By Canadian Press

Family of Quebec man imprisoned in Oman seeks Ottawa’s help to bring him home

May 29, 2019 | 1:44 PM

MONTREAL — The family of a Quebec man imprisoned in Oman appealed Monday to the Canadian government to help repatriate him before he is extradited to the United Arab Emirates on fraud charges, saying they fear for his safety.

Andre Gauthier was imprisoned in Dubai for almost 18 months between 2015 and 2017, and has been jailed in Oman since March, when authorities stopped him from returning to Canada during an appeal of an eight-year sentence, according to his son.

The 65-year-old’s son and his lawyer describe Gauthier as a whistleblower who alerted UAE authorities to irregular dealings in a gold-trading company he was involved with. But they claim he became one of the scapegoats in the $30-million fraud after the real perpetrators left the country.

They want Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step in to stop Gauthier from being returned to Dubai, where they say he faces potential human rights violations and has little chance of a fair trial.

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“We no longer trust the system, we fear for his life,” his son, Alexis Gauthier, said in a phone interview.

“He’s 65 years old, an old man. He has high blood pressure, and we’re very scared about all of this because every single time something happens, it makes no sense.”

Alexis Gauthier says his father, a mining industry expert originally from the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region north of Quebec City, became involved in the company Gold AE in 2013 and became a minority shareholder.

He said his father’s troubles began when he decided to report suspicious practices he’d observed and was hit in return with a barrage of criminal complaints from shareholders, leading to his arrest in late 2015.

After spending 18 months in prison without charges, Gauthier says his father was released but later convicted on charges related to the fraud and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Desperate, running out of money to pay for lawyers and losing confidence in the ability of Canadian authorities to help him, Gauthier decided to abandon the lengthy appeals process and head to neighbouring Oman, where he was arrested in March when he tried to get an emergency passport to return to Canada, his son said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said consular officials are aware of the case, noting her parliamentary secretary, Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, has met with Omani officials to discuss it.

“I very much understand and sympathize deeply with the family,” she told reporters on Monday. “These are always difficult situations, and we’re going to continue working hard at it.”

But Alexis Gauthier believes the situation has dragged on long enough.

With the help of local MP Richard Martel, he is appealing directly to Trudeau to get personally involved in pressuring authorities to bring his father home.

He says his father has missed out on a number of family events, including the death of his father and the birth of a granddaughter.

And now, he’s become particularly worried after his usually optimistic father sent messages suggesting he’d rather die than return to Dubai. “Right now we just want my father to be safe back home, and we want justice to be done,” he said, adding his father would be willing to undergo a judicial process in Canada.

Radha Stirling, a U.K.-based lawyer who is advocating for the family through her group Detained in Dubai, says prisoners in the United Arab Emirates are often subjected to human rights violations, including overcrowding and witholding of medical attention.

“You have 60 people in what should be a cell for just 10 people. It’s just horrendous conditions,” she said in a phone interview.

Stirling estimates that Gauthier also would have “zero chance” of a fair trial in Dubai, where criminal investigations can drag on for years and suspects can be jailed for years without evidence.

However, she says officials in Oman have expressed a desire to strengthen ties to the West to boost tourism and foreign investment, which might make it receptive to a request from the highest levels of the Canadian government to stop the extradition.

She said Canada should also be approaching the United Arab Emirates to see if they’re willing to drop the charges.

Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press