Peter Watts in jail

[nancylebov]

If you've been following what's been going on with Peter Watts, a science fiction author who was assaulted and abused by US border guards when returning to Canada, and then convicted..... He's been hit by a pre-sentencing report which recommends four to six months of jail time. The guy who writes the report doesn't have access to the court records of the trial.....

I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done except hope that the judge has good sense.

Comments

[communicator.livejournal.com]

disgraceful and frightening, would definitely make me think twice about travelling to the US

[madfilkentist]

... and probably not even think once of traveling to Arizona. Even as a US citizen, I want to avoid that state from now on.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I don't think there's going to be another US worldcon for a long time.

[jcbemis.livejournal.com]

Chicago is currently unopposed in its 2012 bid

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Nice to have a little information instead of a theory. Thank you.

[madfilkentist]

The US still has the biggest concentration of fandom, and international travel is tougher in both directions under Bushbama.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

"On April 26 Canadian author Peter Watts was sentenced to a 60-day jail term suspended upon payment of court assessments."

http://file770.com/?p=3701

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

Watts himself: "Of course, in a rational system this would have ended the moment the Feds decided not to press charges."

So it was strictly the state and/or local DA who pushed ahead with this. The Feds get a little credit for not being *that* stupid.

It still doesn't justify the whole culture of paranoia at the border that's quite frankly been going on for at least 15 years. I wouldn't be surprised to see Ottawa impose a blanket ban on US border guards going into Canada even for personal reasons. (I don't expect that, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were to happen.)