PUBLIC SUPPORT CREDITED FOR MAN'S RELEASE

A Salt Spring woman who took an active role campaigning for the
release of Bert Tatham from a Dubai jail is relieved to know he's
arrived home in time for Christmas.

Tatham, 36, arrived in Toronto on Tuesday night, two days after
authorities released him and 377 other prisoners as part of an
amnesty held in conjunction with the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha.
Two other Canadian citizens were among those released.

"It's a good news story," said Salt Spring resident Amanda
Spottiswoode, the mother of Bert Tatham's partner Sarah Gilmer, 28,
of Victoria. "There are so many bad news stories out there and this
is a nice change."

Tatham was arrested at the Dubai airport last summer while on his way
home from Afghanistan, where he worked with a U.S.-based
non-governmental organization teaching farmers about alternatives to
poppy production.

Dubai authorities sentenced Tatham to four years in prison after
customs agents found trace amounts of Hashish and a pair of
two-year-old poppies in his possession. Tatham, his family and
supporters maintain the hashish became attached to him because of the
nature of his work in rural areas around Kandahar.

The two "inert poppy husks" were intended as props to educate
Canadians about the Afghan poppy supply and associated heroine trade,
Spottiswoode said.

"You could probably get more poppies from a poppy seed muffin," she added.

Within days of sending out a mass e-mail, Spottiswoode was
overwhelmed by the response from other Salt Springers offering moral
and practical support.

"Dozens of the responses were from people I'd even forgotten were on
the list," she said.

Spottiswoode last saw Tatham two summers ago while sailing with her
daughter in the waters surrounding Salt Spring Island.

"He has a genuine desire to help people living in the most desperate
conditions," she said.

In a statement released Monday evening, Canada's Foreign Affairs
Minister Maxime Bernier said the amnesty marked a positive step in
relations between Canada and the United Arab Emirates.

"We welcome this act of goodwill by the government of Dubai. Canada
highly values its friendship with the U.A.E.," he said. "Growing
commercial ties and an expanding political dialogue give the
relationship important depth."

Despite the government's best efforts, Spottiswoode said, she and
many others believe the federal government could have done a lot more
much sooner to secure Tatham's release.

"I think that we have a rather naive trust in the Canadian
government, but they really didn't do everything they could do,"
Spottiswoode said.

Notes of congratulations on www.freebert.ca, a website designed to
raise awareness about Tatham's plight, came rushing in once news of
his release was confirmed by the government on Monday.

Some echoed Spottiswoode's frustration with Canada's response. "This
freedom comes solely because of the intervention of Dubai's head of
state and under no circumstances should anyone have any delusions
that his freedom was a result of Canada's so-called 'new government'
or its members," reads a comment posted on December 17. "If that were
the case, Bert would still be imprisoned."

Precisely how Tatham reacts upon his return and his plans for the
future are uncertain, according to Spottiswoode.

"He's angry," she said. "We can't expect it to be plain sailing, but
at least he's here."