Pro-Palestinian organizers say charges against four of the five activists arrested for protesting last year’s Giller Prize have been withdrawn.
The group CanLit Responds announced the move at a press conference across the street from a Scotiabank branch on Friday morning.
The protesters interrupted the literary award ceremony in November 2023 carrying signs that read “Scotiabank Funds Genocide,” referring to the then-title sponsor’s investment in the Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems.
Three people were arrested the night of the ceremony and charged with criminal mischief and using a forged document to gain entry to the ceremony, while CanLit Responds says two others were arrested later.
A prestigious Canadian literary prize will maintain its partnership with Scotiabank after nearly 20 authors pulled their books from consideration to protest the bank’s investment in an Israeli defence contractor.
Maysam Abu Khreibeh, 26, who was arrested that night, says the move to withdraw the charges was delayed for months.
“I do feel relieved to hear that the courts finally recognize that what we did is not something that should be criminalized, that the charges were withdrawn,” she said after the press conference.
Her lawyer, Riaz Sayani, says in a statement that the protesters never should have been charged.
Toronto Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
CanLit Responds says charges against the fifth protester are still pending and that they were arrested in September 2024, nearly a year after the ceremony.
Asked to comment on the charges being dropped, Giller Foundation executive director Elana Rabinovitch said the literary non-profit “fully and unequivocally supports freedom of speech, expression, dissent and the right to protest.”