Canadian political prisoner was detained for pressing genocide incitement charges against ex-PM Harper
An image of Andrew Abbass.
Written by: Marthad Umucyaba
An early pro-Palestine Canadian political prisoner says his 2015 detention, under the pretext of being psychologically unwell, came in retaliation for his Palestine advocacy. After South African doctors ordered the release of Andrew Abbass six days later, a pro-Palestine activist, he launched a lawsuit of false imprisonment, and continues to seek criminal charges against Stephen Harper and the Canadian government.
Revelations have also been made by The Breach about Stephen Harper’s involvement in AWZ Ventures, the company involved in the development of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is used by the Israeli Air Force to facilitate the NATO ethnic cleansing plan in Palestine. Stephen Harper is currently an investing partner and the sitting President of the Advisory Committee.
Meanwhile, just this month, Harper received the “defender of Israel” award from the Abraham Global Peace Initiative, a Zionist organisation which advocates for a “peaceful” ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. Harper is also notably the chairman of the International Democracy Union, a collection of right and far-right parties that include Netanyahu’s Likud Party, the party front and center in the Israeli genocide.
What led to Andrew Abbass’ arrest
Andrew Abbass was disgusted by the shameful conduct of then-Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in 2014. At the time, in Abbass’ view, Harper had committed incitement to genocide. He immediately pressed charges in July 2014 after seeing the Conservative Party advertisement that voiced support for Israel’s Operation Protective Edge, which used Harper’s comments from January 2014 to support the Operation.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) rejected the charges in August 2014. After this occurred, Abbass filed, in December 2014, a Notice of Constitutional Question with the Attorney General of Newfoundland and Labrador and Attorney General of Canada. The Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Conservative Party’s local section, was notably in power during the time.
The situation escalated and led to an arrest when Don Dunphy, a disabled activist in the region, was shot by police on a visit to Dunphy’s house due to Dunphy’s public criticism against the state and criticism of Canada’s eugenics policy towards the disabled. Then-Premier, Paul Davis, threatened to increase surveillance on any social media that mentioned the shooting. In defiance of Davis’ threat, Abbass issued an inflammatory tweet while upset about Dunphy’s death, which prompted the arrest under the Mental Health Care and Treatment Act. Abbass was detained under a false pretext for six days, beginning on April 7, 2015, two days before there was to be a court hearing triggered by Abbass pressing charges against Harper, and eventually given an absolute discharge. Abbass was not allowed to attend the hearing.
Don Dunphy and Andrew Abbass’ remarks were not used in the recent defense of his detainment by the RNC. In fact, Abbass said the RNC Public Complaints Commission’s adjudication revealed, a few weeks ago, that the basis for Abbass' detainment under MHCTA was Abbass' decision to charge Harper with incitement to genocide. This would mean they engaged in reprisal using the MHCTA as a pretext. Abbass has several court cases ongoing, including one at the Human Rights Tribunal.
Genocide ignored by the CBC
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)’s anti-Palestinian and pro-colonial bias in media coverage is well known. However, the hypocrisy was uniquely shameful in Andrew Abbass’ case because CBC deliberately cooperated with the state to cover up what Andrew Abbass was trying to expose about Stephen Harper’s incitement to genocide. In fact, even eight years after the incident, the context is virtually still buried, when Andrew Abbass’ name was mentioned in the article. Then-Prime Minister Harper, in a timed rebuttal to the UN’s 2014 declaration of solidarity with Palestine, spoke at the Israeli Knesset and used a tactic known as Accusation in a Mirror by the UN.
Harper further added to his crimes by issuing a Conservative Party advertisement during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge that declared full support for it, an act of ethnic cleansing with outrageous crimes that included the use of an Israeli gun boat on Palestinian children playing on the beach. The CBC downplayed the criminal implications of what was done and simply focused on Abbass’ unjust detainment.
Abbass’ court battle
Abbass could only initiate his lawsuit for wrongful imprisonment in 2017. Up until then, the lower courts in Newfoundland and Labrador had dismissed his initial application, which was under Haebeus Corpus in 2015. An appeal was filed shortly thereafter. In 2017, the dismissal was overturned and Abbass was finally allowed to seek redress. In a 2017 decision, the three judges’ joint comments echoed the absurdity of his detainment.
“If anger about political events and words of defiance to authorities are dealt with as signs of mental illness, a fortiori mental illness warranting involuntary committal, then our society is in a dangerous place.”
In 2018, at the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, after the three judges had sent the Haebeus Corpus case back there to be heard, a single judge ruled that Abbass was wrongfully detained.
Abbass has the denied portions of his claims ongoing and wants to expand his case to include all circumstances of his detainment, including the province’s admitted reprisal for charging Harper with incitement to genocide, opening the avenue for Harper to be held liable for past and current criminal behaviour, especially at Awz Ventures. He is also looking for possible political interference which would support the reprisal allegation against the Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador. The inner workings of the program are still under investigation, and discovering the details of how this AI works will increase the evidence that could be used against Israel and their collaborators, including every partner of Awz Ventures, notably Stephen Harper.
‘Mental illness’ could become a viable route for the Canadian government to establish a pretext to detain anti-NATO opposition within the country. The state, along with the companies that rule the state, already restrict job opportunities for anti-NATO opposition, directly threatening such individuals’ livelihood to the point that they might be dependent on government services. Many oligarchs, including Kevin O’Leary, have already made this threat.
There’s even a psychology study in a book known as “A Concise Introduction of Mental Health in Canada, Third Edition” that cited Abbass’ cases with the government as an example of how mental health legislation can be used as a tool of social control.
If an educated, downtrodden individual would continue to be active politically against NATO, and lacked the resources to defend themselves, detaining them for “mental health” reasons could still be a viable strategy for NATO countries in the future.
Marthad Shingiro Umucyaba (formerly referred to as Christian Shingiro) is a Rwandan-born naturalized Canadian expat. He is known for his participation in Communist/anti-imperialist national and international politics and is the radio show host of The Socially Radical Guitarist.
He is also a freelance web developer in Hong Kong, China, striving to provide “Socially Radical Web Design at a socially reasonable price”.
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