ZGram - 6/25/2003 - "Why are our foes so jittery?"

[zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org]

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

June 25, 2003

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

That the "shadowy ones" are increasingly nervous about Ernst Zundel's 
legal moves, imprisoned though he is and savagely restricted in 
contact with the outside, can be glimpsed by the Paul Fromm summary 
below:

[START]

Dear Free Speech Supporter:

	Elinor Caplan's Stasi, her thought police, Customs Canada are out of
control.

	I frequently travel to the U.S. and for the past four months am ALWAYS
pulled over for a secondary inspection. Often the nameless operatives --
like minions in any authoritarian state, these cowards refuse to identify
themselves -- paw through my luggage and papers, carefully scrutinizing
NATIONAL POST or GLOBE AND MAIL clippings for signs of what?

	On June 11, I returned from Washington, D.C., where I had addressed a
dinner meeting of the Council of Conservative Citizens. One of my topics,
ironically, had been Canada's Customs thought police. In Canada, thought
control begins at the border. Another topic had been the persecution of
publisher and political prisoner Ernst Zundel.

	When I was hauled over for my routine secondary inspection, I 
was told by
a middle aged nameless agent that, as I had previous material seized, I
would be examined every time for six years. (Oh, why not make it seven, or
is that a lucky number? I thought.)

	I was carrying several papers having to do with Ernst 
Zundel's case. I act
as his legal representative. I was also bringing back a six-page personal
testimony by a U.S. professor about Mr. Zundel that might be submitted in
his upcoming hearing.

	I asked the middle aged agent to see his superior. 
Eventually, Suzie Satin
Curls, a dumpy middle aged woman with a large mop of tight black curls,
came over. I told her I was a legal representative and had legal papers, as
well as several of my personal medical files, and asked that these not be
examined.

	"We just want to inspect your briefcase," she said.

	"But that's the point," I explained. "These are confidential and
privileged papers and I don't want them looked at."

	With dogged brainlessness, she insisted they just wanted to 
take a look. I
then asked for her name. The gutless "supervisor" said: "I will not reveal
that information."

	So, the snooping continued. The professor's statement was taken away,
perhaps to be photocopied by Caplan's Stasi. Eventually, it was returned. I
was asked by another nameless snoop whether I would be publishing the
professor's testiomonial. "I have no plans to," I answered, "but if used in
Court, it might well form part of the transcript."

	He again asked whether I would be publishing it, having decided in his
cursory examination, that it was contraband. Reluctantly, on the
understanding that I was not about to rush it into print, it was returned
to me.

	However, the thought police kept 2 audio casettes of Doug 
Christie's talk
"The Zundel Case & Why Freedom is Essential to Be Human" (London, May 3, 2003)
and nine copies of an information sheet about the Zundel case "'Free Ernst
Zundel, Political Prisoner' Protesters Demand in Toronto", a report on the
June 1 protest for Ernst Zundel. These were "detained" -- I told them I
considered it theft -- as they were "suspected of constituting hate
propaganda," I was told in a notice from Agent #19336, whoever that is.

							Paul Fromm
							Director
						CANADIAN ASSOCIATION 
FOR FREE EXPRESSION

[END]

Zundelsite comment:

Simultaneously I received a letter from Ernst, referring to our 
various legal initiatives:

"I agree with you.  We should give it our all, here as well as there. 
Since they are so paranoid about me being in contact with the press, 
that's obviously the weakness in Ottawa's case.  They know what they 
are doing to me is totally unethical and unfair, and they know that 
an experienced investigative reporter will see through it within half 
an hour, once he gets all the loose ends explained by me.  Thus the 
fear!...

"I will send you a list of the inconveniences caused by being 
incarcerated and trying to prepare and file papers for court...In 
Canada, there are only pencils allowed to prisoners, which means - 
since pencils can be erased - your signatures are able to be erased. 
An important point when trying to write a motion, a deposition, even 
a will.  [Such documents] are not legal! 

"No access to a photocopier - only through an attorney, notary or 
legal agent on the outside.  Guards, Ltnts., or Captns. have to look 
[through] and okay each document before it is given by them to the 
agent through a security officer, who checks it, too. 

"No carbon paper allowed to make copies of any handwritten letters or 
documents...Only sporadic access to phone - at the whim of guards 
and/or captns in my case, since the guard alone cannot allow me 
access to the phone by himself, it seems (...)

"No highlighters.  No felt markers of any kind.  No scissors.  No 
scotch tape.  No post-it notes.  No rubber bands.  No paper clips. 
No stapler.  No folders.  No filing means of any kind.  No 
extra-large envelopes to send legal documents plus exhibits.  No 
different color papers to separate files.  No plastic tabs to 
identify legal documents (...)

"I have no chair in front of my mounted-against-the-wall metal desk, 
thus write kneeling on a pile of transcripts or standing up, or lying 
down on my bed, propped up on my elbow.  I have no decent dictionary 
- the prison one does not even have "guru" in it - no Thesaurus, no 
access to a typewriter, computer, scanner or printer.  No access to a 
law library.  No Criminal Code.  No Constitution or Bill of Rights. 
Thus no chance to look up and cite precedents etc.

"To reach my lawyers is even more cumbersome than to reach you 
because I cannot call collect to a cell phone in America or Canada. 
Lawyers don't like the idea that our client-attorney is violated by 
the prison phone monitoring. 

"In Canada, even outgoing prisoners' mail has to be given open to the 
censors or guards.  I can only call pre-approved phone numbers which 
the security chiefs decide.  They are paranoid about any contact I 
may have with the media."

Some paranoia there!   I wonder why!   Could it be that CSIS 
foreknowledge about the parcel bomb sent to the Zundel-Haus is 1995? 

Remember the letter I faxed to SIRC at Ernst's request, asking this 
alleged "Watch Dog" agency, SIRC, to look into the parcel bomb 
matter? 

Here is how they responded, as Ernst relayed it to me and for our archives:

"Yesterday I got the first response from SIRC - a letter which will 
go down in history, for it is unequalled in haughtiness, verbiage, 
obfuscation.  But they do admit that they are "familiar with the book 
and the allegations made therein,"  which will sound interesting to a 
police investigative team, or a judge, once they begin to delve into 
this issue. 

[For new readers, the book referred to is COVERT ENTRY by 
investigative reporter Andrew Mitrovica who documents CSIS's 
extraordinary involvement in all sort of shady business, including 
having knowledge of a parcel bomb that traveled on several passenger 
planes and was meant to kill Ernst Zündel...)"

The SIRC letter says this, for the record:

[START]

File No: 1170/ZUND/95            June 5, 2003

Dear Mr. Zundel -

This will acknowledge receipt of your correspondence dated May 14, 
2003.  Your suggestion for a SIRC review has been duly noted.  The 
Committee is familiar with the book you cited and the allegations 
made therein.

A significant component of the Security Intelligence Review 
Committee's legal obligation to review CSIS's performance of its 
duties and functions takes the form of research projects.  The 
Committee selects particular areas for review, taking into 
consideration such factors as the nature of the threat environment, 
the need to follow up on past reviews or issues arising from 
complaints, significant events and areas of particular interest to 
individual members.  The approved reviews are then carried out by 
SIRC staff under the direction of the Committee.  Respecting limits 
imposed by individual privacy rights and national security concerns, 
the Committee produces an annual report to  Parliament detailing the 
activities of the Committee in the preceding fiscal year.

While the Committee welcomes correspondence from the public 
identifying or suggesting areas for review, the decision on the 
projects to be undertaken rests solely with the committee members.

(Signed) Susan Pollack, Executive Director
PO Box 2430, Station "D"
Ottawa, ON KIP 5W5
Tel:  613-990-8441
Fax:  613-990-5230

[END]

Can anybody read between the lines?

Ernst continues:

"I just wanted you to get this letter safely.  I will check with you 
how long this letter is delayed in the mail.  There are now at least 
7 to 8 very important and interesting topic letters that are simply 
gone.  I will reconstruct some for you in due course because you wold 
have liked these topics since they cover stuff in history only I know 
and was privy to."

For the record, Ernst's letter took 10 days, but at least it reached 
me and gives not only us a glance about what's going on and what the 
future might yet reveal - it is important for future times, for it 
shows how SIRC views its priorities.  Remember that it wasn't just 
Ernst who received a parcel bomb - there were four or five sent in 
the mail within a span of a few days, and the two punks fingered by 
the RCMP in this incident and put in jail for a brief period, were 
let go because of "national security" concerns.  Ever since, the 
records have been sealed.  A third young woman  - last name Rubin - 
was arrested also but, tellingly, not charged. 

All that is percolating in the files - and in some people's memories. 
Almost certainly, there are RCMP staffers who know more than was 
revealed in the official papers.  One of these days, they might come 
forward and tell all.

=====

On the legal front in the United States, several important documents 
have now been filed.  The government has asked for a 30-day extension 
for their reply brief.  Their time will be up in the third week of 
July.  Incidentally, Ernst commented on the timing, saying that it 
could well be that yet another Zundel case will go the Supreme Court 
route - THIS TIME SIMULTANEOUSLY IN TWO ADJACENT COUNTRIES!

Inquiring minds want to know:  Why on earth didn't they leave him 
alone?!  On his own, he would never have started this latest - but 
being forced to fight, he's going to give it his best!

Stay tuned! 

=====