Canadian Businessman on Trial in U.S. for Trading with Cuba

A Canadian businessman, James Sabzali, was placed on trial in a Philadelphia court last week for selling water purification supplies to Cuban hospitals. In an unprecedented move, Sabzali and business colleagues were charged by the U.S. Justice Department on 76 counts of breaching the Trading with the Enemy Act. The irony of this case is that not only were Szabali's business dealings with Cuba entirely legal under Canadian law, they were also encouraged by the Canadian government. In 1992 Parliament passed the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act which forbids Canadian companies as well as Canadian subsidiaries of U.S. companies operating in Canada from complying with the U.S. blockade against Cuba.

It is reported that 35 of the charges against Szabali stem from a period when, self-employed and working for his own Canadian company based in Hamilton, he accepted a contract from a U.S. chemical company and shipped chemicals to Cuba through Canada, Italy, Spain and Mexico - all countries that do not honour the U.S. blockade. Szabali's trial is expected to last three weeks. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment as well as a penalty of approximately $U.S. 2 million.

Officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in Ottawa have stated that they are monitoring the trial in Philadelphia. Many activists in Canada and the U.S. have called on the Canadian government to condemn this trial as a blatant attack against a Canadian citizen and Canadian laws.