Us environmental activist Tre Arrow is fighting extradition to the United States, where he is charged with setting fire to logging and cement trucks in 2001. An answer from the Canadian government is expected in the next few days.
Arrow has been in jail since March after being arrested in Victoria. A long time raw food vegan, Arrow went on a hunger strike for 42 days to protest his incarseration and the injustice of the US "justice" system. He has since returned to a vegan diet to sustain himself through the long fight ahead. He trades the cooked portions of the vegetarian meals with other inmates for raw courses, such as apples and salad.
He appeared Wednesday for his monthly detention review where the adjudicator assesses whether it's still necessary to keep him in detention. .
His lawyer, Nagar Azamudeh, said the board is expected to rule in the next few days on whether Arrow should be deported immediately or allowed to make a refugee claim.
"The Canadian authorities will get themselves on a slippery slope if any activism will be viewed as terrorism and people can potentially face charges that are much more serious," Azamudeh said. A lot of it has to do to the changes after Sept. 11 to the law," she said
His friends describe him as one of the most peaceful people they know, a characteristic reflected in his strict vegan diet.
Carrie Lafferty, a bodyworker who uses energy to heal people, drove from Seattle to see him Wednesday and fill him up with fresh, raw berries from her garden.
He is being sustained by letters and prayers sent by conservationists around the world, said David Barabesh, who befriended Arrow while camping in Squamish.
"Tre's one of the few people who actually walks his talk. If he believes in something then he applies his life to that belief. He believes in living much more simply on the Earth and leaving a lighter footprint."
Arrow was listed by the FBI as one of the most wanted fugitives in America for 19 months.
He is among four people charged with setting logging trucks on fire outside Portland on June 1, 2001, to protest a planned timber cut on Mount Hood.
"I've already been branded as guilty in the U.S. and that makes it impossible to get a fair trial," Arrow said while being led away after the hearing. "I want to stay in Canada and get refugee status."
Support for his case is desperately needed, please send cheques and international money orders to:
Tre Arrow Legal Defense Fund
p.o. box 229
Roberts Creek, BC
V0N 2W0
Canada
www.trearrow.org