[Update to 1/9/03 Indymedia post] -- While detained in Israel, Jaggi Singh reports being beaten by police. Deported from Israel, he is now back in Canada.

Singh, whose visa had expired, has speculated that his "nabbing was done by a squad of cops that are dedicated to rounding up illegals, and that I was basically being dealt with like any other illegal worker, which is why I was in the Ministry of Interior offices."

In a statement to friends and supporters, Singh asks that people not "judge my visit [to Palestine] based on mainstream media reports that have been really superficial and sometimes misleading. I came here to Palestine like many other people, to volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement, and to write about the situation here, from my perspective as a social justice activist and an alternative journalist (as I've done so before in India and elsewhere). My visit to Palestine is directly connected to the organizing work I'm involved with in Montreal, most specifically with the No One Is Illegal campaign, as well as support for Palestinian solidarity work with SPHR and a ISM-Montreal group."

Readers of Baltimore Indymedia may remember the trip to Palestine by Baltimore activist Joshua Brown reported last year by Indymedia. While Joshua Brown, also part of the ISM, was able to dodge bullets, Jaggi Singh found himself in a position unable to avoid the blows by Israeli police.

See Jaggi Singh's report on the double suicide bombings in Tele Aviv and the situation of foreign workers:
www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm .

See Joshua Brown's reports from Palestine:
baltimore.indymedia.org/feature/display/1825/index.php .

This information about Jaggi Singh's trip comes via an excellent resource, the Socialist Register listserv:
www.yorku.ca/socreg/ .