You've been arrested abroad: Will your embassy come to the rescue? That depends who you ask.
You’re in a foreign country. It’s dark. It begins raining. You’re about to board a train when two plainclothes officers tap you on the shoulder and instruct you to come with them. What are your rights? If you’re arrested, what can your government do for you? In light of cases like the Bali Nine – and those other thousands of people arraigned and imprisoned abroad – those questions are now very pertinent.
In 2006 alone, 600 Canadians were detained in foreign countries. Most of them were locked up in the United States, where a majority was charged with drugs crimes. Prisoners Abroad, the UK firm that assists imprisoned Britons, said that just a decade ago they were assisting a little more than 1,100 people. In the ensuing years, that figure has jumped by nearly 1,000. Japan has seen crimes committed by foreigners increase in the past few years.
According to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which 170 nations are party to, local authorities must inform detained foreigners of their right to notify their government, usually through the nearest consulate or embassy. Foreign consulates must be able to visit and communicate with the prisoner so they can then arrange legal representation and provide any necessities the detainee needs. (If the detainee desires.) Consular officers can also facilitate communication between the detainee and the outside world, mostly families and friends. Finally, consular visits should help ensure foreign nationals are not being mistreated. There's always the issue that those detained abroad may decide not to seek consular assistance, like, it seems, some of the nearly 800 Irish citizens imprisoned overseas.
If you are a British Citizen who’s been arrested, here’s what the British Consul can offer: “Consuls will often visit British Nationals if they are arrested in a foreign country. They cannot do anything more than arrange for messages to be sent to friends and relatives. Sometimes they can make representations on your behalf to local authorities, but they are unable to get more involved than that.”
How involved authorities become in prison cases has festered into a political issue in Canada. A debate has raged throughout this decade regarding what some call the government’s timid response to upholding the rights of Canadians arrested in foreign countries. "They don't want to help you," said a Canadian businessman who was given an extremely stern three-year sentence in India for a visa violation. "You're on your own. That's what they told me." (He was recently given his freedom.)
Critics in Canada bring up three very sensational cases they claim the government did little more than look the other way. First is the case of William Sampson, a Canadian and British citizen who underwent two years torture and abuse while imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, where he faced the death penalty (by beheading) for his alleged involvement in a series of car bombings in Riyadh. He was eventually released. There’s also Mahar Arar, a Syrian and Canadian citizen who was jailed in solitary confinement the United States before undergoing “extraordinary rendition” to Syria, where he was tortured for more than a year. Third, the case of Canadian-Iranian photographer Zahra Kazemi who was raped, tortured and eventually killed during integration in Iran.
While these cases mainly took place in the early part of the decade, critics called on the former Liberal government to do more to protect the rights of Canadians imprisoned abroad. In the case of Saudi Arabia, some critics would have welcomed the ambassador being sent home – at least for a time. In the case of Zahra Kazemi, Canada should have cut diplomatic ties, says others. Claiming that Canadian embassy employees in Riyadh ignored the fact that William Sampson was being tortured by his Saudi jailors, Amnesty International has been even more strident in its call for a judicial process: “The time is now for Canada to challenge that lack of justice and it can do so by insisting that individuals responsible for abuses like those experienced by William Sampson and Zahra Kazemi will be held accountable.”
Putting aside criticisms of the former-Liberal government’s predilection for “soft power” and its alleged disgust of ruffling feathers of foreign governments, each of these cases has one extraordinary issue in common: The victims involved carried dual-citizenship, which the offending country may not recognize. (Mexico, Iran, most Arab countries and some former Soviet states belong in this category.) If one returns to the country they hold citizenship, like the case of Zahra Kazema, that person could be treated like any other national. (Sweden has also reported similar problems facing its nationals since its government unanimously allowed dual citizenship in 2001.)
So, the question remains: How much does a government want to make diplomatic examples of its citizens who have run afoul of the law, regardless of their innocence or guilt? In the case of the Bali Nine, the Australian government has brought up the issue to Indonesian authorities, but mostly in reference to Australia's objections to the use of the death penalty. In the case of David Sampson and his other alleged co-conspirators, it was Britain’s Prince Charles who applied pressure on Saudi officials.
In Canada, the syndrome of the government allegedly looking-the-other-way may not only afflict only Liberals in power. Just this year, citizens raised concerns that the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for the Conservative government has gone out of her way to ignore the pleas of Canadians in danger abroad, especially the case of Brenda Martin, the 51-year-old woman who spent nearly two years in a Guadalajara jail in Mexico before going to trial for her involvement in a pyramid scheme. (She was recently convicted of money laundering, receiving a five-year sentence. Martin was moved to a Canadian prison and immediately paroled.)
Saul Itzhayek, the Montreal-based businessman imprisoned for a visa violation in India was more blunt, telling CTV: "If this was Stephen Harper's son, I'm sure he'd be out in 24 hours."
New Jack City photo by Jon Feinstein.
Train Conductor photo by Jenny Webber.