THREE MPS WORK TO BLOCK EMERY'S EXTRADITION TO U.S.

Marijuana activist Marc Emery's battle to avoid going to a U.S. prison
got a boost Monday in the House of Commons.

Three MPs -- Libby Davies of the New Democratic Party, Ujjal Dosanjh
of the Liberals and Scott Reid of the Conservatives -- presented a
petition asking Justice Minister Rob Nicholson not to sign extradition
papers that would send Emery south to serve a five-year sentence for
selling marijuana seeds online in 2005.

More than 12,000 Canadians signed the petition.

"In Vancouver, everywhere I go, people make a point of expressing good
wishes that I don't get extradited," Emery said Monday.

His removal order has been sitting on the justice minister's desk
since Jan. 8.

"Nine weeks have passed and he hasn't made that decision, so something
is keeping him from doing it," said Emery, who noted the Conservatives
could score political points, especially with young voters, if his
extradition is halted.

All three MPs told their fellow MPs Emery's extradition smacks of
unfairness.

Canadian courts have established a person convicted of selling
marijuana seeds should face a fine of $200. In the U.S., a person
could be sentenced to life in prison for the same crime.

Emery, 52, and two employees were arrested in 2005 by Canadian police
acting as agents for the U.S. department of justice. He is not facing
a charge in Canada.

Reid, an Ontario MP, told the Commons that the Extradition Act states
the justice minister "shall refuse to surrender a person when that
surrender could involve unjust or undue or oppressive actions by the
country to which he is being extradited."

Davies, the MP for Vancouver East, said she has found broad support
for Emery.

"People don't understand why Marc Emery should be extradited. He was
never prosecuted in Canada for these crimes, and I think people see it
as a question of Canadian sovereignty," she said.

Dosanjh, MP for Vancouver South, said: "It appears to me that we have
assisted a foreign government arrest a man for doing something that we
wouldn't arrest him for doing in Canada.

"As a former premier and a former attorney-general, I sense a certain
degree of unfairness in the process."