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Canadian official sentenced to four years in Arab jail
By Hempology | June 19, 2007
Times Colonist, Victoria
June 19, 2007
Steven Edwards
Vancouver man convicted of drug charge; fiancee is a Victoria teacher
A Dubai court found Canadian anti-narcotics official Bert Tatham guilty today on drug possession charges, sentencing him to four years in prison in the Arab emirate.
Barring any successful appeal, the Vancouver resident’s main hope for early release is to be included in one of Dubai’s periodic amnesties for selected offenders.
From their Collingwood, Ont., home, Tatham’s parents, Louise and Charlie, vowed to seek stepped up help from the Canadian government to achieve at least that.
Canadian anti-narcotics officer Bert Tatham, seen here with his girlfriend, Sara Gilmer of Victoria, is being held in Dubai for drug possession.View Larger Image View Larger Image
Canadian anti-narcotics officer Bert Tatham, seen here with his girlfriend, Sara Gilmer of Victoria, is being held in Dubai for drug possession.
Family photo
In Victoria, Tatham’s bride-to-be, Sara Gilmer, said she hoped for his fastest possible return. “It’s what I feared. I’m so disappointed,” she said.
Dubai authorities arrested Tatham April 23 as he entered the emirate after completing the first leg of his return trip to Canada from Afghanistan, where he had worked the previous 12 months helping farmers find alternatives to poppy cultivation.
He admitted he knew he was carrying dried poppy flowers – which he planned to use as props during lectures – but Dubai customs authorities also said they found him in possession of 0.6 grams of hashish.
The court’s three-judge panel delivered their verdict after his defence lawyers argued at trial last week the peculiarities in his work in Afghanistan – where he had been involved in handling large amounts of hashish – explained how some could have ended up in his clothes.
“We’re hopeful of a good judgment after we explained everything about the nature of his job,” Sharif Emara, legal advisor to Tatham’s lawyer, Saeed Al-Ghailani, said just ahead of the verdict.
Louise said Monday “all this trouble” could have been avoided if only her son had listened to her and abandoned his plan to spend a day and a half in Dubai, a common transport hub for travellers between south Asia and points west, to shop and sight-see.
“I’d told him to come straight back and to pass through Dubai, not stop off there,” the mother-of-three said.
“But he wanted to buy a gold watch … and see the changes in the city.”
Tatham, 35, had planned to arrive April 25 at Vancouver, where Gilmer, 28, was to meet him.
The couple met almost two years ago through a mutual friend, and plan to marry.
“Everyone in my life really loves Bert,” Gilmer said, adding she had prepared herself for the possibility he might not be freed today.
“I’m just trying to remain positive without getting my hopes up too much,” she explained early Monday. “There have been so many disappointments already with this. We all just want him home the fastest possible.”
Amnesties are presented as humanitarian acts in the name of Dubai’s ruler, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Maktoum.
The most recent was at the end of May for 352 offenders of “different nationalities and serving terms for various crimes and misdemeanours.”
Emara speculated a new amnesty could coincide with the month-long Islamic observance of Ramadan, which this year begins September 12.
But insiders say political lobbying is sometimes required to get on the list.
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