The lawyer representing pro-Palestinian activists accused of criminal harassment toward Immigration Minister Marc Miller believes the charges represent an attempt to "criminalize free speech." Miller pauses while speaking to reporters at the Liberal caucus retreat in Nanaimo, B.C., Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

MONTREAL - The lawyer representing pro-Palestinian activists who are accused of criminally harassing federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller says the charges are an attempt to "criminalize free speech."

Barbara Bedont says her three clients were protesting outside a Liberal byelection campaign office in Montreal's Verdun borough last week when they saw Miller and two of his employees in a car and confronted them, yelling messages such as “shame on you!”

Mohanned Mansour, Samar Elkahlout and Wendy Ing were charged with criminal harassment and mischief for allegedly damaging the car Miller was in, and were given conditions Tuesday that include a requirement to stay at least 50 metres away from the minister and the two employees.

Bedont denies that her clients damaged the car or posed any threat to Miller or the others. She said the case, instead, is part of a growing trend by politicians and police of trying to suppress free speech.

“There have been cases in the past in which the judges have clearly said that freedom of speech, it's not just for popular, happy, speech. It's for speech that could be offensive, that could be insulting, and politicians in particular have to tolerate that,” she said.

“And instead, what's happening is that politicians and police officers, they're ignoring this and they're bringing more and more cases against protesters, particularly pro-Palestinian protesters.”

Miller’s office declined to comment because the matter is before the courts.

Elkahlout — who is also known as Samar Alkhdour — had been trying to bring her daughter to Canada earlier this year, but the 13-year-old died in the Gaza Strip before permission was granted. She has previously told reporters that her daughter suffered from serious medical conditions and died of malnutrition.

Since then she has held regular sit-ins outside Miller's Montreal riding office in protest of the Canadian government's policies on Palestinian refugees.

Bedont said the conditions imposed Tuesday are a "compromise" that put limits on the accused while still allowing them to continue their protests, including outside the door of Miller's office when he and the two employees aren't there.

She said the conditions initially proposed by the Crown included staying away from Miller’s office and not denouncing him on social media, but that she challenged those on the grounds that they violate her clients’ rights protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“They have the right to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly,” she said. “And so that's why we challenge these conditions because the conditions basically would have infringed those rights.”

The case comes as some politicians have called for harsher penalties for those who harass MPs. In July, former public safety minister Marco Mendicino called for the creation of "protective zones" around political constituency offices to shield members of Parliament and their staff from a rising tide of threatening behaviour.

Bedont said she supports the objective of protecting politicians and civil servants from violence. "But if the objective is to just shut down criticism and free speech, then I doubt that any law would withstand a Charter challenge," she said.

She said the case against her clients is scheduled to return to court in November, but she hopes prosecutors will decide to drop the charges before then.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2024