CONJECTURE ABOUNDS ABOUT ARREST, RELEASE OF CANADIAN OFFICER IN
DUBAI

NEW YORK -Canada performed diplomatic gymnastics to persuade the Dubai
government to release Bert Tatham, the Canadian anti-narcotics officer
who spent almost eight months behind bars for a drug-possession conviction.

Insiders say officials of the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is
a part, continue to keenly list things its government wants from Canada.

Sheik Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the UAE Foreign Minister, had
Ottawa officials afraid he was setting conditions for Tatham's release
at a closed-door meeting in September at the United Nations with
Maxime Bernier, the Foreign Minister.

At that meeting, Bernier brought up Tatham's case and the UAE minister
expressed his country's interest in a prisoner-transfer agreement.

The same month, Tatham's jailers led the 36-year-old Canadian to
believe he would be part of a mass amnesty ordered by Dubai's ruler,
Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.

After sending him under escort to collect his baggage, they later told
him it was all a "mistake," and Tatham ended up the only prisoner on
his floor.

In October, Sheik Mohammed's uncle, Sheik Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum,
showed up in Canada to mark the inaugural flight of a thrice-weekly
service between Dubai and Toronto for Dubai-owned Emirates Airlines,
which he runs.

He had all sorts of ministerial meetings planned in Toronto and Ottawa
against the backdrop of the Emirates' keen desire for unlimited
landing rights in Canada. These "open skies" rights would enable the
Middle Eastern airline to better compete against Air Canada in
offering Canadians service to South Asia and beyond.

UAE is also keen to have Ottawa drop visa requirements for its
nationals visiting Canada.

Canadian officials quietly told Sheik Ahmed the Tatham issue had
become a "significant irritant" to UAE-Canada relations, and he said
he would speak with his nephew, insiders say.

Bernier commented in private that UAE "would not pull a Third-World
stunt" such as "using a prisoner as a pawn," they add.

But what has leaked out about Dubai's machinations could inspire a
script for a Godfather sequel.

Dubai authorities arrested Tatham on April 23 after he arrived from
Afghanistan to wait for a connection to Canada the next day.

He had just spent 13 months in Afghanistan, helping advance the
country's anti-narcotics program. But he was carrying two poppy pods,
and Dubai authorities found a tiny amount of hashish in the pocket of
his jeans.

Tatham said he planned to use the plants as lecture props, while his
lawyers said the hashish was a remnant of his eradication work.

Lobbying on Tatham's behalf in Canada may have worked against him by
indicating he had some "value."

His parents who live near Collingwood, Ont., used their connections --
his father has a successful engineering consultancy -- to launch a
campaign. They quickly won the backing of Helena Guergis, Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs, who is their local MP.

Canadian officials soon organized a flurry of meetings in the
UAE.

"It's fine to say it's because of who he knew," said one official.
"But it's also what he was doing: He was involved in work that is very
much in line with what the government is attempting to do in
Afghanistan."

Many on the Canadian side felt Tatham was a victim of bad luck. "But
Canada doesn't bargain," the official said.

Although Tatham got the emirate's standard four-year sentence for drug
possession, the ruler typically orders such inmates released after a
few months.

Tatham's parents suspect the "cruel joke" played on their son in
keeping him off the September list was retribution for testimony he
gave a Dubai investigation into an August incident. He told how
officials clad in black had gone on a rampage, assaulting prisoners.
In a written account smuggled out, he described a gauntlet that
included attack dogs.

"All these tactics reminded me of news reports and photos of abuse in
Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq," he wrote.

Police, prosecution and other prison-linked officials have input into
who is picked for the amnesties, the parents said they learned when
they travelled to Dubai in October in an unsuccessful bid to meet
Sheik Mohammed.

Tatham's only consolation is that he's finally home.