CHARGED CANADIAN'S FAMILY FEARS HARSH DUBAI DRUG SENTENCE

Tatham A Victim Of Misunderstanding, Canadians Say

UNITED NATIONS - The family of Bert Tatham, a Canadian anti-narcotics
official facing drug charges in Dubai, is noting with alarm how that
country's justice system has handed out tough sentences for tiny
amounts of drugs.

Dubai courts have recently sentenced a British man and an Italian each
to four years in jail -- the former for possessing 0.07 grams of
hashish, the latter for carrying just 0.01 grams.

Mr. Tatham, arrested in April as he tried to pass through the tiny
Arab emirate while returning to Canada after anti-narcotics work in
Afghanistan, was carrying 0.6 grams of hashish and two dried poppy
flowers.

At his trial this week, his lawyers gave work-related reasons why he
possessed the substances, and Canadian officials are among those who
say he is a victim of a misunderstanding.

Sources familiar with the case revealed yesterday that a senior Dubai
official has expressed sympathy for Mr. Tatham's defence argument and
has been looking for a reason to release him. However, the emirate's
zero tolerance policy on drug offences has complicated the issue.

A three-judge panel will rule Tuesday whether Mr. Tatham, who remains
in detention in the emirate, is guilty or not of drugs possession and
possession with intent to distribute.

Dubai's penal code, a mix of Islamic Sharia law and British law,
dictates a maximum of four years in jail for possession. A 1996 law
says trafficking is punishable by death.

"We're hoping for the best, but I'm concerned his chances are only
50-50," said Mr. Tatham's worried father, Charlie, who runs an
engineering consulting business in Collingwood, Ont.

The youngest of three, 35-year-old Mr. Tatham has known little other
than success in a career in anti-drugs and humanitarian work that has
taken him to several continents.

He graduated from University of British Columbia in earth sciences;
helicoptered around B.C.'s interior working in forest management;
then, after returning to college to study satellite imagery, got a job
that took him to various parts of Africa and Central America
interpreting what satellite pictures tell about drought and drugs
production, among other things.

But, says his father, he wanted additional challenges, and in 2005
signed a six-month contract with the United Nations analyzing the
extent of drug cultivation throughout Afghanistan.

"That's where he learned just how big the problem was, and how drugs
were really driving things over there, and also around the world,"
said his father.

"So when he came back to Canada, he was restless, and decided to
return to Afghanistan to a job that amounted to managing a team of
Afghans who would work with farmers, government officials, aid
agencies and NATO to try to get the drug problem under control."

Based in Kandahar, the southern province where 2,500 Canadian troops
are stationed, Mr. Tatham was involved not only in poppy eradication,
but encouraging farmers to switch to other crops.

"My focus here is on building consent among farmers ? on opposing
poppy cultivation" he wrote in January in a letter to the National
Post as he argued against calls for promoting a licit opium economy in
Afghanistan.