by Robert LaFrance
What is wrong with this picture? Four or more answers will be accepted.
As we all know by now, last spring a potato farmer from Drummond went to the Middle East to try and find more markets for his potatoes. While in Lebanon, he was “detained”. Isn’t that a wonderful word, detained? In fact he was not only detained, but imprisoned, jailed, locked up, incarcerated, put behind bars, held captive, caged, put away, confined, but, by gar, he wasn’t arrested. No he wasn’t arrested. Isn’t that interesting when police use every word in the language except the one that really fits? Henk Tepper was ARRESTED.
Here’s the part where I ask what’s wrong with this picture. Number one, he has never been formally charged with anything, as far as I know, and yet he has been in a Lebanese jail since March. Good thing he wasn’t charged; they would have incarcerated (etc.) him and he would have spent those 245 or so days in a cell. Oh, wait a minute! He did.
My second ‘what’s wrong’ question is this: Since it was Algeria that wanted Henk Tepper arrested, why is he in a jail in Lebanon? Oh, yes, I know all about that Interpol garbage, but Interpol didn’t ‘detain’ him; it was the Lebanese police. Interpol agents have no powers of arrest. They just ‘suggest’ to the local police that they arrest so-and-so. After that, it’s up to that country to do what’s right. Lebanon, that bastion of peace, tranquillity, and justice.
My third ‘what’s wrong’ question is: where is the Canadian government? Before this incident, I may have felt a bit safe going to a foreign country – although NEVER the Middle East – because the Canadian government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs would be there if I needed help. Now I am nervous about going to Fort Fairfield. Just think, the government of Algeria might call Interpol who would call the Fort Fairfield chief of police who would arrest – excuse me, detain – me for spitting on the sidewalk in Mars Hill in 1997. After I had spent half my financial assets (approx. $36) on legal fees, I would then settle down to a long winter’s night of detainment. I couldn’t count on the Government of Canada to give me a hand, that’s for sure.
Let’s go back and look once again at Interpol. If you go to their website you will be impressed by how fair and careful they are. “Action is taken within the limits of existing laws in different countries and in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights…Interpol differs from most law-enforcement agencies—agents do not make arrests themselves, and there is no single Interpol jail where criminals are taken. The agency functions as an administrative liaison between the law-enforcement agencies of the member countries, providing communications and database assistance. This is vital when fighting international crime because language, cultural and bureaucratic differences can make it difficult for officers of different nations to work together.”
How impressive when it’s down there in black and white, but I looked further to see if I could find any indication that those Interpol agents followed up on the arrests – let’s quit using that foolish word ‘detain’ – and could find nothing. Apparently these paper pushers and computer nerds of Interpol just finger somebody, tell a country to arrest him, and then go on to the next major crisis involving potatoes, turnips, or the illegal border crossings by Dervishes in Kazakhstan. One can appreciate that countries need to cooperate in order to fight drug smuggling, money laundering, and suchlike, but when a guy spends 70% of a year (so far) in a dingy cell in Lebanon for allegedly selling underpar potatoes in Algeria, doesn’t anyone in authority notice?
This is rocket science I know, but it seems to me that if I were prime minister of Canada and one of my citizens were nabbed, jailed, etc. in Lebanon, the first thing I would do is phone Algiers, the capital of Algeria. I would say: “Look, Ab, (the Algerian president is Abdelaziz Bouteflika) let’s talk this over. We’ll do lunch on Thursday. Let’s both fly over to Valencia, Spain – it’s just a short hop for you and I need some warm weather – and deal with this. I need all the farmers – and their votes - I can get, and this one is a hard worker. Okay babe? I’ll see you then.”
Back to reality, now that there have been a couple of rallies for Henk and lots of headlines in the dailies, radio and TV, surely someone in Ottawa has noticed. Come on, guys, get your fingers out and get going. Get Henk Tepper back to Canada!
-end-
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