{"id":1416,"date":"2016-10-03T02:58:11","date_gmt":"2016-10-03T06:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=1416"},"modified":"2016-10-03T02:58:11","modified_gmt":"2016-10-03T06:58:11","slug":"canadas-illegal-witch-hunt-arthur-topham-trial-continues-monday-cafe-daily-report-by-e-mail-and-on-httpcafe-nfshost-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=1416","title":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s illegal witch-hunt: Arthur Topham trial continues Monday — CAFE DAILY REPORT BY E-MAIL AND ON http:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Canada\u2019s illegal witch-hunt: Arthur Topham trial continues Monday — <\/span>CAFE DAILY REPORT BY E-MAIL AND ON http:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

By\u00a0Denis G. Rancourt<\/a>\u00a0on October 1, 2016<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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\"Israel's<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s 2014 military attack on Gaza civilians<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In a shameful display of state hubris, Canada is using illegal concocted provisions of its\u00a0Criminal Code<\/em>\u00a0to prosecute a citizen for innocuous postings on a personal blog (The Radical Press<\/a><\/em>). The provisions allow a maximum 2-year prison sentence, where the state prosecutor (\u201cCrown\u201d) does not need to prove intent to harm or any actual harm to a single person. Intent and actual harm are not even relevant legal considerations in the proceeding. Both harm and intent are presumed.The said\u00a0Criminal Code<\/em>\u00a0provisions are straight out of the playbook of a totalitarian state.<\/p>\n

The show trial was separated into two parts, despite the objections of the accused. In the first part the accused was found criminally guilty, for one blogpost, while not guilty for the other blogpost of the Crown\u2019s charge. In the second part, which is scheduled to start tomorrow Monday October 3rd, the constitutionality of the law is being challenged on limited grounds. Any sentencing will be decided after the ruling on constitutionality.<\/p>\n

The process of thus dividing the show trial into two parts is equivalent to first determining that the witch is guilty of blasphemy or worst, followed by a hearing to determine if burning at the stake in the town square is still within the bounds of community standards, rather than evaluating the legitimacy of the law at the same time (and before the same jury) that the nature of the \u201coffense\u201d is evaluated.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the \u201cdefendant\u201d was gagged from identifying the original complainants (the usual crew) but allowed to continue blogging about the process until a conviction is finally secured, and has mounted a funding campaign for the expensive constitutional challenge.<\/p>\n

These kinds of show-trial proceedings and the associated media assaults are attempts to create a false impression of a victimized Israel, to shield the apartheid state from international condemnation for its on-going violations of the Geneva Conventions, illegal annexation, constant violations of human rights, and mass-murder \u201cmowing of the grass\u201d in Gaza. Israel wants a free hand to continuously expand by the same criminal methods it has used for decades. Therefore, when successful, the domestic show trials (most prominent in Canada, France, and Germany) are geopolitical in character by virtue of Israel\u2019s leading role in US interference in the Middle East, with Canada and France as lead accompanying sycophant states.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA<\/a>) has defended Arthur Topham against the state\u2019s attack on freedom of thought and expression with\u00a0several interventions<\/a>. OCLA applies the principle that those who\u2019s views are most at odds with orthodoxy and who are most aggressively attacked using the state apparatus are those most in need of civil defense.<\/p>\n

The OCLA\u2019s 2014 on-line\u00a0petition to the state authority<\/a>\u00a0gathered over 1,400 signatures. OCLA also, in 2015,\u00a0intervened by letter<\/a>\u00a0against other \u201ccivil liberties\u201d associations that adopted a statement that harmed Mr. Topham\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

This year, OCLA intervened prior to the constitutional part of the trial by sending\u00a0a letter directly to the trial judge<\/a>, with all the state actors in cc. OCLA\u2019s letter, reproduced below, spells out the illegal character of the criminal law being used in this particular show trial and witch hunt:<\/p>\n