Charges dropped against London doctor who protested MP's Israel stance with ketchup
CBC
Mischief charges were dropped Tuesday against a London, Ont., doctor who protested the Liberal government's Israel policy by throwing ketchup at a member of parliament's constituency office.
Dr. Tarek Loubani was charged last year after a group of people gathered outside of the office of London North Centre MP Peter Fragiskatos in October 2023.
Police at the time said Loubani took a bottle of ketchup from a backpack, squirted it on the building's door and exterior, and then handed bottles to three other men and encouraged them to also deface the building.
"We have maintained since Dr. Loubani's arrest that his protest against MP Fragiskatos was not a crime. Members of the public have the constitutional right to protest against their elected officials," Loubani's lawyers wrote in a statement Tuesday morning.
Loubani was in court and his lawyers attended the hearing virtually. The Crown withdrew the charges because they were not seen in the public interest, said Riaz Sayani, one of Loubani's lawyers.
"Dr. Loubani is an internationally renowned physician and humanitarian. He has done aid work throughout the world in places like Ukraine and Palestine, doesn't have a criminal record, and is the kind of pro-social individual who contributes to the community in so many different ways," Sayani said.
CBC News has reached out to the Ministry of the Attorney General, which oversees Crown prosecutors, for comment.
The case is a legal matter and it wouldn't be appropriate to comment on the process, Fragiskatos said.
"That being said, over the past several years our office and staff have experienced various acts of vandalism, threats and hostility. That will always be unacceptable," he added.
Loubani's legal team called the London police "heavy-handed" in their approach to political protest.
Officers told Loubani when he was arrested he would be released from custody if he agreed to not protest Fragiskatos again, Sayani said. "Dr. Loubani correctly said he was not going to agree to a condition that prohibits him from protesting his MP, and he went to jail for a night and was ultimately released without conditions the next day," he said.
Sayani said that charging people for expressing their charter-protected right to protest could have a "huge chilling effect" on protests across the country.
Loubani will not stop protesting "until there is an end to Israel's genocide, apartheid and occupation," he said.
Police services across northern Ontario say most illicit drugs circulating in their communities are being transported from southern parts of the province, while prescription drugs diverted into the illegal market continue to pose a serious and ongoing threat.
The case of a child who was killed by his mother shortly after being returned from foster care has shed a rare and needed spotlight on the child welfare system, say experts in the field.
G.E. Barbour may be best known for its King Cole tea, but the Sussex company’s peanut butter is apparently what everyone wants overseas.
Seven years into an early onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Sandra Demontigny's home is full of reminders.
A blizzard gusting across southern Manitoba is leaving a long list of highway and school closures.
While a blizzard threatened outside, Saskatoon city council endured an icy blast inside city hall from a Riversdale business leader over its homeless initiatives.
This is a story about fire, faith and marshmallows.
Alberta’s population bucked the trend that almost every other Canadian province and territory experienced last quarter, Statistics Canada population estimates suggest.
A U.S. judge on Wednesday blocked Michigan from enforcing a 2020 order to shut down Enbridge's Line 5 oil pipeline running beneath a channel linking two of the Great Lakes, ruling that pipeline safety is a federal responsibility.
When retired RCMP constable Jason Hydamacka heard the news that the insurance money for his amputated leg was coming, he sat in his truck and cried.
As Neskantaga First Nation’s youngest band councillor, Lashaunda Waswa says she wants to inspire the next generation to protect the community’s land, water and wildlife.
Toronto has seen a drop in crime rates across the city, but its police chief says youth crime rates continue to be a cause for concern.
Cambridge council has voted to request a pedestrian safety review of Cedar Street from the region after two back-to-back collisions last week, one of which killed a three-year-old girl.