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Free Speech Setback -- Brad Love Convicted on all Seven Counts of
"Breach of Probation"

NEWMARKET, May 28, 2012. Will the Canadian judicial system send an
inveterate letter-writer back to prison for expressing his opinions in
apparent contravention of a judge's probation order that might have
served as a model for the Red Chinese for silencing dissent? The
answer must wait until a sentencing hearing on Friday, July 13.

Former political prisoner Brad Love was convicted on all seven counts
today in provincial court this morning for breach of probation. Two of
the charges dealt with failure to report in person to his probation
officer in Ontario after Mr. Love moved to Alberta to take a job in
the oilpatch in the Spring of 2006. However, five of the charges dealt
with packages of material Mr. Love had mailed to the York University
Students' Union, Hillel, the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith
and the Canadian Jewish Congress in conjunction with End Israeli
Apartheid Week in March, 2008.

The charges stemmed from a February 13, 2006 order by now retired Mr.
Justice Hogg who ordered three years probation for the letter-writing
dissident. One condition, that effectively gagged Mr. Love from
expressing his political opinions, ordered Mr. Love not to send any
material by mail, FAX, electronically or in person to anyone, except
by request. Thus, even a letter of complaint to a credit card company
for a disputed charge might be a breach.

Madam Justice Kelly Wright rejected Mr. Love's evidence that he had
called the five groups and said he'd read some of their recent views
and asked for permission to send them his own. All, he testified, gave
him permission. However, the judge stretched the words of the ruling
even further and ruled "permission would have to have been directed
to him perersonally. In his calls he did not provide his name or a
description of the type of material he would be sending."

One observer in Court commented after the judgement that the judge had
"bared her fangs" today.

She said: "I am unable to place any weight on Mr. Love's evidence."
She denounced his manner, "his disrespect of court and the justice
system, his attitude of impertinence."

While noting that "the content of the material [sent by Mr. Love to
Hillel] is not relevant," she immediately denounced it as "offensive
and anti-Semitic."

The Crown indicated she'd be seeking a prison sentence. A
pre-sentencing report will be prepared and the case goes back to Court
July 13 for a setencing hearing.

Mr. Love was first convicted under Canada's notorious "hate law" (Sec.
319 of the Criminal Code) in 2003 for sending non-violent letters
critical of immigration to some 20 politicians. His parole conditions
were successively tightened from not writing to those 20 politicians,
to not writing to any elected official, to Mr. Justivce Hogg's
ferocious prohibition against writing to anyone, presumably even his
own friends, without their express consent.

Outside the Court a disgusted Paul Fromm of the Canadian Associsation
for Free Expression, which has championed Mr. Love in his eight year
ordeal, said: "A couple of weeks ago the press featured wall to wall
coverage of Chen Guangcheng the blind Chinese dissident who was being
kept under house arrest for his outspoken political views. The press
cheered as he somehow managed to scale a six-foot wall, walk several
miles to meet an associate to be spirited away and then seek shelter
at the U.S. Embassy in Peking."

"Yet, the Canadian press has studiously ignored Mr. Love's plight,"
Mr. Fromm charged. "Once again as free speech is being butchered," the
press is nowhere to be found. There is no difference between Mr. Chen
and Brad Love. Both men have criticized politically powerful elements
in their society and both have suffered punishment and state efforts
to gag and silence them."

"Somehow," Mr. Fromm, who has told the Brad Love story to incredulous
U.S. audiences, concluded, "our press finds it easier to expose and
denounce the silencing of dissent when it occurs on the other side of
the world than when it occurs right here at home."

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Free Speech Setback -- Brad Love Convicted on all Seven Counts of "Breach of Probatio

Written by Paul Fromm

Tuesday, 29 May 2012 09:46

*Free Speech Setback -- Brad Love Convicted on all Seven Counts of "Breach
of Probation"*
**
* NEWMARKET**, May 28, 2012*. Will the Canadian judicial system send an
inveterate letter-writer back to prison for expressing his opinions in
apparent contravention of a judge's probation order that might have served
as a model for the Red Chinese for silencing dissent? The answer must wait
until a sentencing hearing on Friday, July 13.

Former political prisoner Brad Love was convicted on all seven counts today
in provincial court this morning for breach of probation. Two of the
charges dealt with failure to report in person to his probation officer in
Ontario after Mr. Love moved to Alberta to take a job in the oilpatch in
the Spring of 2006. However, five of the charges dealt with packages of
material Mr. Love had mailed to the York University Students' Union,
Hillel, the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith and the Canadian Jewish
Congress in conjunction with End Israeli Apartheid Week in March, 2008.

The charges stemmed from a February 13, 2006 order by now retired Mr.
Justice Hogg who ordered three years probation for the letter-writing
dissident. One condition, that effectively gagged Mr. Love from expressing
his political opinions, ordered Mr. Love not to send any material by mail,
FAX, electronically or in person to anyone, except by request. Thus, even a
letter of complaint to a credit card company for a disputed charge might be
a breach.

Madam Justice Kelly Wright rejected Mr. Love's evidence that he had called
the five groups and said he'd read some of their recent views and asked for
permission to send them his own. All, he testified, gave him permission.
However, the judge stretched the words of the ruling even further and ruled
"permission would have to have been directed to him perersonally. In his
calls he did not provide his name or a description of the type of material
he would be sending."

One observer in Court commented after the judgement that the judge had
"bared her fangs" today.

She said: "I am unable to place any weight on Mr. Love's evidence." She
denounced his manner, "his disrespect of court and the justice system, his
attitude of impertinence."

While noting that "the content of the material [sent by Mr. Love to Hillel]
is not relevant," she immediately denounced it as "offensive and
anti-Semitic."

The Crown indicated she'd be seeking a prison sentence. A pre-sentencing
report will be prepared and the case goes back to Court July 13 for a
sentencing hearing.

Mr. Love was first convicted under Canada's notorious "hate law" (Sec. 319
of the Criminal Code) in 2003 for sending non-violent letters critical of
immigration to some 20 politicians. His parole conditions were successively
tightened from not writing to those 20 politicians, to not writing to*
any*elected official, to Mr. Justivce Hogg's ferocious prohibition
against
writing to anyone, presumably even his own friends, without their express
consent.

Outside the Court a disgusted Paul Fromm of the Canadian Associsation for
Free Expression, which has championed Mr. Love in his eight year ordeal,
said: "A couple of weeks ago the press featured wall to wall coverage of
Chen Guangcheng the blind Chinese dissident who was being kept under house
arrest for his outspoken political views. The press cheered as he somehow
managed to scale a six-foot wall, walk several miles to meet an associate
to be spirited away and then seek shelter at the U.S. Embassy in Peking."

"Yet, the Canadian press has studiously ignored Mr. Love's plight," Mr.
Fromm charged. "Once again as free speech is being butchered," the press is
nowhere to be found. There is no difference between Mr. Chen and Brad
Love. Both men have criticized politically powerful elements in their
society and both have suffered punishment and state efforts to gag and
silence them."

"Somehow," Mr. Fromm, who has told the Brad Love story to incredulous U.S.
audiences, concluded, "our press finds it easier to expose and denounce the
silencing of dissent when it occurs on the other side of the world than
when it occurs right here at home."

Sign Petition to Protest British Columbia Legislation to Impose Police State Gags on

Written by Paul Fromm

Monday, 28 May 2012 04:45

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