'MY NEGLIGENCE' PAVED THE WAY TO CELL IN DUBAI

Newly-Freed Anti-Narcotics Worker Should Have Left Sample Poppies Behind

NEW YORK - In his first interview since his release from a Dubai
prison, anti-narcotics official Bert Tatham says the Arab emirate
should have given him a break instead of prosecuting him for drug possession.

He also shed light on his treatment in prison, saying he gave
testimony in a "human rights" matter. The reference was to an August
incident in which rampaging Dubai officials severely injured at least
one inmate, and roughed up others to various degrees -- among them Mr. Tatham.

"There were times when I was treated quite poorly, and other times
when I was treated with enough indifference to make it bearable," he
said by phone from London as he awaited a flight for Canada yesterday.

"It was my negligence that got me there, but if you look at the
context of my work and what preceded my (arrest), you would think
that logic and compassion would prevail, and that they would let me
go on my way."

Mr. Tatham, 36, had spent 13 months doing anti-narcotics work in
southern Afghanistan when he arrived in Dubai on a return trip to
Canada April 23. He was charged with drug possession as he passed
through customs.

Not only did he knowingly have two poppy pods in a suitcase, but
Dubai officials said they found 0.06 grams of hashish in a pocket of
the jeans he was wearing.

Mr. Tatham said the Dubai government "wasn't ready to put things in
context," and a court sentenced him in June to four years' imprisonment.

"The bottom line is, I am in a war zone in a narco-state, advising
the government on how to set up a ministry of counter narcotics," Mr.
Tatham said, in addressing the hashish find.

"It was an occupational hazard of mine to be exposed to these
substances from time to time. I should have been more careful coming
out of there and just making sure that any residue from handling it
had been cleared out of myself."

His lawyers argued at his trial that he'd intended to use the poppy
pods as props for lectures when he returned to Canada. Mr. Tatham
revealed the specimens he was carrying had been on display at the
United Nations, which has a major presence in Afghanistan.

"The poppy flowers (were) purely as an exhibit to show people," he
said. "They were very old and they had been used as an exhibit at the
UN. I sort of scrounged (the pods) from them and I was told they
would be completely permissible in Canada."

Mr. Tatham had been based in Kandahar, where the bulk of Canada's
2,500 troops in Afghanistan are stationed. He'd left the city by
armoured car, then travelled by helicopter to reach Kabul, the capital.

"The flights out of Kabul are pretty limited ... and when you get to
Dubai, (connections) do not line up well, so a lot of times you have
to wait overnight," he said.

"I was just negligent in not thinking of (the poppies) going through
in my baggage in Dubai. I was just thinking about being there in transit."

A Vancouver resident, Mr. Tatham and two other Canadians were freed
late Monday along with 374 other prisoners in the latest of the
emirate's periodic amnesties marking Islamic holidays.

He had difficulty assessing how he had been treated.

"I can't really put it into relative terms, because I am not much of
a criminal normally, and I don't know how jails normally operate," he said.

But the August incident marked a clear low point. Black-clad
officials with balaclavas and batons led supposed searches of cells.
Against a backdrop of orders yelled in Arabic and dogs barking,
several entered Mr. Tatham's cell, throwing him against a wall and
striking him.

Mr. Tatham testified in a subsequent investigation by Dubai
authorities. Dubai journalist Amira Agarib reported in October that
"about 20 officers and personnel from Dubai police have been referred
to the public prosecution for abusing their authority and allegedly
beating prisoners."

At their home near Collingwood, Mr. Tatham's parents, Charlie and
Louise, feared their son might be singled out for retribution for
having given testimony.

Indeed, not only was he passed over for an amnesty in September,
marking the end of Ramadan, prison officials gave him the impression
he would be included. They sent him under escort with other inmates
scheduled for release to collect his luggage from the airport, but
when he returned, they said there had been a "mistake." He ended up
the only prisoner on his floor.

"It was devastating, and infuriating as well," he recalled.

His parents lobbied tirelessly for his release, spending tens of
thousands of dollars on lawyers' fees and a trip to the region -- and
working their own contacts in Canada.

"Every couple of weeks offered some hope. Then, after eight months, I
was relieved, and I guess a little bit shocked," Mr. Tatham said.

His parents were travelling to Toronto yesterday to meet their son,
as was his 28-year-old fiancee, Sara Gilmer, a Victoria teacher.

"I'm looking forward to spending Christmas with them," he said.