Posted: Dec 13, 2011 6:38 PM ET
Last Updated: Dec 13, 2011 7:42 PM ET Read 81 comments81
The lawyer for a New Brunswick potato farmer who has been jailed in Lebanon for the past nine months says that a letter from Ottawa is all that’s needed to free his client.
Henk Tepper, 44, has been held in a Beirut prison since March. He was arrested in the Middle Eastern country under an international arrest warrant over allegations that he exported rotten potatoes to Algeria in 2007.
His lawyer, Jim Mockler, said he spoke to Lebanese Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi in Beirut on Tuesday and was told that Tepper’s case is now in the hands of the Lebanese government rather than the country’s court system.
Qortbawi “is in a position of making a political decision with respect to what to do with Mr. Tepper,” Mockler told CBC News by phone.
“There is an opportunity for the Government of Canada to act now to bring Henk home,” he said.
Tepper has not been charged with a crime, and maintains that he’s innocent. His lawyers argue that the potatoes were inspected in Canada and met Algerian standards.
The Canadian government has resisted getting involved in the case, saying that it doesn’t interfere in the judicial proceedings of other countries.
Mockler said he met with Qortbawi Tuesday afternoon, along with New Brunswick Senator Pierrette Ringuette and Ontario Senator Mac Harb.
Any decision to release the potato farmer would require the approval of the Lebanese president and prime minister, Mockler said.
Embassy officials informed
After the meeting, Mockler said he met with the Canadian ambassador to Lebanon and told her that Qortbawi needed a letter from the Canadian government in order to have Tepper returned to Canada.
“If a crime has been committed here, it would have been committed on Canadian soil and as a result a charge should be laid in Canada,” Mockler said.
John Babcock, a spokesperson for Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy, said officials weren’t yet clear on the type of letter the Lebanese government would require to release Tepper.
However, Canadian officials “continue to engage senior Lebanese authorities to register our interest in this case,” Babcock said.
Mockler and other Tepper supporters have been pressing the federal government for months to intervene in the case.
Tepper’s sister, Harmien Tepper-Dionne, visited him last month in Beirut and said that he’s lost weight and seemed mentally shaken.
Meanwhile, Tepper’s potato farming operation in New Brunswick remains under creditor protection. His other lawyers have said the family has until Friday to propose a plan to deal with $11 million in debt.
With files from the CBC’s Laurie Graham and The Canadian Press