Federal government should push for release of Canadian from German jail

I wish to comment on the article published in the Telegram on July 18, 2018, regarding Monika Schaefer, the Canadian jailed in Munich, Germany, since Jan. 3, 2018, without bail for her opinion about an historical event — namely the Holocaust.

This punishment by the German government of jailing people for their opinion about history is an outrage and, as pointed out in the article, contrary to international human rights laws.

All right-thinking people must demand to Germany that this cruel, oppressive law must be repealed. Time’s up that any democracy would inflict upon anyone jailing for an opinion about history. Who can possibly think such a process is right?

Apparently B’nai Brith Canada does, incorrectly implying Canada’s hate speech laws are really no different than those of Germany.

This is simply not true. Canada’s criminal law or even any provincial laws in no way would propose jailing any person for their opinion about an historical event.

Monika Schaefer’s non-crime is for making a video apologizing to her deceased mother for blaming her for not trying to stop, as best she could, the Holocaust. This is a topic about which Schaefer no longer accepts as having happened, as the current orthodoxy on the topic claims. By voicing this “heretic” opinion Schaefer is now in a German jail.

To add to this shameful situation of the German government brutally mistreating a Canadian citizen, the Canadian government has betrayed our own citizen by doing virtually nothing for her, nor even protesting to the German rulers about punishing a Canadian for a non-crime. The actions of the German government are contrary to international law on civil and political rights which proclaim no government should jail or penalize persons for their opinions about historical events.

The Canadian government should be monitoring the trial and insisting on her immediate release and, if she wishes, have her returned to Canada. Instead, the Ottawa bureaucrats hide behind the Privacy Act refusing to discuss the matter as if the liberty of a Canadian citizen is of no consequence.

I urge all freedom-loving Canadians to write to their members of Parliament, to the federal justice minister and to the foreign affairs minister and to Prime Minister Trudeau to demand they do all they can to have Schaefer released at once and the absurd charges dropped.

Germany taints its claim to being a true democracy by having these Kafkaesque laws of jailing people for their opinion about history. Time’s Up Germany! Canadians demand the release of our fellow citizen Monika Schaefer.

Upon conviction Schaefer could be sentenced to up to three years in prison for her non-crime. Until Schaefer is released forthwith I call upon all Canadians to boycott Germany and German products of any description.

Robin Reid St. John’s