ZGram - 5/22/2003 - "PREPARE TO BE SHOCKED!"

[zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org]

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny:  Now More Than Ever!

May 22, 2003

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

Finally I got some news about what happened to my husband - and it is 
shocking news!  I sensed it all along!

Below are two items - One is a write-up from Paul Fromm, Ernst's 
legal representative when Attorney Doug Christie can't be there. 
Yesterday, Paul finally succeeded in talking to Ernst, whereas many 
others tried, and failed.  His report speaks for itself.

Secondly, I am sending you what looks like a mainstream media list of 
important contacts.  I don't know how old this list is, but it is the 
best I have. 

Send them this ZGram.  Be prepared for some rejects and some blasts 
and insults.  No matter!  At least some of this story is going to 
filter through so others can be informed.

Later in the day, there will be more.  For now, please get busy and 
ship this to as many, many sources as you can.

Paul Fromm here:

[START]

ZUNDEL BEING PUNISHED FOR PROTESTING CSIS INVOLVEMENT IN
   ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

Dear Free Speech Supporter:

	Prepare to be shocked.  I was.

	Today, after four days of bureaucratic hoop-jumping I got to visit
political prisoner Ernst Zundel as his legal representative. The news is
not good. He's being kept in degrading, mediaeval conditions in an effort
to punish him for speaking out against CSIS.

	On Sunday, May 18, just back from a speaking trip to 
Winnipeg, I picked up
two desperate phone messages from Ingrid Rimland, Ernst Zundel's wife. He
had disappeared. She did not know where he was being kept. He'd been moved
from the Niagara Region Detention Centre. He had not been allowed the use
of a phone for 48 hours. She had just learned he was now in the Metro West
Detention Centre, near Toronto International Airport.

	I raced up to the Metro West Detention Centre. Ushered inside, I was
eventually met by Mr. Verrinder, the Shift Supervisor. No, I couldn't see
Mr. Zundel. I would have to be cleared by security. He was a "special"
prisoner,  Mr. Verrinder informed me. I could call security 416-675-1806,
Ext.4220 to be cleared. However, being Sunday, no one was there. The next
day, Victoria Day, was another holiday and no one answered the phone in
"security."

	I asked Mr. Verrinder whether Mr. Zundel was allowed 
newspapers or a pen.
"I'm not prepared to share that information with you," this public servant
told me. I then asked to see Mr. Zundel as a friend, rather than as a legal
representative.

	All visitors had to be cleared, I was told. And, of course, 
there was no
one available to clear me.

	This morning, I learned that, being a special prisoner, Ernst Zundel
cannot receive visitors during normal visiting hours. I hastened to the
prison for 11:30 -- normal visiting hours start at 12:30.

	After a long wait, I was advised that they had brought Mr. 
Zundel to the
interrview room. I talked with him by phone with a thick glass separating
us. Ernst looked pale in contrast to his bright oranger prison jumpsuit. He
had a thick white beard stubble. I learned that he had been denied a razor
since he got there on Friday. He asked for a razor again today and was
told, "maybe tomorrow."

	Ernst was his usual brave self, but is clearly taken aback by 
the mindless
callousness of a system intended to break its "special" prisoners. Most of
his few possessions are kept outside his cell in the hall. When he goes to
the toilet (inside) his cell, for instance, he must call for a guard to
hand him his soap and a towel. The guard may or may not come. "Surely," Mr.
Zundel says, with practical German peasant common sense, "this sort of
delay is unsanitary, when people are worried about SARS and other
diseases." He's not allowed soap or a towel in his cell. Toilet paper is
rice-paper thin squares about 2' x 3'. If you get diarrhoea, you're out of
luck. To clean your hands, you must summon a guard and let all the other
prisoners know your humiliation.

	When he wants to brush his teeth, he must ask a guard to hand him his
toothbrush, which sits outside his cell. For the rest of the time, his
toothbrush sits in the hall with the dust. "This cannot be sanitary," Mr.
Zundel remarks.

	Any movement outside his cell requires the "special" 
treatment. "Security
has never been tighter," he says. "I always have an officer and two guards
when I leave my cell for a shower or to make a phone call," he reports.

	He has almost no privileges and has still not been informed 
of prisoner's
rights. I asked Mr. Verrinder for a statement of those rights on Sunday. I
was told that Ernst would have to request them. He's received nothing. This
morning, he asked to make a phone call. "I was told, 'Maybe tomorrow,'" he
said.

	When I arrived at the prison, I looked up Security Director 
Mike Richard
in order to arrange for Mr. Zundel to have the five volumes of support
documents on which the CSIS reports in his detention case are based.
Richard said they'd be kept outside his cell and that he'd have to ask for
them one by one. I had asked Richard about pens, papers and other supplies.
  Richard said Ernst could get them from the canteen. However, canteen
orders go in on Sunday to be delivered later in the week. Mr. Zundel had
been told nothing about his right to order things.

	Mr. Zundel has asked for his Inmate Classification. This is the
institution's assessment of him -- dangerous, model, whatever. This
assessment can be appealed. It's his right to have access to this document,
according to the Solicitor-General. Thus far, he's received no response to
his request.

	His legal documents are all in a box out in the hall outside 
his cell. "In
Niagara, I had access to phone calls, almost at will. Here, I'm very much
impeded with little phone access."

	Most guards are brusque and unhelpful, he reports.

	Compared to the Niagara Regional Detention Centre, the food 
is scarce and
poor. Sometimes there's no butter. In Niagara, there was always a cup of
coffee and sweets at night. In Metro West, there's nothing. "It's one third
the rations and poorer quality than the food in Thorold," Mr. Zundel told me.

	The administration keeps up a campaign of isolation and harassment.
Communication with the higher prison authorities must be in writing on
prescribed "request forms." Mr. Zundel has asked for such forms since
Saturday but has still not been provided with any.

	Last week, 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 shjows that CSIS knew that the pipebomb was coming to Zundel and did
nothing to prevent it or to  warn or protect him.

	Last week, there was a flurry of activity among the 
administration in the
Niagara Region Detention Centre. Within a day, Mr. Zundel was transferred.
The transfer and the severe restrictions "are punishment and retribution,"
Mr. Zundel says.

	However, Ernst Zundel is not discouraged. We discussed several daring
legal plans. Canada has not heard the last of Ernst Zundel. As the great
English poet John Milton wrote: "Iron bars do no a prison make."

	Friends of free thought, Ernst Zundel really needs your help.

	1. If you live abroad, write to the Canadian Embassy in your 
country and
demand Zundel's release and humane treatment.

	2. If you live in southern Ontario and wish to visit, call ahead to
Security: 416-675-1806 Ext. 4220. You must be on Zundel's approved list. He
didn't know he was supposed to submit a list of visitors he'd like to see.
You can also get directions, when you call.

	3. No matter where you live, why not send a card or letter to encourage
Ernst Zundel. Write Prisoner Ernst Zundel, c/o Metro West Detention Centre,
111 Disco Road, Rexdale, ON., M9W 1M3.

	4. We also need your financial support for Mr. Zundel's defence.

	We have a number of delicate colour-pencil sketches by Ernst 
Zundel done
in prison. Each is dated and signed. Each is a nature study. Mr. Zundel has
long been a paint and sketch artist. He had returned to his love of art
before the U.S. I.N.S picked him up and deported him.
.
	If you send us a cheque for $100 or more, we'll send you one of these
collector's items, a thank you sketch by political prisoner Ernst Zundel.

	Mail your donation today to CAFE Box 332, Rexdale, ON., M9W 
5L3, Canada or
e-mail us your VISA number and expiry date. On your cheque or an
accompanying piece of paper, note: "For Zundel Defence Fund."

					Paul Fromm
					Director
				CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION

p.s. Today, May 22, is Ingrid Rimland's birthday. Miss Rimland has been
incredibly brave and determined during the detention of her husband. Happy
Birthday, Ingrid. Supporters may wish to e-mail her their best wishes:
irimland at zundelsite.org

[END]

=====

Below is the media list.  

                                                                                                                                                                                   2020 at abc.com,
48hours at cbsnews.com,
atc at npr.org,
borders at nytimes.com,
brownj at csps.com,
bruce_hallett at timeinc.com,
buster at startribune.com,
chicha1 at email.msn.com,
cmccoy at phillynews.com,
cnn.feedback at cnn.com,
Colmes at foxnews.com,
comments at foxnews.com,
copy at pa.press.net,
crosenthal at brillscontent.com,
daily at timeinc.net,
dateline at nbc.com,
drudge at drudgereport.com,
ebrecher at herald.com,
ed_mccarrick at timeinc.com,
edit at parentsknow.com,
editor at usatoday.com,
editor at villagevoice.com,
editor88 at cbs.com,
editors at interactive.wsj.com,
evening at cbsnews.com,
feedback at brillscontent.com,
foxnewsnow at foxnews.com,
Foxnewsonline at foxnews.com,
hannity at foxnews.com,
HeraldEd at herald.com,
Hotshots at foxnews.com,
hwinfo at healthy.net,
info at cnbc.com,
Jepstein at sfchronicle.com,
JGONZALEZ at EDIT.NYDAILYNEWS.COM,
letters at latimes.com,
letters at newsweek.com,
letters at time.com,
letters at usnews.com,
LI at newsday.com,
lloyd at phillynews.com,
magazine at nytimes.com,
matthewturck at timeinc.com,
maureen_mcallister at timeinc.com,
metro at rockymountainnews.com,
mfowler at bostonmagazine.com,
michaelbarber at seattle-pi.com,
mojowire at motherjones.com,
morning at npr.org,
MSNBCInvestigates at msnbc.com,
netaudr at abc.com ,
news at cambridge-reporter.com,
news at channel4.com,
news at startribune.com,
newshen at bellatlantic.net,
newshour at pbs.org,
newsroom at denverpost.com,
nightly at nbc.com,
niteline at abc.com ,
nwong at sjmercury.com,
nytnews at nytimes.com,
ombudsman at npr.org,
ombudsman at washpost.com,
ombudsman at washpost.com,
on-air at turner.com,
opinion at seattletimes.com,
opinion at startribune.com,
oreilly at foxnews.com,
President at nytimes.com,
publisher at nytimes.com,
randolph at nytimes.com,
Regan at foxnews.com,
sspears at sptimes.com,
tabate at sfchronicle.com,
TheNews at msnbc.com,
tldp at olympus.net,
today at nbc.com,
trock at newsday.com,
Vin_Suprynowicz at lvrj.com,
voicers at edit.nydailynews.com,
weekendtoday at nbc.com,
world at msnbc.com,