Eight months later, the nightmare continues for 42 year old Saul, an electronic component broker, chartered accountant Sylvia, 47, and their families. The brother and sister have a third sibling, Irit, who resides with their elderly parents, the family having come here from Israel in 1968.

“I received a frantic call from Saul’s wife, Marina (who has been looking after their two teenaged children herself since that day). Saul had been arrested and was in jail in India. It was a big shock.” The shock worsened when it was learned that Indian police arrested him, after inviting him to come over from Nepal and pick up some belongings found in an automobile. He would be allowed in and out again without repercussions, he was promised. It was the beginning of what Sylvia considers a baseless “abuse of power,” one that has attracted international attention.

Saul has lost some 65 pounds whiling away time in filthy, rat and scorpion-infested Motihari prison, located in the extremely impoverished northeastern part of the country. He has been very depressed and his sister is concerned. “I last spoke with him two weeks ago, told him what has been happening lately and he has been a bit more encouraged. It’s not his physical health I am worried about; it’s his ability to go on much longer mentally.”

On January 28, an interfaith delegation met with government officials in Ottawa to obtain their support for Saul’s release. On a trip arranged with the assistance of the Liberal MP for Mount Royal, lawyer Irwin Cotler – certainly no stranger to hard-won international legal cases - Cotler, Rabbi Reuben Poupko, Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, Father John Walsh, all of Montreal, and Rabbi Reuven Bulka of Ottawa, met with Canada’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Helena Guergis, and India’s High Commissioner, Rajamani Lakshmi Narayan.

Cotler told me Narayan underscored that he is on top of this matter. The MP also admitted that what befell Saul was “a form of entrapment” and “hardly criminal conduct worthy of this penalty.

“I called on the Indian government to invoke any executive remedy they deem appropriate.” Narayan also dismissed any notion that Saul had been involved in any other punishable activity, other than entering without a valid visa.

Sylvia is hopeful. “And it really heartens me to know how my community, friends, family and so many people who do not know us have reached out to us. There has been so much love from people we never expected it from. With all the bad in the world, there is still so much good in humanity.” Amen to that. If you want to help, sign the online petition calling for freedom for Saul Itzhayek, found at www.ipetitions.com If you care about justice, I suggest you head right over.

Another outrageous detail is that, despite the clearly wrongful detention in a foreign country of a Quebec citizen, our French press seems to feel this isn't a story worth covering. Sylvia Itzhayek told me that only one newspaper, La Presse, has contacted her for comment thus far and they haven't, as far as she knows, run anything yet. I guess the French-language media is just too busy ranting about the outrageous use of English in Montreal.