Cancer victim in Panama jail filed complaint with UN

 THE FORMER Mcgill University Health Center administrator Arthur Porter filed a complaint with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights over what he claims is inhumane treatment in a Panama prison.
The report appeared in the Montreal Gazette earlier this year. His wife who was extradited from Panama and is on bail, is seeking permission to await tria at her daughter’s home inb Florida.
Porter’s lawyer, Ricardo Bilonick, says Porter has not been seen by a medical doctor in the almost four months of his incarceration, and "he hasn't even had an aspirin."
"If he dies, there's no point in extradition," Bilonick said.
Porter has been detained in Panama since May. He and his wife were arrested at the city's airport while on their way to Trinidad and Tobago from their home in Nassau.
He is alleged to have taken millions for his part in the awarding of a contract to build the billion-dollar McGill University Hospital Centre superhospital under construction.
Quebec's anti-corruption squad, UPAC, issued a warrant for his arrest in February on charges of fraud, conspiracy to commit government fraud, abuse of trust and laundering the proceeds of a crime.
His wife, Pamela Mattock Porter, has been charged with money laundering. She was extradited to Montreal in June and is currently out on bond. Porter has said he is too sick to be returned to Canada and is fighting extradition.
Porter has said that he has Stage 4 lung cancer. Porter and Bilonick maintain that since he was arrested on May 27, he has not had any blood tests or other status updates about the condition of his cancer.
Bilonick said Porter has been taking chemotherapy drugs he had with him when he was arrested.
"He was supposed to be evaluated the week after his arrest. I have asked again and again but I have had no response. It is for that reason that we filed a report to the United Nations," Bilonick said.
Porter's personal physician, Karol Sikora, has visited him in prison but Bilonick said that visit was more social than professional.
Bilonick said that Porter "is not just your local Canadian, he was the chief of intelligence," a reference to the 2008 appointment of Porter to the five-member Security Intelligence Review Committee, entrusted with the nation's most sensitive secrets.
That appointment was made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Porter resigned from that post in 2011.
Bilonick said that the fate of Porter lies squarely on the shoulders of Canada and Panama, and he wants the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to look into how he is being treated.