Full Thread: Arthur Topham (Canada)
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Old November 9th, 2012 #11
Alex Linder
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[Paul Fromm]

Another Dissident Victim: Arthur Topham Charged With "Hate" for Internet Postings

Make no mistake about it: It's dangerous to be a strong critic of Israel in Canada. The long arm of political Zionism reaches deep within governments in Canada. A once free nation was saddled with the "hate law", Sec. 319 of the Criminal Code, after more than 30 years of lobbying by the Canadian Jewish Congress.

The process works this way, as lawyer Doug Christie has frequently explained: demonize, ostracize, then criminalize. The victim is the subject of a series of one-sided press articles. Friends and potential allies shy away, thinking "I don't want my name associated with things like that. I can't afford publicity like what he's getting." Now, vilified and isolated, the friendless victim is marched off to court for his final destruction. Notice in the National Post and Sun Media articles below, Mr. Topham is never interviewed nor is a spokesman say, for a free speech organization like CAFE.

Arthur Topham has been a strong critic of Zionism for almost 15 years, through radicalpress, which was first a newspaper and, of latter years, a website and blog.

After a six month RCMP "Hate squad" (thought crimes) investigation and while labouring under an Internet gag order, Arthur Topham has been charged under Canada's notorious "hate" law. In an e-mail sent out earlier this week, Mr. Topham indicated that he expects to be arrested. He will appear in court on November 8 to seek bail. He fears the Crown will seek a severe gag order.

Until a few weeks ago, he wasn't even allowed to send out e-mail and, of course, his computers had been seized by the police. What a country! When you watch the pukesome The Charter: Let's Discuss It (http://charterproject.ca) ads on television, with their earnestly politically correct types breathlessly enthusing how Trudeau's 30-year old document ensures our rights, scream back, "What About Arthur Topham?" The Charter was a legal coup d'etat. It stripped us of individual rights and conferred group rights. If you're not a member of a privilged group, you're out of luck. The well meaning fools think they enjoy freedom of speech and other rights. They haven't read the weasel clause which says you have these rights unless Parliament or a provincial legislature decides to restrict them for some good reason, of course,or, as the Charter expresses it, "a reasonable limit in a free and democratic society." "Democratic" cancels free, because if an elected or even appointed body approves the restriction, it's "democratic.|

Mr. Topham's tormenters, the complainants, are Harry Abrams, a longtime B'nai Brith operative in Victoria, and serial complainant Richard Warman, who somehow found time while doing whatever he does for the Department of National Defence, to investigate Mr. Topham and file yet another complaint. According to the National Post (November 6, 2012): "Mr. Warman’s complaint said both the Biological Jew and the Protocols were banned from import into Canada as hate propaganda. 'When you’ve got that kind of just rabid attack against the Jewish community I think it’s incumbent on people to stand up in society,' said Mr. Warman, who regularly files complaints about racist websites."

Notice, it's really about silencing views, racist or anti-Zionist, Warman doesn't like. Warman wants people to stand up. Fair enough. Why not write a critique pointing out exactly where The Biolgical Jew or the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion are wrong. That's how debate should occur in a free society. Also being banned as "hate propaganda" by the Customs Canada censors doens't imply the book was ever given a hearing. There was never a trial. Some bureaucrat made a ruling.

If you want to help Arthur Topham, here are his instructions: "I would also ask of you that you hang on to the website url to the following blog which contains my PayPal account. I will most likely need this to help in soliciting for donations to pay legal costs. The url is http://www.quesnelcariboosentinel.com and the PayPal button is on the top right hand corner of the home page.

Anyone wishing to send financial assistance via Canada Post can send it to:

Arthur Topham
4633 Barkerville Hwy
Quesnel, B.C. CANADA
V2J 6T8"

Paul Fromm
Director
CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION



INFORMATION

Court Identifier: 5921:PRA
Court File Number: 25166
Type Reference:
Inf. Seq Number: 5
Agency File Number: RMCS:11-4897
DNA: [X]

"By Indictment"

This is the information of Marina Onciul, a Court Liaison Officer (the "Informant") of Quesnel, British Columbia.

The informant says that the informant has reasonable grounds to believe and does believe that

Count 1
Roy Arthur TOPHAM, between the 28th day of April, 2011 and the 4th day of May, 2012, inclusive, at or near Quesnel, ink the Province of British Columbia, did by communicating statements, other than in private conversation, willfully promote hatred against an identifiable group, people of the Jewish religion or ethnic origin, contrary to Section 319(2) of the Criminal Code.

Count 2
Roy Arthur TOPHAM, on or about the 4th day of May, 2012, at or near Quesnel, in the Province of British Columbia, did store firearms, in a manner contrary to the regulations under Storage, Display, Transportation and Handling of Firearms by Individual Regulations made under paragraph 117(h) of the Firearms Act, contrary to Section 86(2) of the Criminal Code.

THE INFORMATION SWORN ON NOVEMBER 5, 2012 CONTAINS A TOTAL OF 2 COUNTS ON 1 PAGE.

SWORN BEFORE ME ON 5TH DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2012 AT QUESNEL BRITISH COLUMBIA

D. Carey 2012.11.05 10:43:46 -08'00'
A JUSTICE OF THE PEACE IN AND FOR THE PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA


Roy Arthur TOPHAM: Warrant
PROCESS CONFIRMED
D. Carey 2012.11.05 10:44:10 -08'00'
A JUSTICE OF THE PEACE IN AND FOR THE PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA





-------------------------------------------------------



http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/11...ws-on-website/

B.C. man charged with promoting hatred against Jews on website

Stewart Bell | Nov 6, 2012

RadialPress.comA screengrab from The Radial Press website. Owner Arthur Topham, Quesnel, B.C., has been charged with willfully promoting hatred against Jews.

The publisher of a British Columbia website that has drawn repeated complaints over its portrayals of Jews has been charged with promoting hatred following a six-month police investigation, officials said Tuesday.

Arthur Topham, 65, was charged with a single count of willfully promoting hatred against “people of the Jewish religion or ethnic group” as well as improper storage of firearms found in his house near Quesnel, B.C.

“The branch has approved charges against him,” said Neil MacKenzie of the B.C. Criminal Justice Branch. He said the province’s assistant deputy attorney general had sign off on the hate crimes charge.

Mr. Topham was to make a court appearance Thursday.

“We’re glad that the government and the police have taken our concerns seriously and proceeded,” said Anita Bromberg of B’nai Brith Canada, which had asked police to investigate the website last May.

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Mr. Topham is a miner and is listed as secretary of the Cariboo Mining Association. He also publishes Radical Press, a website that posts materials with conspiracy theory themes such as the “Biological Jew” and the “Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.”

The Biological Jew depicts Jews as parasites that suck the blood from their “host” societies while the Protocols is a fraudulent book that purports to describe a conspiracy for worldwide Jewish domination.

In May, Harry Abrams, a B’nai Brith volunteer in Victoria, B.C., and Ottawa lawyer Richard Warman both complained to police about the website. Mr. Warman’s complaint said both the Biological Jew and the Protocols were banned from import into Canada as hate propaganda.

“When you’ve got that kind of just rabid attack against the Jewish community I think it’s incumbent on people to stand up in society,” said Mr. Warman, who regularly files complaints about racist websites.

It seems that a lesson needs to be learned and the criminal system might be the best way to do it

Police arrested Mr. Topham and questioned him on May 16. According to a transcript of his police interview that was posted online, he asked the investigating officer, Det. Const. Terry Wilson of the B.C. Hate Crime Team, whether he had been trained in Tel Aviv or whether Mossad had come to Canada to train him.

He lectured the officer about how Jews “control what you’re doing” and said they had “created the unit you’re working for.” He asked the officer if he was a Christian and scolded him for what he was doing.

“These guys have spent the last 2,000 years trying to destroy our religion, and you like a Judas are out here like a, like one of their dogs chasing down people who are trying to defend the Christian religion,” he said. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”

Doug Christie, Mr. Topham’s defence lawyer, confirmed in an email his client had been formally charged. Asked if he wanted to comment, Mr. Christie responded: “Opposition to Zionism should not be illegal.”

But Ms. Bromberg said the website went well beyond that. “This isn’t a free speech issue about the politics behind Israel. It is borrowing on age-old canards that raise our concerns that this is designed to spread hate,” she said. “Our concerns were valid, they were carefully considered by the police and obviously, because these were hate crimes charges, by the attorney-general.”

Mr. Topham announced on his website he had been charged. He portrayed himself as a defender of free speech and asked for donations. “Judging from the wording of this indictment it looks like it’s going to be a battle between the Christians and the Jews,” he wrote.

Complaints about Radical Press go back to 2007, when B’nai Brith took the website to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. But the case stalled due to uncertainty over the law. Police assumed sole responsibility for investigating hate crimes complaints about websites after the Conservatives voted in June to repeal a law that had previously allowed the rights commission to deal with such matters.

National Post
[email protected]


Ottawa Sun
Wednesday November 7 2012

http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/11/06/...d-against-jews

B.C. blogger charged with hate crime for promoting hatred against Jews

Tyler Orton, QMI Agency

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

VANCOUVER — A British Columbia man has been charged with a hate crime following years of complaints to human rights officials for his website, which refers to those of Jewish faith as snakes and Zionists.

Arthur Topham, a 65-year-old miner from Quesnel, was charged Monday with promoting hatred against an identifiable group and a firearms-related offence following a six-month criminal investigation into the content on his website, Radical Press, Crown officials said.
“It’s relatively uncommon to have charges sworn under this section (of the Criminal Code) in British Columbia,” Crown spokesman Neil MacKenzie said.

Complaints against Radical Press first surfaced in 2007 when Harry Abrams of Victoria, B.C., and Ottawa lawyer Richard Warman filed a grievance against Topham with the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

Abrams said the complaint ended up getting bogged down in uncertainty over the law, but police began investigating the case last spring.

“There’s a place for opinion and a place for discourse. When you have hate propaganda, it’s generally a one-sided thing that cannot be answered to,” said Abrams, a volunteer with the Jewish advocacy group B’nai B’rith Canada.

Abrams said he’s satisfied the blogger has been charged.

Topham’s lawyer Doug Christie told QMI Agency Canada’s hate-speech laws are “instruments of oppression” and there’s no evidence to support the idea that anything someone says promotes violence.

“Nobody has to look up Mr. Topham’s website unless they want to go out of their way to be offended,” he said.