DRUMMOND, NB – He’s been farming for 25 years, but the last two have held a different meaning for Henk Tepper.
“When I’m out in the field in the spring planting potatoes, spraying, it just feels good to be home and to be free,” Tepper told Global News.
The New Brunswick potato farmer was arrested March 23, 2011 while promoting seed potatoes in the Middle East. He was held in a small basement cell in Beirut for 373 days.
Tepper was detained on allegations he exported rotten potatoes to Algeria in October 2007. He denies the accusations.
“It will always be with me and I will always have times when I think back to when I was there,” he said.
Now two years after his release, Tepper wants to make sure his story is not repeated.
“For doing a commercial business deal, and then getting caught up in a prison in the Middle East, that should never have happened and I don’t wish that on anybody,” he said.
Last year, Tepper launched a lawsuit against the federal government. He’s awaiting a decision to be made from the federal court on a motion by the government to strike his lawsuit. But in the meantime, his focus is on saving his 1,200-acre farm.
“Everything that happened, it was all because of potatoes, so when I was down there I said, ‘I never want to farm or have anything to do with potatoes again,'” Tepper said. “But once I was back home, just to be home changed my mind.”
He said he’s overwhelmingly grateful for the support New Brunswickers still show him, even two years after his release.
“Two weeks ago when I was in a mall, an older lady came up to me and she just wanted to give me a hug,” Tepper said. “That’s quite overwhelming.”
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