Support Gary Freeman - Events in Montreal

- Come find out who Gary Freeman is and why his extradition must be stopped. - Take action to support the campaign to keep Gary in Canada. ******************* --->Panel discussion Monday, January 16th, 7 p.m. Concordia University, School of Community and Public Affairs (SCPA), 2149 Mackay, 1st floor (metro Guy) Featuring Gary's wife Natercia Coelho, and Kaie Kellough of Kalmunity Vibe Collective (speaking and performing poetry written by Gary Freeman). --->Rally Tuesday, January 17th, 4 p.m.-6 p.m.  Justice Minister Irwin Cotler's riding office, 4770 Kent Ave., Suite 316 (metro Plamondon) --->Performance by Kalmunity Vibe Collective -- live organic improv Tuesday January 17th, 8:30 p.m. Sablo kafe, 50 St. Zotique E, corner St. Dominique (metro Beaubien) Natercia Coelho ( Gary's wife) will also be speaking this event (Kalmunity's weekly show). ************************* Background Douglas Gary Freeman (Joseph Pannell) is the subject of a United States extradition request stemming from a 1969 incident in Chicago in which a police officer was injured.  As has been stated in court, he is an innocent man who acted in self-defense. He was arrested on July 27, 2004, outside the Toronto Reference Library, where he worked as a library research assistant for the previous 14 years. He has been in custody since that time. The allegations relate to an incident which occurred over thirty-five years ago in the highly charged atmosphere of racial tension and police repression then present in the African American community of Chicago. After two years in pre-trial custody, Freeman was released on bail.  He left Chicago because he feared for his life.  He believed that he could not receive a fair trial. Irwin Cotler, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, has powers under the Extradition Act to refuse to make a surrender order for the extradition of Gary Freeman to the United States. There are significant inconsistencies, omissions, and contradictions in the evidence offered by the United States in support of the request for extradition. Furthermore, serious questions have been raised about the fundamental justice of the Extradition Act in relation to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Most alarmingly, there is a real possibility of retaliatory punishment due to the nature of the allegations, in particular by guards at Cook County Jail where a recent grand jury has found severe mistreatment of detainees, or at the hands of the Chicago police, whose patterns of abuse, including torture, of suspects in custody have been documented by the respected organization Human Rights Watch and others. Freeman and his wife met while they were working at Concordia's library and they have many family, friends and supporters in Montreal. We do not believe the best interests of justice would be served by uprooting him from his family and returning him to an uncertain fate in the United States. Come learn about the case and how you can support Gary Freeman and his family! Info:(514) 848-7583 noii-montreal@resist.ca Visit www.freemandrum.org for more details on Gary's case Endorsed by: Alfie Roberts Institute Black Coalition of Quebec Books to Prisoners Montreal Anarchist Black Cross Federation McGill Radical Law Community No One Is Illegal-Montreal Solidarity Across Borders