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Below is a collection of articles on the Sabzali case by Steve Eckardt, plus a final Reuters report on Cuba's support. Most were written for the Canadian Post for which Eckardt is the Philadelphia stringer on this case.
Eckardt was a long-time Chicago railroad worker who is now a member of the Philadelphia local of the National Writers Union.
Articles appear in reverse chronological order. Eckardt [Seckardt@aol.com] welcomes inquiries, comments, and leads.
U.S. Ups Sentence on Canadian Cuba Salesman;
Water Purification Sales a 'National Security' Offence
By Steve Eckardt
16 October 2002
PHILADELPHIA -- Sentencing authorities here have reviewed the offences on which former Hamilton native James Sabzali was convicted and raised their severity, adding a year to the term he faces.
Sabzali was convicted in April, along with two U.S. executives, of conspiracy and multiple counts of violating the Trading with the Enemy Act for sales of water purification supplies to Cuba. Eight of Sabazli's convictions related to sales made while he was living and working in Canada, bringing a diplomatic protest by Ottawa against possible U.S. violation of Canadian sovereignty.
The newly increased penalty --a prison term raised from 41-51 to 53-62 months --is based on "the defendant's role as a manager in the conspiracy," according to a confidential sentencing document obtained by this reporter. Sabzali was North American sales and marketing manager for the Bro-Tech corporation at the end of the period in question.
The sentencing document also determined that Sabazli's offences were against U.S. "national security." Its conclusion is based on the official 1962 proclamation establishing the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
"The present government of Cuba is incompatible with the principles and objectives of the Inter-American system ... in light of the subversive offensive of Sino-Soviet Communism with which the Government of Cuba is publicly aligned," the document quotes the proclamation as saying.
It continues: "the United States, in accordance with its international obligations, is prepared to take all necessary action to promote national and hemispheric security by isolating the present government of Cuba and thereby reducing the threat posed by its alignment with the communist powers."
Based on this 1962 proclamation, authorities determining Sabazli's sentence conclude that "the purpose for imposing the embargo was to promote national security, therefore this is a national security control" offence.
Sentencing is currently pending the outcome of defence motions for the judge to "set aside" the jury's verdicts. While legal experts agree that such motions are infrequently granted, Judge Mary McLaughlin did set aside the conviction of one U.S. executive in the case this past May on the grounds of "insufficient evidence."
The U.S. is appealing that ruling.
Meanwhile Sabzali continues to be free on bail, with an electronic monitoring device on his ankle. The deed to his house, his passport and those of his wife and two children are in the hands of the authorities.
Appeal Heard in Canada/Cuba Embargo Case
by Steve Eckardt
17 September 2002
PHILADELPHIA - Four teams of defence attorneys and a former U.S. Court of Appeals judge argued here today for overturning the guilty verdicts of Canadian James Sabzali and his U.S. employers, convicted of conspiracy and multiple counts of violating the U.S. Trading with the Enemy Act.
Sabzali, a former Hamilton native, is both the first Canadian and first foreign national found guilty of violating the U.S. embargo against Cuba. He was convicted of conspiracy and 20 embargo violations, eight of them while resident in Canada. The case, widely considered a challenge to Canadian sovereignty, involved the sales of water purification supplies to Cuba.
Attorneys today presented wide-ranging objections to the trial, asking Judge Mary McLaughlin to overturn the jury's guilty verdicts. This past May McLaughlin set aside, on the grounds of insufficient evidence, the verdict on one U.S. executive convicted of a single count of conspiracy, an uncommon ruling currently being appealed by the government.
The hearing "went pretty well," according to Sabzali, reflecting a positive if restrained mood to be seen amongst the defence following today's proceedings. Defence lawyers withheld comment, except to praise the judge as "hardworking" and "independent." McLaughlin regularly interrupted attorneys, especially the government's, with questions.
The defence argued that "prosecutorial misconduct" required the guilty verdicts be overturned, focusing on "enormously damaging" misrepresentations in the government's closing arguments and improper instructions given the jury.
Prosecution claims in closing arguments that the defendants "ripped and shredded" documents --acts which did not occur-- had "a tremendous impact on the jury," declared the defence, especially with news of Enron and Arthur Anderson document shreddings headlined at the time. The jury had been subsequently instructed to disregard the shredding allegation.
A second prosecutor's closing fulsome praise for the lead government attorney --"vouching," an unallowable practice-- "blew the socks off" the judge's attempts to undo the damage of the shredding charge, argued defence attorney Gregory Craig, and "undermined" the whole trial. Craig is best known for representing President Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal.
The prosecution, while granting a number of rule violations occurred, insisted they were "incidental."
"What convicted the defendants?" asked U.S. Attorney Michael Levy. "Nothing that [prosecutors] said. It was the evidence." Prosecutors reiterated the government's position that U.S. law bars sales to Cuba of material manufactured outside the U.S. if there is "any American involvement."
Today's proceedings concluded with Judge McLaughlin moving the 3 October sentencing date of course unnecessary if all verdicts are overturned-- to a date at least 30 days later in response to a defence motion.
Sabzali attorney Robert Welsh asked for the continuance, in part to seek "disclosure of [Washington's] communications with Canada," communications which he argued may raise issues relevant to the defence. Ottawa filed two notes with the U.S. State Department following the convictions, the latter characterized as a "strong protest" by Welsh.
Washington has reportedly not responded to the notes.
Sabzali, 43, faces 205 years in prison and over US$5 million dollars in fines, although prosecutors initially sought a 41-51 month jail term. However sentencing officials recently determined that Sabazli's later position as North American sales and marketing manager warranted a term of 53-62 months.
Sabzali has termed his case a "politically motivated." According to Joseph D'Cruz, professor of international business at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, "American rules on [the Cuban embargo] are very strict, almost draconian."
The Canadian Foreign Extra-territorial Measures Act requires Canadian citizens not to comply with the U.S. embargo.
Sabzali Sentencing Postponed;
Guilty Verdict on U.S. Defendant Set Aside
by Steve Eckardt
22 August 2002
PHILADELPHIA - The sentencing of Canadian salesman James Sabzali, convicted here of violating the U.S. embargo against Cuba while resident in Canada, has been postponed until 22 August. Sabzali had been found guilty in early April of twenty violations of the1918 U.S. Trading with the Enemy Act for sales of water purification supplies to Cuba. Prosecutors are seeking a non-parole sentence of 41 to 51 months and unspecified fines for Sabzali and two U.S. codefendants.
"This is a routine continuance," declared lead prosecutor U.S. Assistant Attorney Joseph Poluka in an interview. "There's nothing sinister here."
Sabazli's attorney, Catherine Recker, characterized the re-scheduling as having "no significance."
However, in an unusual development 31 May, the judge granted a routine if rarely-granted defence motion to "set aside" the jury's guilty verdict of one Sabzali codefendant, U.S. executive Stefan Brodie, who had been charged with a single count of conspiracy. "There is insufficient evidence from which a jury could conclude that the defendant [Stefan Brodie] knowingly and willingly entered into the charged conspiracy," ruled Judge Mary McLaughlin. The government has announced its intention to appeal the decision.
The court has yet to hear arguments on defence motions to negate the jury's verdict on Sabzali and his other codefendants, Pennsylvania-based Bro-Tech corporation and its vice president, Don Brodie. Sabzali, Bro-Tech, and Don Brodie were found guilty of 20, 43, and 33 counts of Trading with the Enemy, respectively, in addition to single conspiracy charges.
Barring sudden intervention by the Canadian government, observers expect the convictions and prison terms of Sabzali and the remaining codefendants to stand. U.S. policy toward Cuba has been hardening in recent months.
Toronto trade lawyer Barry Appleton told the Edmonton Journal that Canada could challenge the decision in a NAFTA panel or at the International Court of Justice, "but by the time that's heard, Mr. Sabzali should have finished his 51-month term."
The convictions had occasioned an outcry in Canada, where eight of Sabazli's charges of embargo violation occurred. Critics considered the application of U.S. law to transactions made in Canada a violation of Canadian sovereignty and cited the Canadian Foreign Extra-Territorial Measures Act prohibition of its citizens from complying with the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
Cuba joined in protesting the convictions, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque telling a Havana anti-embargo rally of 800,000 that "the Cuban people and government express their support and solidarity with Mr. Sabzali, his family and friends. We support his right to trade with Cuba without being condemned by another country's laws, even if that country is the most powerful on the planet." Roque subsequently brought up the case before the UN Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva.
The Scottish Parliament has passed a motion condemning the conviction of Sabzali and declaring "that the USA is in breach of international law and opinion by refusing to accept UN resolutions passed over the last decade demanding an end to its destructive and damaging economic blockade of Cuba."
Toronto attorney David Robertson, who had assisted the Sabzali defence, earlier told the Edmonton Journal that "launching of diplomatic protest [before the sentencing] is absolutely essential in order for Canada to reaffirm what its position is under international law," Robertson said. Canadian authorities were last reported to be "looking into" the case.
New Postponement for Canadian Convicted of Violating U.S. Embargo on Cuba
by Steve Eckardt
22 August 2002
PHILADELPHIA (CP) -- Today's scheduled sentencing of Canadian businessman James Sabzali for violating the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba has been moved to 3 October, according to lead prosecutor U.S. Assistant Attorney Joseph Poluka. An initial appeal of the conviction --yet to have been heard-- is itself rescheduled for 17 September.
"The continuances are merely to accommodate the schedules of the defence attorneys," said Poluka in an interview.
Sabzali, a former resident of Hamilton now living in suburban Philadelphia, was found guilty in early April of violating the U.S. Trading with the Enemy Act for selling water purification supplies to Cuba on behalf of international subsidiaries of the Pennsylvania-based Bro-Tech Corp. He is the first Canadian found guilty of violating the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
Prosecutors are seeking a non-parole sentence of 41 to 51 months and unspecified fines for Sabzali. Two U.S. co-defendants are also involved in the proceedings.
While continuances are routine in the U.S. legal system, this second postponement of appeal and sentencing hearings occurs within the context of a case involving the contentious issues of Canadian sovereignty and U.S. policy towards Cuba.
Additionally, in a surprise 31 May ruling, the judge granted a defence motion to overturn the jury's guilty verdict for one of the co-defendants, executive Stefan Brodie, who had been charged with a single count of conspiracy. Motions to set aside jury verdicts are considered pro forma by legal observers and are rarely granted.
In an interview Sabzali termed the 31 May ruling "welcome" and granted that the rescheduling of his own proceedings "was not unrelated" to that action.
Sabazli's conviction 3 April occasioned what the Philadelphia Inquirer termed a "storm of protest" in Canada. Eight of the 20 counts on which Sabzali was found guilty occurred while he was living in Canada.
Critics considered the application of U.S. law to transactions made in Canada a violation of Canadian sovereignty.
U.S. prosecutor Poluka countered that "foreign nationals cannot aid and abet violations of U.S. law. [Being a foreign national] does not insulate you from committing violations of U.S. jurisdiction."
Protests in support of Sabzali are set for Manitoba and several other Canadian cities.
August Sentencing for Canadian Convicted of Violating U.S. Embargo on Cuba
by Steve Eckardt
PHILADELPHIA (CP) -- The sentencing of Canadian businessman James Sabzali for violating the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba has been postponed until Aug. 22, according to lawyers handling the case.
Sabzali, a former resident of Hamilton now living in suburban Philadelphia, was found guilty in early April of violating the U.S. Trading with the Enemy Act for selling water purification supplies to Cuba on behalf of international subsidiaries of Pennsylvania-based Bro-Tech Corp.
His sentencing was originally set for June 28.
"This is a routine continuance," said U.S. Assistant Attorney Joseph Poluka, the lead prosecutor.
Sabazli's lawyer Catherine Recker described the re-scheduling as having "no significance" in the case
Prosecutors are seeking a non-parole sentence of 41 to 51 months, and unspecified fines for Sabzali and two U.S. co-defendants.
But on May 31, the judge granted a defence motion to set aside the jury's guilty verdict for one of the co-defendants, executive Stefan Brodie, who had been charged with a single count of conspiracy.
"There is insufficient evidence from which a jury could conclude that the defendant (Stefan Brodie) knowingly and willingly entered into the charged conspiracy," ruled Judge Mary McLaughlin.
The U.S. government has said it plans to appeal the decision.
The court has yet to hear arguments on defence motions to negate the jury's verdict on Sabzali and Don Brodie, vice-president of Bro-Tech.
Sabzali, Bro-Tech, and Don Brodie were found guilty of 20, 43 and 33 counts, respectively, of trading with the enemy, in addition to a single charge each of conspiracy.
Sabzali is the first Canadian convicted under the U.S. law banning trade with Cuba.
The verdict created an outcry in Canada, especially when some of the charges against Sabzali related to actions taken on Canadian soil.
Critics considered the application of U.S. law to transactions made in Canada a violation of Canadian sovereignty.
They cited Canada's Foreign Extra-Territorial Measures Act that prohibits complying with foreign legislation like the U.S. embargo against Cuba, and noted that it's legal in Canada to do business with Cuba.
Canadian Guilty on 21 Counts in Cuba Trade Case
by Steve Eckardt
3 April 2002
PHILADELPHIA - Canadian citizen James Sabzali was found guilty here today on 20 counts of violating the U.S. Trading with the Enemy Act and a single count of conspiracy in connection with sales of water purification supplies to Cuba. He now faces up to life in prison and over US$5 million in fines.
Prosecutors previously declared their intention to seek a dozen years' sentence, according to Sabzali.
The 43-year-old salesman is the first Canadian to be criminally convicted for violating the U.S. embargo against Cuba. Seven of the charges against him are for actions taken on Canadian soil.
Canadian law makes it illegal to comply with the U.S. embargo.
"I'm shocked," declared Sabzali, who had fully cooperated with the five-year investigation, "it doesn't make any sense."
"It's unbelievable," said Sharon Moss, Sabazli's Canadian-born wife, clearly shaken by the verdict.
While the jury convicted Sabzali for sales made from Canada to Cuba , it found him not guilty on all charges up to March 1995, during his employment by Purolite International, a Canadian company.
Sabazli's April 1995 appointment as North American director of marketing for the U.S. corporation Bro-Tech, itself in the dock along with two of its executives, apparently triggered guilty findings on seven subsequent violations of the Trading with the Enemy Act, despite the sales being conducted from Canada. Failing to commit these violations would have subjected Sabzali to Canadian criminal penalties for complying with the U.S. embargo.
The initial indictment states both that Sabzali "was appointed" marketing director in 1995, and that he "assumed the position in 1996" upon his move to the United States.
The jury's decision that what was critical was Sabazli's title, rather than his move to the United States, apparently grants the assertion of the prosecutor that "you cannot aid and abet Americans in violating U.S. law. Being a foreign national does not insulate from committing violations of American jurisdiction ... [even when] technically not subject to jurisdiction."
Charges related to sales of product from the UK that was manufactured there were rejected by jurors. Canadian sales were not of product manufactured in Canada.
Sabzali was also convicted on 13 counts of violating the U.S. embargo against Cuba for approving reimbursements to Canadian salesman Claude Gauthier for travel expenses "to, from, and within Cuba," in Sabazli's capacity as marketing director while in Pennsylvania.
"The jury looked carefully at the evidence and worked hard," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Poluka. "There is nothing willy-nilly about this verdict."
The case had seen an earlier clash between the U.S. and Canadian governments over U.S. attempts to indict Sabazli's Canadian replacement, salesman Gauthier, who had never set foot in the States. Following Foreign Ministry protests that it would "strongly object" to what it termed " a dangerous precedent, " then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright issued a terse statement withdrawing the attempted indictment of Gauthier.
Canadian government failure to protest the charges against Sabzali fueled speculation that a deal had been struck between Washington and Ottawa. Canada's stance was signaled by a Foreign Affairs spokesman's declaration that "Mr. Sabzali knew pretty well when he moved to the U.S. that he might run the risk of indictment."
"There has been no contact, official or unofficial, with the Canadian government," Sabzali confirmed Tuesday.
Sabazli's conviction on seven of the 34 charges for acts committed in Canada appears to set a new precedent for U.S. extraterritorial enforcement of its anti-Cuba embargo, if not as sweeping as sought.
Meanwhile questions remain as to the apparent agreement between Washington and Ottawa. "There was no deal," said the lead agent on the case Monday. "Claude Gauthier is still on the radar screen."
Cuba/Canada Trading Case Goes to Jury
by Steve Eckardt
28 March 2002
The fate of Canadian citizen James Sabzali went into the hands of a jury here Thursday. Sabzali faces up to life in prison and fines of over US$19 million for sales of water purification supplies on behalf of a Canadian subsidiary of Pennsylvania-based corporation, Bro-Tech.
A verdict is not expected until next week.
The former Hamilton salesman along with one Bro-Tech executive and the corporation itself were charged with 76 counts of violating the 1919 US Trading with the Enemy Act and a single count of conspiracy. Another corporate officer was charged solely with conspiracy.
Attention has focused on the challenges to Canadian sovereignty inherent in the prosecutions. Sales of Welsh-manufactured goods to Cuba were made entirely through Canadian, UK, and Italian subsidiaries, company officials claimed, and in accordance with expert legal opinion. Operating from Canada, Sabzali was bound by the Canadian Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act to not comply with the US embargo against Cuba, his lawyers contend.
In final argument Thursday, the attorney representing Bro-Tech, Kevin Downey, declared that "the company did not have motive to expose itself to major criminal liability" for sales which netted less than US$48,000 in profits and constituted 0.3% of their business.
Instead, the defendants were "trying to navigate ... confusing and conflicted" laws in the US, UK, and Canada. Downey charged the government with "grasping, over-reaching [in] trying to prosecute conduct that is not criminal.... The government is trying to reach across [national] boundaries" to enforce its anti-Cuban embargo.
In closing rebuttal argument, Assistant US Attorney Michael Levy charged that "there is American involvement all over" the 1992-2000 sales of goods valued at some two million US dollars. He asked the jury, "What are US citizens in a Bala Cynwyd [Pennsylvania] office doing talking, even in cryptic terms, about Cuba?"
Meanwhile, Sabzali, Levy charged, "was doing everything he can to help [Bro-Tech] violate US law," adding that "when you're living here and working here, our [US] law governs." The former Hamilton salesman moved to Pennsylvania and joined Bro-Tech in 1996, although 32 charges against him stem entirely from Canadian activity.
Despite the import for Canadian/US relations and growing domestic calls for the US to end its 41-year embargo, the trial was sparsely attended and given little coverage by the US media.
Objection to imposition of US law on Canadian citizens doing business with Cuba from Canada reached a high point in 2000 when US authorities threatened to prosecute Burlington native Claude Gauthier, who had taken over Sabazli's position following his move to Pennsylvania.
Given that Gauthier had never set foot in the US, then minister of foreign affairs Lloyd Axworthy protested to the US State Department that indictment of Gauthier would set "a dangerous precedent" to which Canada would "strongly object."
In response, then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright issued a curt reply terminating the US investigation of Gauthier. Canada's lack of subsequent objection to prosecution of Sabzali fueled speculation that a deal had been struck between Washington and Ottawa which left him without backing from his government.
Canada's stance was signaled by a statement from Foreign Affairs spokesman Reynald Doiron that "Mr. Sabzali knew pretty well when he moved to the US that he might run the risk of being indicted."
"That's ridiculous," responded Sharon Moss, Sabazli's Canadian-born wife, Thursday. "That means that nobody [from Canada] who's traveled to Cuba can cross the US border."
Sabzali, who has two children, awaits the verdict on what he described as "a tight leash," with his passport and house deed in US government hands. He is restricted from travelling beyond a small corner of Pennsylvania.
Attorneys refused to speculate on the verdict. Observers were divided on the possible outcome, although the sheer weight of the government's five-year investigation is likely to factor into the decision.
U.S. Canada-Cuba Trial Heads for Final Day
by Steve Eckardt
27 March 2002
PHILADELPHIA - The unprecedented U.S. trial of a Canadian citizen for selling water purification supplies from Canada to Cuba ended its penultimate day Wednesday with closing arguments from the prosecutor and three defense attorneys.
In a case that is widely regarded as a challenge to Canadian sovereignty, James Sabzali, a 42 year-old Hamilton salesman currently living in suburban Philadelphia, faces life in prison and over US$19 million in fines for sales made while with working with Canadian and UK subsidiaries of Pennsylvania-based manufacturer Bro-Tech. He is charged with 76 counts of violating the 1919 U.S. Trading with the Enemy Act and one count of conspiracy.
"It's all or nothing," Sabzali attorney Catherine Recker told the jury in reference to the charges. "Jim Sabazli's open and persistent [sales to Cuba] show his good faith belief that it was legal. And good faith is a complete and absolute defense in a case that hinges entirely on state of mind."
"Jim Sabzali is all about disclosure," argued Recker. "He says 'Cuba' and 'Cuban customers' all over the place," holding up government exhibits described earlier in the same terms by the prosecutor.
Sabzali, who did not testify, said in an earlier interview that "[t]here is no way I thought I was breaking the law. You can't conspire to break somebody's law if you're compelled to follow a law that's 180 degrees away," a reference to the 1992 Canadian Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act which requires non-compliance with the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
In opening remarks, Judge Mary McLaughlin declared that the defendants "have to willfully violate" the law to be found guilty.
Assistant U.S. attorney Joseph Poluka began final arguments by also declaring that "intention is where the battle will be joined in this case." Poluka portrayed efforts by Sabzali and his two U.S. co- defendants to insulate the U.S. company from direct contact with Cuba as proving that they "knowingly and willingly conspired to violate U.S. law."
Pointing to Bro-Tech reimbursements of Sabzali and transshipment to Cuba of "product manufactured right here in the good old USA,", the prosecutor hammered at the theme "no U.S. involvement? No U.S. involvement? It was ALL U.S. involvement."
Yet Poluka surprisingly granted that 34 counts against Sabzali cover a period when he was "technically not subject to jurisdiction," although he asserted that "foreign nationals cannot aid and abet violations of U.S. law. [Being a foreign national] does not insulate you from committing violations of American jurisdiction."
Attorneys for the U.S. defendants countered by pointing at the "avalanche" of expert testimony that the 1992-2000 sales simultaneously complied with the U.S. embargo against Cuba and the Canadian and UK laws that require their citizens not comply with that embargo.
Gregory Craig, attorney for Bro-Tech executive Stefan Brodie, portrayed the defendants as "ordinary people caught up in complex and contradictory national laws." Craig was formerly special counsel to President Clinton and attorney for the Cuban father Juan Miguel González in his efforts to reunite with his child, Elián.
Thursday will see final argument on behalf on the defendant corporation, government rebuttal, and instructions to the jury, which will then retire for deliberations.
Attorneys were unwilling to speculate on the outcome of the case. Sabazli's own opinion? "I have no point of reference. This is the first time I've ever been involved in something like this. And I sure hope it is the last."
Sabzali, who is married and has two children, has had his passport and house deeded seized by the U.S. government. He is forbidden from traveling more than one hour's drive from his house and is confined to the state of Pennsylvania.
Guilty, eh?
International row follows Philly conviction of Canadian for trading with Cuba
by Steve Eckardt
8 April 2002
Philadelphia City Paper
Jim Sabzali was once a stand-up comedian, but even celebrating his son's 13th birthday at his suburban Wynnewood home last week, he wasn't laughing. Instead he was staring at prison with an electronic bracelet on his ankle and his passport --plus those of his wife and children-- in U.S. government hands along with the deed to his house.
The day before, the 43-year-old Canadian and his wife were clearly shaken by his convictions in a Philadelphia courtroom on 20 counts of violating the 1917 Trading with the Enemy Act and a single count of conspiracy that could cost him life in jail and over $5 million in fines, though prosecutors were reportedly seeking 41-51 months without parole at his June 28th sentencing.
"I'm shocked," said Sabzali outside the courtroom. "Unbelievable," added Sharon Moss, his wife.
His crimes? He'd sold water purification supplies to Cuba while living in Canada, a country where it's a crime NOT to sell to the island. Seems that Canada and other countries like the UK take a dim view of the U.S. embargo against Cuba applying inside their countries --a little matter involving national sovereignty.
Then, after a 1996 promotion brought him to the United States, he OK'd another Canadian salesman's expense reports that included Cuba-related travel costs --thirteen of his 20 Trading with the Enemy Act convictions.
But it's Sabazli's seven convictions for sales from Canada that's caused what observers are calling a "public outcry" and a "storm of protest" in Canada. "The Canadian response to this guilty verdict needs to be swift and robust," wrote one columnist in the Toronto Globe and Mail. "Allowing Canadian citizens to be subject to U.S. laws cannot be permitted to stand uncontested."
Even the famously anti-Castro Miami Herald noted northern protests and the possibility that the case "could lead to an international dispute between the United States and Canada over trade relations."
Which still leaves Sabzali with nothing to laugh about. * * *
In fact controversy over the verdict wasn't limited to the north. U.S. anti-embargo activists' email lists buzzed with reprints on the story with appended comments like "horrifying," "scary," and "outrageous."
Nor did the verdict pass without notice in the south, where youthful Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told a massive Havana anti-embargo rally Saturday that "This morning we declare that the Cuban people and government express their support and solidarity with Mr. Sabzali, his family and friends. We support his right to trade with Cuba without being condemned by another country's laws, even if that country is the most powerful on the planet."
* * *
All this clamor is "misplaced," says Assistant U.S. attorney Joseph Poluka. "The bottom line is that this case has nothing to do with Canadian commerce.... All you really have is a sales agent working for a US company."
And indeed the case included two executives of the Bala Cynwyd-based company Bro-Tech and the corporation itself, all found guilty on charges similar to Sabazli's (though one exec faced only the conspiracy charge).
And the Canadian government apparently prefers the prosecution's spin, reacting to the Sabzali verdict merely with the words that it "will continue to monitor developments closely."
In fact Canada "has had no contact, official or unofficial, with me," Sabzali says.
No surprise that Canada seems to be putting relations with its American mega-trading partner ahead of its trade with Cuba. But to many in Canada it looks like Canadian sovereignty isn't in first place either.
* * *
The Sabzali case is another spark in the increasingly-charged atmosphere between the U.S. and Cuba. True, there's news of celebrities' and politicians' visits to the island, not to mention the recent unprecedented U.S. grain sales of over $30 million.
But behind what cynics might call the 'good news screen' U.S. hostility is ratcheting up, and has been for a decade.
Smelling blood when the Soviet Union collapsed, Washington unleashed its biggest ever escalation of hostile policy to Cuba. New laws were passed and aggressive investigations begun --Sabazli's and the controversial five Cuban "spies" cases among them-- all designed to finish off its small and infuriating island rival.
And now the Bush administration, with its appointment over Congressional wishes of lifelong anti-communist Cuban émigré Otto Reich to head up relations with the Americas, shows every sign hardening US policy still further.
Meanwhile the notion that Cuba is nothing but a tropical Bulgaria appears to be crumbling before the island's stubborn survival.
"Cuba should erect a monument to the collapse of the Soviet Union," its famous president told the Philadelphia Daily News this December, "because it made us stronger and made us free. The ideas we sustained are much more noble than the ideas developed over there."
Meanwhile Canadian trade experts advise that the Sabzali verdict "should be a reminder ... that US authorities are inclined to opt for an overreaching application of their law" in regards to Cuba.
"There just is no room for leniency," one professor told the National Post.
But with Washington and Havana heading towards confrontation, it seems that something somewhere will have to give. For now it looks like four years of Jim Sabazli's life.
Battle over Cuba Comes to Philadelphia Courtroom
by Steve Eckardt
1 April 2002
Philadelphia City Paper
Jim Sabzali seems like the last person to be facing life in prison. He hasn't been violent, stolen anything, or cost anyone a dime. In fact what he's charged with probably helped save lives.
What's more, 32 of the counts against him took place while he was in his native Canada, incapable of breaking U.S. law.
So why is Sabzali, currently living in suburban Wynnewood with his wife and two children, looking at possible life in a U.S. penitentiary?
The 42-year-old Canadian sold water purification equipment to Cuba.
Yes, it's that heinous.
That's what earned him a five year investigation, a three-week trial just ending here, and the possible draconian penalties for 76 counts of Trading with the Enemy Act violations, plus a single charge of conspiracy.
"It's insane," said Pamela Martin, Upper Dublin [PA} acting secretary of the U,S,/Cuba Sister Cities Association. "Life in prison for trading with Cuba? From Canada??"
Actually Sabzali isn't alone in the unprecedented trial, in the hands of the jury as this is written. He's in the dock with Stefan and Donald Brodie, executives of the Bala Cynwyd-based company Bro-Tech, along with the corporation itself. All but the latter Brodie --charged solely with conspiracy-- face the same 77 counts.
The defendants were "trying to navigate ... confusing and conflicting" laws in the US, UK, and Canada, asserted Bro-Tech attorney Kevin Downey in his closing argument.
Both Canada and the UK have countered US pressure for compliance with its embargo against Cuba through passing laws that make it illegal to comply with the US embargo.
In other words, Jim Sabzali could be in a Canadian prison right now for not selling to Cuba.
* * *
But if Canada is a key issue in the Sabzali trial, you'd look in vain for its government around the courtroom. "Canada," noted one commentator dryly, "has not leapt to Mr. Sabazli's defense."
Canada's stance was signaled by a statement from Foreign Affairs spokesman Reynald Doiron that "Mr. Sabzali knew pretty well when he moved to the US that he might run the risk of being indicted."
"That's ridiculous," responded Sharon Moss, Sabazli's Canadian-born wife, on the trial's final day. "That means that nobody [from Canada] who's traveled to Cuba can cross the US border."
* * *
Ever since the 1959 Cuban revolution US policy has been to overturn it. An April 1960 State Department memo spelled out that "Every possible means should be undertaken promptly ... to bring about hunger, desperation and the overthrow of government."
The Cuban revolution was seen as a double threat --first as a challenge to sweeping US domination of Latin America, and second as the intrusion of the over-riding "communist menace" into its hemisphere.
"That threat," said Secretary of State Dean Rusk in 1964, "can only be ended to Washington's satisfaction with the overthrow of the Castro regime.... We regard that regime as temporary."
And they still do. What would be the Cuban Embassy is instead an "Interests Section" on Swiss soil in Washington, DC. And a vast array of laws, executive orders, and regulations block US citizens from nearly all legal contact with the island.
In fact, over the years, US early sixties' fears about the revolution have intensified. The unlikelihood of a government of illiterate peasants and rag-tag idealists surviving --Dulles gave the revolution eight months in late 1959-- became the reality of a country with the highest literacy rate, lowest infant mortality rate, and most thorough-going healthcare system of any country in Latin America.
And so the logic which still traps US policy towards the island today-- "Cuba has not been ruined, and it therefore has to be ruined," as Fidel Castro put it.
* * *
Jim Sabzali and the Brodie brothers are hardly the first people to fall under the wheels of Washington's anti-Cuban juggernaut.
Thousands get caught up in the machinery every year, especially Cuban-Americans trying to stay in touch with their families.
And so do people like Marilyn Meister, a 75-year-old retired Wisconsin schoolteacher hit with a $7,500 fine for a bike trip in Cuba. Or Cevin Allen, 56, of Washington state, fined for traveling to spread his parents' ashes at the Cuban church they founded half a century ago.
Meister's, Allen's, and others' cases were given public airing at a Senate hearing called by Bryon Dorgan, D-N.D., this February.
"Castro has been in office during the terms of 10 US presidents," the senator declared. "Maybe it's time for someone to say, 'This isn't working.'"
But the senator was the only one who attended the hearing.
* * *
Given that the central justification for US hostility to Cuba was the Soviet threat, it's either surreal or revealing that the early 90s Soviet collapse set off a major escalation of anti-Cuba policy.
With Cuba losing a devastating 85% of its foreign trade, Washington upped the pressure with sweeping new laws, while deploying G-men at home to catch people like Sabzali, the Brodies, and Marilyn Meister.
And now it's Bush Administration's turn, as it puts Cuban émigré Otto Reich in charge of US/Latin American relations, and announces further hardening of US policy towards the "failed, corrupt, dictatorial, murderous regime."
But there are only faint echoes of this decades-long battle in the softly-lit courtroom.
Here attorneys clash over whether the defendants dutifully obeyed legal advice to isolate trade with Cuba within foreign companies, or if "there was American involvement all over it," as one prosecutor told the jury.
And they clash over what the defendants were thinking. 'Ignorance of the law is no excuse' doesn't apply in this case. Here the key question is whether the defendants "knowingly and willfully" violated the law.
As the jury reconvenes the day after Easter, no one's ready to call the outcome. But the message has been sent either way.
Cuba backs Canadian convicted over U.S. embargo
by Andrew Cawthorne
6 April 2002
HAVANA, April 6 (Reuters) - President Fidel Castro's government expressed solidarity on Saturday during a huge anti-U.S. rally with a Canadian convicted in the United States of violating Washington's trade embargo by selling water-purification chemicals to Cuba.
Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, addressing 140,000 Cubans including Castro and other senior members of the ruling Communist Party on the outskirts of Havana, ridiculed the guilty verdict by a jury in federal court in Philadelphia on Wednesday against businessman James Sabzali, 42.
"They have found him guilty in the United States, put him on trial, for selling Cuba resins to purify the water which goes to our schools and homes, and now he could face a sentence of up to 205 years in prison," Perez said in a speech.
"I don't know what sort of dangerous or strategic material this is. I don't know if you can maybe make a nuclear missile from it," Perez added sarcastically.
In a case likely to widen the dispute between Washington and Ottawa over ties with Cuba -- Canada opposes the embargo and is one of Havana's major trade partners -- Sabzali was convicted on 20 counts of violating the U.S. Trading With the Enemy Act and one count of conspiracy.
Sabzali, 42, a Canadian citizen who lives outside Philadelphia and works for the Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania-based chemical company Bro-Tech Corp., was described by U.S. authorities as the only foreign national ever prosecuted for alleged violation of the 1917 act.
Two of his fellow business executives, both U.S. citizens, also were convicted after a two-week trial over the alleged sale of $2.1 million of water-purification chemicals to Cuba. A 77-count indictment charged Bro-Tech and its executives with arranging the sales through intermediaries in Canada and Mexico between 1992 and 2000.
"This morning we declare that the Cuban people and government express their support and solidarity with Mr. Sabzali, his family and friends," Perez added during the rally.
"We support his right to trade with Cuba without being condemned by another country's laws, even if that country is the most powerful on the planet."
A PUBLIC OUTCRY IN CANADA
The case has caused a public outcry in Canada, where political leaders accuse the United States of trying to undermine Canadian sovereignty.
Perez, in a litany of accusations against the U.S. government, also complained that Washington recently had denied entry visas to Cuban Finance Minister Manuel Millares and members of the state food-importing company Alimport.
"They fear the voice of Cuba reaching the United States," Perez said.
Calling for an end to the decades-old trade embargo and prohibition of American tourism to Cuba, Perez announced that some 120,000 Cuban Americans and 80,000 Americans -- many of the latter traveling illegally via third countries -- visited the Caribbean island last year.
That would make the United States one of the top sources of tourism for Cuba. Tourism has been the linchpin of Cuba's fragile economy since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Perez and other speakers also continued a campaign of protest against American diplomats working in Havana for an alleged stepping up of "subversive" activities including the distribution of hundreds of radios to Cubans.
Student leader Hassan Perez, a favorite of Castro, told the rally that Cubans did not need the radios, which allegedly were pre-programmed to listen to the Washington-funded anti-Castro station Radio Marti, because they were already "tuned in" to Castro and their 19th century independence hero Jose Marti.
"Our people's wavelength is that of Marti, of Marxism-Leninism, of our commander-in-chief (Castro)," he said.
Cuba holds such open-air, pro-government rallies every Saturday at different points around the island as part of a campaign that began with the quest two years ago to bring home young shipwreck survivor Elián González from Florida.
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