"It is, therefore, the more important to stop referring to Cotler as “Mandela’s lawyer,” since it serves to dilute any legitimate accusation made against Israel as an apartheid state."
To:
David Cochrane, Host, Power & Politics, CBC News
Sara Brunetti, Executive Producer, Power & Politics, CBC News
Nancy Waugh, Sr. Manager, CBC
Dear David Cochrane, Sara Brunetti, and Nancy Waugh,
I am writing to express concern for the Power & Politics video segment: “Irwin Cotler: Nelson Mandela would not support genocide charge against Israel,” published on January 10 on CBC.
This video segment is a Power & Politics interview with Irwin Cotler, Former Special Envoy for Combatting Antisemitism.
Although Irwin Cotler made a lot of controversial statements, I want to bring your attention to the final question the host, David Cochrane, asks Irwin Cotler at around 9:20.
In this final question, David Cochrane claims at 9:42 that “Irwin Cotler was part of Nelson Mandela’s international legal team when he was imprisoned by the South African government.”
David Cochrane doesn't provide any evidence to back this claim. Furthermore, many sources debunk this claim.
A teleSUR article quotes the Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa to Venezuela, Pandit Thaninga Shope-Linney, saying: “Irwin Cotler was not Nelson Mandela’s lawyer and does not represent the Government of the people of South Africa in any manner.”
A Maple study found that in five biographies about Mandela, three books by Mandela, and four books by three figures close to Mandela, none mention Irwin Cotler. Cotler was also not mentioned in any of Mandela’s parliamentary speeches after his release. Furthermore, this study references an interview that Cotler did in 2014 for Diplomat Magazine, where he said, “I was really kind of a cameo presence.” No photo of them together was ever found. All this mounting evidence is odd, especially for someone who is supposed to be on Mandela’s international legal team.
Similarly, a page in the Ukrainian Archive (UKAR) published Lubomyr Prytulak’s formal letter to Irwin Cotler and the Canadian Human Rights Commission (RE: Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) File 20031527, Canadian Jewish Congress v Ukrainian Archive (CJC v UKAR)), which comes to a similar conclusion after examining the photographs in Long Walk to Freedom, the autobiography of Nelson Mandela. He found no image of Irwin Cotler and no mention of his name. He adds that Cotler’s name doesn’t appear on the African National Congress website, the Internet’s most extensive collection of Mandela-related material.
Yves Engler makes clear, by referring to the aforementioned Maple study, that this claim came from the media. It is, therefore, the more important to stop referring to Cotler as “Mandela’s lawyer,” since it serves to dilute any legitimate accusation made against Israel as an apartheid state.
A Canada Files article points to evidence already mentioned: The quote from the Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa to Venezuela, Pandit Thaninga Shope-Linney, and Lubomyr Prytulak’s formal letter to Irwin Cotler and the Canadian Human Rights Commission (RE: Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) File 20031527, Canadian Jewish Congress v Ukrainian Archive (CJC v UKAR)).
As I gave mounting evidence debunking the claim that Irwin Cotler was “part of Nelson Mandela’s international legal team,” I, therefore, ask for your evidence to prove your claim or a correction.
I hope CBC News will double down on fact-checking to not further mislead its viewers.
Sincerely,
Fatima Haidar,
Media Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East