Canada Arrests US Citizen for Comic Books

Courtesy of and copyright by Esther Kirby. Everystockphoto.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund announced today that it is forming a coalition to support the legal defense of an American citizen who is facing criminal charges in Canada for comics brought into the country on his laptop. If convicted, the American citizen, whose name is being withheld by his attorneys, could result in a mandatory minimum sentence of one year in prison.

According to the CBLDF, upon arrival at Canadian Customs a customs officer conducted a search of the American citizen and his personal belongings, including his laptop, iPad, and iPhone. The customs officer discovered manga on the laptop and considered it to be child pornography.

According to the CBLDF, “[t]his incident is the most serious in a trend the CBLDF has been tracking involving the search and seizure of the print and electronic comic books carried by travelers crossing borders. CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein says, ‘Although the CBLDF can’t protect comic fans everywhere in every situation, we want to join this effort to protect an American comic fan being prosecuted literally as he stood on the border of our country for behavior the First Amendment protects here, and its analogues in Canadian law should protect there.'”

More on this story via the CBLDF here.

Tags: art, fourth amendment, representation, search and seizure, travel