Lawyer Quits Terror Cases After Death Threats

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031204.wroco1204_3/BNStory/National/

"Fighting for his composure, lawyer Rocco Galati said Thursday that he will drop all of his terrorism-related cases after a death threat that he said he believes came from an intelligence agency.

Mr. Galati is known as a tough-minded counsellor and he said he has put up with plenty of abuse for representing people many Canadians have no sympathy for. He has endured angry communications before and once found a strangled cat on his doorstep, but he almost broke down Thursday as he described his disillusionment upon receiving the threat.

“I'm not on the verge of tears for my safety. I'm on the verge of tears because it means we now live in Colombia. It means that the rule of law is meaningless. It means that lawyers cannot represent anyone even in what you profess to be a democracy here in Canada,” he said. “It comments on where we've arrived as a society.”

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regardless of who made the threat.


'First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me.'


Pastor Martin Niemöller -- German critic of Naziism and Holocaust survivor

I'd say that it has been pretty much swinging freely for 60 years.

The only thig is, we did not THEN know who the Nazis were.

Now we do.

All of the threats were made by telephone, by people who *claimed* to be with Canadian or US intel. I doubt they'd be that stupid- the only people to benefit from this would be al-Quaida. I smell a diversion.