BY ROSALIND RAYMOND
TORONTO - A victory was won against the police frame-up of
Dudley Laws, a prominent Black activist against police
brutality, on September 10 when the Ontario Court of Appeal
overturned a 1994 conviction of Laws on charges of smuggling
immigrants across the U.S.-Canada border. In a new hearing
October 14, prosecutors dropped the charges against Laws, who
agreed to carry out 200 hours of community service.
Laws is a leader of the Black Action Defense Committee, which has organized many protests against police killings in Canada. He runs a consulting business that advises immigrants and refugees on citizenship and immigration matters.
Laws was arrested on Oct. 15, 1991, after a four-month undercover cop operation that included video surveillance and phone wiretaps. The operation involved 30 officers and staff of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Metropolitan Toronto Police with a budget of $400,000. In a February 1994 jury trial, Laws was found guilty of conspiring to violate U.S. and Canadian immigration laws and sentenced to a nine-month jail term. The only evidence against Laws at the trial was presented by four undercover cops. These cops said that Laws had "transported" them across the border after they posed as undocumented immigrants.
Laws and his supporters charged that he was the victim of an entrapment operation that was part of a police vendetta against him because of his long record of opposition to cop brutality. In 1991 the Metro Toronto Police Association sued Laws for libel after he called the Toronto cops "the most murderous in North America."
During the trial Laws' lawyers got access to spy files compiled by the Metro Toronto Police Intelligence Services in April 1989, which documented cops' surveillance operations against individuals and groups who were active in the fight against police brutality, racism, and apartheid in South Africa.
While the government and cops had secured a conviction against Laws in the trial, there continued to be widespread public support for Laws in his uncompromising stature as a Black activist opposed to police abuse. The revelations of police spying on antiracist political activities further weakened the government's case against Laws.
The Ontario Court of Appeal withdrew the charges against Laws in September, saying he had not gotten a fair trial because the judge and prosecutors held three private meetings to discuss police wiretap evidence from which Laws and his lawyers were excluded. As part of the legal agreement to not retry the case, Laws will perform 200 hours of community service.
In a November 2 phone interview, Laws said, "The throwing out of the charges against me is a victory against racism and police entrapment." Laws described how after the court victory, "I have been stopped on the street and received many phone calls of congratulations from people saying they are happy I will be doing 200 hours of service in their community."
Laws described his long history of experiencing police harassment. "First the harassment started with parking tickets, then it moved on to speeding tickets, then they harassed members of my family, and then they moved on to criminal charges.
"I'm relieved that the seven-year legal fight is over," Laws declared, "and that I'll have more time now to be involved in fighting racism and issues that affect everyone in the community."