Engler, a long-time anti-war activist, was arrested by police in Montreal on Thursday for his fierce criticism of the Israeli regime and its genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Press TV reported
His arrest came after a notorious Zionist figure in Montreal Dahlia Kurtz lodged a complaint against Engler over his pro-Palestine advocacy and criticism of Kurtz’s rabid anti-Palestinian rhetoric.
After police came to arrest him, he took to social media to assert that he had only responded to Kurtz's “racist, violent, anti-Palestinian posts” on X, rejecting her claim that he harassed her.
“I’ve never met Kurtz. Nor have I messaged or emailed her. Nor have I threatened her. I don’t even follow her on X (Twitter’s algorithm puts her posts in my feed),” he wrote.
“Engler is being held at the Bordeaux jail in eastern Montreal. During today’s hearing he stated that jail staff had limited his ability to phone his lawyer and had refused to provide him with a pen and paper to take notes during his calls with council,” his father said in a statement after the hearing.
“He is in relatively good spirits considering the circumstances and insists on maintaining his freedom to speak publicly about these outrageous and politically motivated charges against him. He has asked supporters to pursue maximum visibility.”
Meanwhile, his arrest has been widely condemned with journalists and activists across the world calling it a brazen violation of freedom of speech and expression in Canada.
Canada-based lawyer and activist Faisal Kutty, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), said Engler’s arrest is “nothing short of Kafkaesque and makes a mockery of free speech rights.”
“Canadian prosecutors refused to free Yves Engler "unless he would agree not to speak publicly about the case including naming directly or indirectly the influencer who filed the complaint against him."
He is currently spending the weekend in jail waiting for a bail hearing scheduled for Monday morning at the Quebec courthouse in Montreal, his friends and close aides informed.
Engler, who often appears on Tehran-based Press TV as a guest commentator, was set to be released late on Friday but he refused to be silenced on his pro-Palestine advocacy work, which judges set as a condition.
“Engler is being held at the Bordeaux jail in eastern Montreal. During today’s hearing he stated that jail staff had limited his ability to phone his lawyer and had refused to provide him with a pen and paper to take notes during his calls with council,” his father said in a statement after the hearing.
“He is in relatively good spirits considering the circumstances and insists on maintaining his freedom to speak publicly about these outrageous and politically motivated charges against him. He has asked supporters to pursue maximum visibility.”
Meanwhile, his arrest has been widely condemned with journalists and activists across the world calling it a brazen violation of freedom of speech and expression in Canada.
Canada-based lawyer and activist Faisal Kutty, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), said Engler’s arrest is “nothing short of Kafkaesque and makes a mockery of free speech rights.”
“Canadian prosecutors refused to free Yves Engler "unless he would agree not to speak publicly about the case including naming directly or indirectly the influencer who filed the complaint against him."
Tim McSorley, the Ontario-based national coordinator with The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, termed the activist’s arrest “outrageous” and said all charges against him “must be dropped.”
“The idea that his posting criticisms of Israel's genocide, and criticizing those who support it, should merit charges of "harassment and indecent communication" is bad enough,” he wrote in an X post.
“But to then charge him with "intimidation, harassment, harassing communication & 'entrave' (interference) towards a police officer" & threaten to hold him overnight so he doesn't "re-offend" is staggering.”
Margaret Kimberley, New York-based journalist and activist, said she supports him “100 percent.”
“Zionist forces are taking away our rights of freedom of speech. It shouldn't be easy for them.”
MNA
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