DUBAI PRISONER HAS ISLAND TIES

It's An International Tale With Local Ties, And Islanders Are Being
Asked To Help.

Canadian anti-drug advocate Bert Tatham is currently appealing a
four-year jail sentence after being found guilty of possession for
trace amounts of hashish and two dried poppy flowers in Dubai.

Tatham's mother and father, Louise and Charlie, live in Ontario; his
fiancee, Sara Gilmer, lives in Victoria; and Gilmer's mother, Amanda
Spottiswoode, lives on Salt Spring. All are appealing to friends,
family and concerned citizens to rally the Canadian government to free
Tatham.

"We firmly believe that our government could, if it wanted, put
pressure on the authorities in Dubai to obtain a pardon and get him
home," wrote Spottiswoode in an e-mail.

"It's only going to get solved through pressure from the government,"
she added during a phone interview last week.

The family feels the government is not doing enough and has launched a
letter writing campaign to Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay and
Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"The letters are going to start landing on these guys' desks in the
hundreds," she said.

They are also developing a website: www.freebert.ca.

"He is just an innocent victim of circumstances and the Department of
Foreign Affairs has basically abandoned him," Spottiswoode said.

Tatham, 35, was sentenced to four years in jail on June 19 after being
found guilty of entering Dubai almost two months earlier with the
poppies and hashish. Both items are banned in the emirate.

For the past year, Tatham had been working with farmers in
Afghanistan, trying to teach them how to "develop other means of
livelihood than growing poppies for opium," read a template letter to
MacKay.

"In a way, it's worse than being in the Canadian forces because he
didn't have the camaraderie," Spottiswoode said of the work.

She described the situation as cruel irony.

Hashish is apparently "very very common" in Afghanistan, Spottiswoode
said. "They smoke it like cigarettes," she added, noting it is not
viewed as dangerous or illegal there.

"He was around people who were using it, but he himself was not using
it."

Tatham had apparently kept the poppies for props while lecturing in
Canada.

Following the ruling, lawyers immediately launched a formal appeal,
which will be held on Friday.

They will also appeal to Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid
Maktoum, for amnesty, which the family believes is more likely to get
Tatham back into Canada.

"These pardons are granted regularly as a means to empty their jails
of minor offenders," wrote Spottiswoode in an e-mail. "However, it has
been shown that it is often a factor of how much support the applicant
has from his or her government as to how likely it is for the pardon
to be granted."

"Other governments have been much more diligent at protecting their
foreign nationals abroad," she added, citing a American case where the
government moved to free a music producer who was caught with drugs
that were clearly for personal use.

"It just seems to be that that's a Canadian thing -- they don't want
to ruffle any feathers."

Tatham's family and friends also argue the Canadian government has not
treated him as well as they could have. "Basically all they did was
hand them the Yellow Pages and say 'find a lawyer'," Spottiswoode said.

The Canadian consulate didn't send a representative to the original
proceeding, she said.

Tatham and Gilmer make a wonderful couple, Spottiswoode
said.

"He's every mother's dream for their daughter."

Although the situation has understandably been hard for Gilmer, she
has apparently been holding together well.

"My daughter is an amazing young woman and through all of this I can
only say she is very very calm," Spottiswoode said. "She has been very
very strong."

Some Salt Springers might remember Gilmer from the time she spent
working as a summer camp counsellor on the island three or four years
ago, Spottiswoode said.

Spottiswoode sent out an e-mail asking for support last
Wednesday.

"I got a lot of really sympathetic replies," she said.

To receive an electronic copy of the formatted letters to Peter MacKay
and Stephen Harper in which you can insert your name, e-mail Amanda
Spottiswoode at spottyonsaltspring@shaw.ca. For more information, call
Spottiswoode at 537-1283.