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Canadian activist Charlotte Kates, the international coordinator of Samidoun, discussed her arrest by Canadian authorities in an August 5, 2024 interview on Ofogh TV (Iran). She said that she was arrested merely for talking about the legitimacy of Palestinian armed resistance and the "brave, heroic October 7 operation," at the behest of Zionist organizations and political officials. Kates said that this was because of the "lie of so-called Western democracy." Kates was arrested for praising the October 7 attack on Israel and a list of Palestinian terrorist groups. Charlotte Kates is the wife of Khaled Barakat, a member of the executive committee of Masar Badil who is a former senior official with the PFLP – Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. For more about Samidoun, see Special Dispatch No. 11374.
Host: "Did you have the experience of being arrested by the police?"
Charlotte Kates: "I mean yes, I was arrested in Canada, in April, simply because I spoke at a demonstration and a rally. We have mass rallies and demonstrations held in Vancouver. We are seeing this in cities and locations around the world, in the world's capitals, particularly in the heart of the imperial core, in the countries that are arming and funding the genocide that Israel is bringing... Hundreds, if not thousands, if not tens of thousands of people, participating in mass demonstrations. And they want to criminalize speaking about the resistance.
"I spoke about the brave, heroic October 7 operation and the legitimacy of the resistance, and why I want to get the resistance organizations off the so-called terrorist list. And now the police department arrested me and is seeking to pursue hate crime charges against me at the behest of Zionist organizations and political officials. This is because of the lie of so-called Western democracy and concern for human rights.
"What we see across the West, in the U.S., Canada, Germany, France, and Britain are thousands of people being arrested, simply for demonstrating on their campuses, and setting up tents, to say that their universities should stop investing in genocide. What we are seeing in Germany are hundreds of people who are being arrested for doing nothing more than saying: 'From the river to the sea Palestine will be free'.
"I, myself, in Canada, have been arrested and am facing upcoming potential charges for doing nothing more than talking about the legitimacy of the Palestinian armed resistance and Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. This [is] just a very common experience of what we are seeing..."
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