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Activist in G20 undercover-police case threatens hunger strike
An activist inadvertently responsible for ending a publication ban on the identities of two undercover police officers at Toronto’s G20 summit had his case put over at a brief court appearance Tuesday.
Julian Ichim faces three counts of disobeying a court order for writing a blog post about Constable Bindo Showan, an Ontario Provincial Police officer who infiltrated several activist groups before the summit.
In an Old City Hall courtroom Tuesday, prosecutors said they were not yet ready to proceed with the case and asked for a new court date of Jan. 11. Mr. Ichim briefly addressed the court, as about 20 supporters looked on.
“I just want to be on record asking for full disclosure, including why the OPP is on my website, and what other surveillance of me there has been,” he said.
In a speech on the courthouse steps, he pledged to undertake a hunger strike if he is jailed and said the case was politically motivated. “Their message is ‘tell your story and you’ll be criminalized.’ Our message is ‘no, we won’t be silent,’ ’’ he said. In September, a judge banned publishing the names and photographs of Const. Showan and Const. Brenda Carey, another undercover officer. In November, Mr. Ichim detailed his interactions with Const. Showan on his blog. He did not use the officer’s real name, instead referring to him by his undercover alias, “Khalid Mohamed.” Mr. Ichim says the Ontario Provincial Police contacted him, through his lawyer, to demand that he erase the posting. When he refused, they asked him to remove the officer’s pseudonym. In response, Mr. Ichim threatened to go on hunger strike if he was arrested and held in custody. After roughly a week, he says, police issued a court summons. A few days later, when prosecutors reached a plea bargain with 17 G20 protest organizers, crown attorney Jason Miller asked that the ban be lifted, indicating that Mr. Ichim’s actions had made it moot. Mr. Ichim, a Kitchener resident, has been involved with a variety of political causes for over a decade, including distributing food on the streets in Guelph and volunteering with harm-reduction programs. He has also run for public office with the Marxist-Leninist party. He first met Const. Showan, who was posing as an activist, in 2009. Mr. Ichim says they socialized nearly every day and took part in various protests together, including a demonstration against the building of a business park in Guelph. Among other things, Mr. Ichim says, Const. Showan drove Mr. Ichim’s dying mother to and from hospital appointments and eventually became so trusted that he shared many personal confidences with him. Mr. Ichim was arrested on the morning of Saturday, June 26, several hours before the G20 riot. He was initially charged with conspiracy to commit mischief, but those charges were dropped. Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/activist-in-g20-undercover-police-case-threatens-hunger-strike/article2269927/