The International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) strongly condemns the recent and disturbing police raid targeting the home of human rights activist Charlotte Kates by the Vancouver Police Department in Canada. Charlotte is a well-known and tireless advocate for human rights for the longest time not only for Palestinians but of all repressed peoples across the globe. She is also a longstanding member of the IADL. IADL, founded in 1946 is a non governmental organization dedicated to the goals of the UN Charter and has a long history of protecting human rights defenders.
We received credible reports that the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) did not produce the warrant in advance and used excessive force to enter her house. They arrived in an Armored Police Carrier (APC), firing flashbang grenades. They immediately broke down her door and destroyed property, including shattering her bedroom window. The VPD violently handcuffed and removed Charlotte, taking her a block away without an opportunity to put on shoes, then told her she was free to go. Computers and phones were reportedly seized. A warrant was left in the home which includes the claim of searching for evidence for “conspiracy to incite hate”. It also states they were searching for “written speeches” from a rally in which Charlotte did not attend and was not even in the country for.
The Vancouver Police Department raided her home using such unnecessary militarized force with the aim of humiliating and instilling fear not just against Charlotte but her community and anyone who chooses to advocate for the human rights of Palestinians and strongly expresses solidarity with their liberation. We view these actions by the Canadian police as playing into the larger context of orchestrated political repression designed to silence those speaking out about the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the increasing Israeli violations of international law throughout occupied Palestine.
Several months ago, the Canadian government accused Charlotte of “hate speech” in violation of her protected free speech rights. Charlotte was targeted by right wing forces in Canada because of her effective advocacy for Palestine and her valuable legal analysis of the Palestinian liberation struggle, including the right to self-determination and the right to resist recognized under international law.
Despite their attempts to criminalize Charlotte, they failed to charge her, showing clearly that they abused the law to try to silence her by restricting her from attending rallies and public meetings in Canada. Those restrictions were later lifted due to the state’s inability to produce evidence to proceed with a charge. Despite this, her exercise of protected free speech, no matter how scathing to the oppressors, their allies, enablers and supporters, was used as a pretext to arbitrarily raid her home.
It is important to state that this raid came only a month after the Canadian government joined the US government in arbitrarily designating Samidoun, an organization that Charlotte was previously affiliated with, as a “terrorist organization.”
We know that Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is an international coalition of activists dedicated to supporting Palestinian prisoners in their fight for freedom, stemming from the 2011 hunger strike of prisoners in Israeli jails. There is no credible and independent basis to claim it has ties to any so-called designated terrorists.
We are informed that the organization aims to raise awareness of the conditions, rights and demands of Palestinian political prisoners. They are at the heart of the broader struggle for Palestinian national liberation, confronting Israeli oppression daily and leading the movement for justice.
We learned that the number of Palestinians held captive in colonial jails has expanded exponentially during the ongoing genocide, with close to 11,000 Palestinian imprisoned since October 7th, highlighting the importance of Samidoun’s work.
IADL joins the National Lawyers Guild of the US and others in their condemnation of these designations as this will have a broad chilling effect on Palestine solidarity work in North America. Above all, it is designed to disrupt the unprecedented global tidal wave of support for the liberation of Palestine.
As international lawyers committed to the basic individual and collective rights of peoples and with a long history of opposing fascism, it is our vow and legal duty to speak up against genocide and repression anywhere in the world.
The crack down on our constitutionally protected speech in Canada and anywhere else in the world is a worrisome development at any moment in time but in particular right now as social movements confront the US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza, the Israeli war on Lebanon, and the general global trend toward fascism.
This is an embarrassment to the rule of law, and we call on all peoples of conscience to stand with us as we defend human rights advocates like Charlotte and social movements that practice their constitutional right to freedom of speech, against the genocide of the Palestinian people.
We must fight back before it is too late. An attack on one is an attack on all! #
International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL)
National Lawyers Guild International (NLG-US)
National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL -Philippines)
Progressive Lawyers Association (CHD- Turkey)
American Association of Jurists (AAJ)
Arab Lawyers Union (ALU)
Frantz Fanon Foundation
Arab Lawyers Association (UK)
Indian Association of Lawyers (IAL)
Portuguese Association of Democratic Lawyers
Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers (UK)
Climate Activists for Palestine (Ireland)
National Association of Democratic Lawyers (South Africa)
Democratic Lawyers Association of Bangladesh (DLAB)
Centro di ricerca ed elaborazione per la democrazia ( Italy)
Giuristi Democratici (Italy)
Nouvelles Alternatives pour un Développement Durable en Afrique (NADDAF-Togo)