The thought police’s campaign to silence Arthur Topham entirely ratcheted up a notch this past Monday. Returning with his wife Shasta from his placer mining claims, August 6, Arthur was arrested outside his rural property near Quesnel, British Columbia. His wife who is severely disabled was made to stay in a camper outside their home., Arthur was taken to the town jail, until a warrant arrived for the police to enter his property. “They absconded with my computers and flash drives,” the former publisher of Radical Press (until 2009 a tabloid and then a website) told CAFE in an exclusive interview tonight.
Arthur faces a charge of breach of probation. Having been convicted in 2016 on one count of violating Canada’s notorious “hate law” — Sec. 319 of the Criminal Code — and acquitted on another, Mr. Topham was given a six months suspended sentence and two years prohibition of publishing anything critical of Jews on the Internet. He heads to court on October 16. Without his computers, Mr. Topham has gone silent on the Internet.
This latest persecution comes at a bad time for Mr. Topham. His wife Shasta for 40 years, who was born Jewish, faces two serious operations this Autumn. Ironically, the raid occurred the same day Saudi Arabia expelled Canada’s ambassador for lecturing the Islamic state on human rights violations. The Saudis should message Ottawa: Human rights? Clean up your own house! What about Arthur Topham?
On an individual basis, he found the “hate squad” officers polite and professional.
Paul Fromm
Director
CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION
