For Immediate Release

Jaggi Singh faces 6 months of jail time for attending Harper press conference

-->Press point at Singh's bail hearing
Monday, November 27, 2:30pm
Montreal municipal court, 775 Gosford street
Room R-40

Contact: Louise-Caroline Bergeron, Block the Empire: 514-378-2511
Jared Will, Jaggi Singh's legal advisor: 514-806-6260

Montreal, November 27 - Well-known social justice activist Jaggi Singh is facing a potential 6 months in prison following his arrest at the Montreal General Hospital on Friday, November 24, just prior to a press conference by Stephen Harper. Singh was aggressively removed by Montreal police officers from the room where he and other anti-war organizers were waiting to ask Harper questions. The Crown is pushing to deny Singh bail on Monday, and keep him in preventative custody until May, at which point he would stand trial.

Singh and over two dozen other members of local anti-war group Block the Empire were on hand to raise the issues of Canada's ongoing occupation of Afghanistan, Harper's support for Israeli war crimes in Lebanon over the summer, and Conservative cutbacks to social programs for women and the poor. "Publicly challenging our elected leaders is a fundamental right in a democratic society. The fact that the crown wants to deny Jaggi Singh bail and hold him in jail for 6 months for simply attending a press conference is unjust and ridiculous," says Louise-Caroline Bergeron, a spokesperson for Block the Empire. Singh will have his bail hearing on Monday, November 27 at 2:30pm at the Montreal municipal court, 775 Gosford street, room R-40.

[ 27 November 2006: Message edited by: Fidel ]

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Originally posted by unionist:
Before I agree to "FREE JAGGI SINGH", I'd like to know what he was charged with.

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Any bets it was for carrying a concealed teddy bear soaked with perfume ?. Maybe a "whipped" cream pie ?

I can see it all now: conspiring to assault our colonial administrative head with a friendly or delicious weapon. Gotta hand it to Canada's security agents. Communists and pie throwing protesters don't stand a chance with the keystone cops on the job. Shawinigan handshakes, crackdowns on dissent, the two old line parties are a mirror image of the other.

[ 27 November 2006: Message edited by: Fidel ]

Jaggi Singh disrupts Harper press conference

Jaggi Singh arrested for criticizing presence in Afghanistan

The worst I can see in either account is that he and others were holding up a banner in the meeting room (they may have snuck in, but it's not clear), and they were chanting some slogans like "Harper out of Kandahar", plus criticizing Harper for bragging about his cancer program announcement while cutting funds to groups.

If that's why he was taken into custody, the cops should be fired en masse for toadying to Harper and Jaggi should get a medal.

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Maybe a "whipped" cream pie ?

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Originally posted by johnpauljones:
I seem to recall that Jaggi was arrested in April or May of this year. Could his bail conditions prevent him from attending press conferences?

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On Monday, a Montreal municipal court judge granted Singh bail on those charges, saying the man did not intend any violence against the prime minister, is not a criminal, and shouldn't be detained just because he's known as a protester.

Judge Pascal Pillarella also said keeping Singh behind bars would send the wrong message to the public.

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Well, no shit. It sounds like he didn't even get a chance to "disrupt the peace" which would have violated his parole. He was pre-emptively arrested. I'd also like to know how protesting is "disrupting the peace" anyway. I always thought it was exercizing my democratic rights.

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La Cour municipale a finalement conclu que les policiers n'avaient aucune raison de forcer Singh à les suivre à l'extérieur du bar pour l'arrêter.

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