Pro-Palestinian Activism
Singh is also known for his pro-Palestinian activism and for organizing protests in and around Montreal.
On September 9, 2002, he participated in a protest against a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which was to be presented by the pro-Israel Hillel club at Concordia University, with support from the Asper Foundation. The talk was canceled when confrontations between protestors, police and security agents became violent, resulting in widespread coverage in the media, including an article in The Globe and Mail written by Singh himself. (See full text of article here: )
In January 2003, Singh was deported by Israeli authorities after having gone to the West Bank on an invitation from the International Solidarity Movement. He had initially been denied entrance to the country upon his arrival in December 2002, but fought the decision in court. Though he won the right to stay for three weeks, he was barred from visiting the West Bank. Singh refused to abide by the order and made public his reasons for doing so, writing: "It's not for an occupying power to decide who can or can't enter Palestine... I've decided then to ignore the Israeli security services and listen to the Palestinian activists. It was an easy choice to make." On January 8, 2003, Singh was nabbed by undercover police officers in Jerusalem. He was held at the Russian Compound and then the Maasiyahu Prison, before being deported back to Canada.
On January 20, 2003, Singh was to speak at a demonstration in support of students facing disciplinary charges for the September 9 protest against Benjamin Netanyahu. He was arrested on university campus by police and charged with illegal assembly, obstruction, mischief, assault, conspiracy and breaking prior conditions, for the September 9 protest.
All five charges against Singh were dismissed by December 2005. Singh mounted his own defense and filed an abuse of process motion after the prosecution failed to disclose more than 30 unedited videos taken by surveillance cameras the day of the protest. He put it to the court that the videos showed inconsistencies with the evidence given by security guards and supported his version of events. In his ruling, Montreal Municipal Court Judge Pierre Fontaine wrote that the Concordia University Administration had exhibited "gross negligence" that amounted to a "flagrant violation" of Singh's right to a fair trial. The dismissal of the charges at that time meant that Singh enjoyed his first totally clean judicial record in years.
The Crown successfully appealed Judge Fontaine's decision and the charges were reinstated. In his judgement rendered on August 23, 2006, Superior Court of Quebec Judge James Brunton wrote: "the trial judge erred when he held that officials of Concordia University were grossly negligent in not volunteering the production of the videocassettes before receiving a subpoena duces tecum during the motion hearing. My reading of the transcripts leads me to the exact opposite conclusion. Officials of Concordia were exemplary in their co-operation with the prosecution and the Court. They were exemplary in their dealings with the Respondent during the hearing of the motion."
On April 19, 2006, Singh was attending a pro-Palestinian poetry-reading/music fundraising event, organized by Sumoud at the El Salon cafe, when he was arrested by Montreal police. Reports conflict as to what happened exactly. Police say they were responding to an allegation of assault reported by a "taxi driver" outside the cafe. They say they attempted to question Singh about the alleged assault and pursued him inside the cafe to do so, but that many of the 70 people in attendance attempted to obstruct them. Singh says the man who police say was a "taxi driver" was wearing a suit and driving an unmarked SUV. He says that the man pushed him after Singh asked him what he was doing parked on the side of the road wearing an earpiece. Police ended up charging Singh and one other person with obstruction, and three others were given municipal fines.
Read more about this topic: Jaggi Singh