<html>
<body>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2><br>
<b>November 3</b> - Minister of Justice Vic Toews signs the order of
surrender for extradition to the United States.<br><br>
Lawyer John Norris says Gary Freeman cannot be surrendered by Canadian
authorities within the 45 days provided by the Extradition Act while his
appeals in the case are outstanding. One appeal involves a judge's
decision that there was enough evidence for the case to be referred to
the Minister of Justice for consideration.<br><br>
Lawyer Julian Falconer argues that the Canadian federal government has
demonstrated its inexperience on racial issues, with Justice Minister Vic
Toews making a decision that ignores the realities of racism and
wholesale denial of civil rights in the United States in the
1960s.<br><br>
Application for a judicial review of the Minister's order will be made
(Extradition Act, Section 57).<br><br>
<b>:: A Heartfelt Thank You from Gary Freeman<br><br>
</b>Dear family, friends, and supporters,<br><br>
By now you have been informed of a decision by Minister Vic Toews to
order my extradition surrender to the United States of America. While I
had thought there existed the possibility that Minister Toews would
simply rubber-stamp his portion of the extradition process, I was not
prepared for and remain shocked by his wholesale rejection of your pleas
for him to show humanitarian compassion and refuse to extradite.<br><br>
So, I am very sad to think that you all may consider your righteous
efforts on my behalf to have been in vain. This could lead to thoughts
that any individual acts of kindness, compassion and humanitarian
conviction will lead to naught. Nothing is further from the
truth.<br><br>
Your letters, your signatures on our petition, your participating in
events on my behalf have demonstrated the beauty that is humanity.
Nothing can ever destroy that.<br><br>
We are now embarking upon a new phase in this good fight. Please do not
lose faith in the power of right to prevail over might. Because of you, I
am able to carry on. Because of you, I know I must.<br>
<a href="http://www.freemandrum.org">www.freemandrum.</a>
<a href="http://www.freemandrum.org">org<br>
</a></font><h2><b>Lawyer vows to fight man's extradition in '69
shooting</b></h2><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061104.PANNELL04/TPStory/TPNational/Ontario/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061104.PANNELL04/TPStory/TPNational/Ontario/</a>
<br><br>
OLIVER MOORE AND HAYLEY MICK <br><br>
The legal team for alleged former Black Panther Joseph Pannell will fight
Ottawa's decision to allow his extradition on decades-old charges of
shooting a police officer.<br><br>
Lawyer Julian Falconer argued yesterday that the federal government has
demonstrated its inexperience on racial issues, with Justice Minister Vic
Toews making a decision that he said ignores the realities of racism in
the U.S. society of the 1960s. "The racial climate -- that is, the
wholesale denial of civil rights -- that was part of the process,"
Mr. Falconer said in a telephone interview. <br><br>
"He has an obligation to consider all the aspects in determining
whether it's fundamentally unjust to send this man for
trial."<br><br>
Instead, Mr. Falconer said that Mr. Toews did not consider "the full
context of fairness" in deciding to allow the extradition to
proceed. "He did not. He showed a complete lack of understanding,
with respect to the minister."<br><br>
Mr. Falconer said that there are several possible grounds for an appeal
of the minister's decision, including the racial issue, and said that it
will happen concurrently with an appeal of the actual extradition
order.<br><br>
"It's typical in an extradition scenario, because you delay the
initial appeal. You delay that appeal pending the results of the
minister's decision," he explained. <br><br>
Mr. Pannell is wanted in the United States to face attempted-murder
charges in connection with the 1969 shooting of Chicago policeman
Terrence Knox, whose right arm was partly paralyzed.<br><br>
Mr. Pannell jumped bail twice in the early 1970s and fled initially to
Montreal, where he assumed the name Gary Douglas Freeman. He moved to
Mississauga in 1987. <br><br>
For nearly four decades, he lived in Canada, where he married and had
four children who are now adults. His life on the run ended in July of
2004 as he left his job at the reference library in Yorkville. About to
get into a car his wife had brought to fetch him, he was instead collared
by immigration officials.<br><br>
In an affidavit, Mr. Pannell has said that he fears for his safety and
believes he would not get a fair trail. The shooting occurred during a
period of tense race relations, the year after Martin Luther King Jr. was
slain. <br><br>
Mr. Knox, the long-retired policeman who was shot, said this spring from
his home in Orland Park, a Chicago suburb, that he wants his day in
court. <br><br>
"Let's have a trial," he said. "If he's innocent, I'll be
the first person to shake his hand. If he's guilty, I'll be the first to
slam the door behind him as he sits in jail."<br><br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">The Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
</font><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.freedomarchives.org</a></font></body>
</html>