Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) in a letter to Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada has expressed serious concern over the criminal charges on Justin Brake, reporter and editor for The Independent.ca, for his reporting on the Indigenous occupation of the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric construction project in October 2016.
PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali in his letter urged the government of Canada to end the prosecution of Brake for performing his professional duties; and to create a climate in the Canada where freedom of expression thrives.
According to Canadian Journalist For Free Expression (CJFE), Brake although reported the protest as a journalist and court had ordered specifying that protesters face legal action if they did not leave the site.
Brake left the site after being named in October 24, 2016, court order, issued by the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador that compelled authorities to arrest him if he remained at the mentioned site.
The allegations against Brake, are press freedom violations in Canada, and are a piece of a troubling pattern of legal action against media practitioner and journalists by police and security powers.
Brake faces up to 10 years in detention on punishment in these criminal charges.
Brake was the only journalist to cover the story from inside the occupied camp, bringing information of local, national and international importance to tens of thousands of readers and viewers.
