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News :: Civil Liberties & Human Rights : Law & Justice : Politics & Elections : Trade & International Relations : War & Peace |
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The pursuit of justice for David Hicks |
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by ke |
14 Apr 2006
Modified: 11:19:21 AM |
 Adelaide-born David Hicks has been incarcerated in the United States' notorious military prison at Guantanamo Bay for over 4 years. Unlike other countries such as Britain which have successfully negotiated the return of their nationals, the Australian Government has consistently refused to negotiate for a fair deal for Hicks, who now faces trial under the controversial military commision system. Hicks, who has a claim to British citizenship, achieved a victory on 12 April 2006 when the British Court of Appeals dismissed the UK Government's attempt to overturn his citizen's rights. In Adelaide on the same day a public meeting was organised by Fair Go for David, bringing together Hicks' legal counsels and his father to update the large audience on the progress of the campaign to bring him home.
Read the legal updates at the public meeting
Fair Go For David |
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News :: Civil Liberties & Human Rights : Law & Justice : Police & Thieves |
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Willful neglect by DFAT of Australian imprisoned in Argentina |
by karin eliot
Email: karineliot (nospam) gmail.com |
03 Nov 2005
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 On 4 February 2003 Australian man Stephen Sutton was arrested in a joint Australian Federal Police/Argentine police operation in Buenos Aires.
After being held for two an a half years without charge, he was finally convicted of drug trafficking, and sentenced to 11 years in an Argentine prison. This conviction was despite ANY drugs being found on Stephen or in his hotel at the time of the raid.
Moreover, when Stephen was 15 he had a rare type of scalp tumour removed, and according to his family 'was never the same ... and seemed to stay in this age bracket'. This fact alone suggests it is more likely that, if indeed there is ANY connection between Stephen Sutton and the drug trade, Stephen was exploited by unscrupulous others, tricked into being an unwitting drug mule in what has been described as a 'transnational organised crime syndicate'.
Now Stephen Sutton is seriously ill in prison with tuberculosis, and being denied basic health care. His concerned family have been consistently fobbed off by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and even threatened with imprisonment themselves under the Privacy Act for discussing their own frustrations with the system.
Stephen's older sister Ann Cluse, from Salisbury Downs discusses her experiences dealing with government bureaucracies that appear completely uninterested in offering basic protection to an Australian citizen abroad in dire trouble.
Does being in prison mean you have lost all human rights?
Are there are other Australians imprisoned overseas enduring similar neglect from Australian Consular agencies?
Is this a systemic problem?
Read more....
background to Stephen Sutton's situation
Interview with Stephen Sutton's sister
Stephen Sutton support website
Letter from Stephen Sutton
Photo caption: Stephen Sutton with his niece Dee, in Australia |
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News :: Nuclear issues |
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Green-Black Alliance reborn in Quorn |
by Rig
Email: sievx01 (nospam) yahoo.com.au |
28 Sep 2005
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As Australia’s uranium industry looks to expansion and the nuclear power debate ricochets around parliaments across the nation, Indigenous groups and environmental organisations concerned about the nuclear industry’s destructive impacts met in Quorn, in South Australia’s southern Flinders Ranges . |
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Read the full article... (3 comments) |
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Everything is Not Fine and Dandy in Port Augusta |
by Rig
Email: sievx01 (nospam) yahoo.com.au |
09 Jun 2005
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The Baxter immigration detention centre is an obvious blight on the image of this town, however there is a more deep-seated conflict. This is the intensification of policing operations aimed at the town’s Aboriginal population and the underlying racist sentiment that drives it.
In February of this year a STAR force team was used against Aboriginal people congregating on an area of foreshore. The STAR force team was deployed at the request of the Local Council and police. The Council cited serious public order issues as the reason for this aggressive action, however in the context of Port Augusta’s history of white settlement and Aboriginal dispossession, this seemed like yet another act in a long line of racially motivated abuses by the white land-owning establishment |
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Read the full article... (6 comments) |
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News :: Civil Liberties & Human Rights : Refugees & Asylum seekers |
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Notorious isolation unit re-opened at Baxter |
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by adele indy |
25 May 2005
Modified: 03:19:15 AM |
 Just in case you were thinking that the release last night of 3 year old Naomi Leong from the Villawood immigration prison marks a change for the better in Australia's brutal and unyielding treatment of refugees, think again. The ghosts of Tampa and SIEV-X are not so easily dispelled. The notorious 'Red 1' isolation compound in Baxter Detention Centre is being used again, after being closed since the February release of Australian Cornelia Rau who had been wrongfully held there for over two months. Ask any asylum seeker who has been locked up in "Management" at Baxter about their individual experience and you will hear reports of humiliation, physical and mental cruelty, and deprivation of basic human rights. An African asylum seeker was forcibly taken to Red 1 compound last Saturday (21 May). He has not been able to make any phone calls since being placed in the compound. Baxter refugees staged a protest on May 23 to highlight the situation of the man placed in Red 1. Mira Wroblewski, National Rural Australians for Refugees (RAR) spokesperson, said her organisation is extremely concerned about this development. "Detainees who are psychologically fragile after years of detention, are again being punished by being placed in isolation units." RAR is concerned that detainees who are put into Red 1 compound have no right of appeal, and their placement in this compound is under the control of individual employees of GSL, the company contracted by the Australian Government to run detention centres. "GSL is able to operate with secrecy and its actions lack accountability", said Ms Wroblewski.
Meanwhile Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has used the controversial and illegal deportation of Australian citizen Vivian Alvarez to the Philippines 4 years ago to again push the barrow of the necessity of a universal identification system, claiming that its lack made it difficult to identify people who did not provide correct information to authorities. This is a highly spurious argument given the existence of extensive inter-linked government databases such as the Movements and Reporting System that contains details of ALL individuals' movements in and out of Australia, holding data from 1980.
LINKS:
Notorious isolation unit re-opened at Baxter
freed from life in detention
Cornelia Rau's first press conference (video)
more Rau digest from mainstream wires
Ruddock 'in dark' on Alvarez
Personal Information Digest-Border Control and Compliance Division |
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| Regional features from Oceania |
| oceania :: features |
| Taurewa Land Occupiers Hopeful of Halting Sale |
| by Sam Buchanan
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18 Apr 2006 |
| Members of the Tuwharetoa Iwi occupying land in the central North Island say they are optimistic that a proposed sale will be halted. Taurewa Marae has been established on one of the blocks currently controlled by the government body Land Corp which make up the Taurewa Sheep Station near to National Park township. The land has been deemed surplus to government requirements and a proposal to sell the land for a development, reportedly to include luxury accommodation and a golf course, has emerged. However, residents of the marae say Land Corp officials, who recently visited the occupation, |
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| oceania :: features | :: perth |
| Arrests At Lake Cowal Spark Hunger Strike |
| | 17 Apr 2006 |
| Work stopped at Lake Cowal Gold Mine with eight arrested: From the newswire 16 April 2006... Mining operations at Barrick’s Lake Cowal Gold Project were stopped for over five hours on Easter Sunday while a group of nearly one hundred, walked on to the mine site. The group included representatives from every state of the country, Wiradjuri traditional owners and locals, half a dozen scientists, grandparents, students, filmmakers, artists and more, all united in their concerns over the mine’s safety and social implications. [ SAVE LAKE COWAL ] :: [ Corporate Media Report ] Eight people were |
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| oceania :: features |
| US Threatens Iran As Iraq War Threatens To Spread |
| by Indybay
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16 Apr 2006 |
| from indybay (San Francisco) On April 11th, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that the country had succeeded for the first time in enriching uranium on a small scale. Seymour Hersh reports that the Bush administration has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible air attack to destroy Iran's nuclear program.The Badr militia tied to Iraq's ruling SCIRI party has strong ties to Iran, and Muqtada al-Sadr has pledged the support of his militia if Iran is attacked. |
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| oceania :: features |
| Stop GE with Local Body regulations |
| by Aaron
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14 Apr 2006 |
| During April and the start of May district and regional councils are accepting submissions for their Long Term Council Community Plans. Following on from the Waikato District Council Plan hearings GE Free Whaingaroa, based in Raglan, is encouraging people in other regions to submit to their own council that GE is an issue they need to address. |
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| oceania :: features | :: perth |
| Action: Refugee rights easter convergence |
| | 14 Apr 2006 |
| Easter Convergence: VIGIL AGAINST THE VIOLENCE. Perth Immigration Detention Centre - Good Friday 14 - Easter Sunday 16 April 2006 Hundreds of concerned Australians from across the country are converging this weekend - in a series of rolling protests against the Mandatory Detention of refugees. A dozen or so WA activists made the journey to Villawood in Sydney, where 260 detainees were forcibly removed and relocated by DIMA before the activists arrived at the centre. NSW Police Union earlier refused to protect the centre amidst claims of asbestos fears. Around 100 people converged at |
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| oceania :: features | :: perth |
| Aboriginal Cultural Centre should be recognised |
| | 11 Apr 2006 |
| From the newswire - Monday, 10 April 2006, 8:40PM: Camp Sovereignty residents at Kings Domain have called for the site to be formally recognised as a Sacred Site under the Commonwealth Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Heritage Act. [ Read More: Camp Soverignty gets another month ] "This site should be recognised for what it is, and what it has always been; a traditional place of healing, peace and justice. It is in the interest of all Victorians to have a place where people can come to learn about our culture." said Camp Sovereignty representative Robbie Thorpe today. "Given that 80% |
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| oceania :: features |
| Indigenous Camp eviction looms |
| by Melbourne Indymedia
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11 Apr 2006 |
 The Camp Sovereignty protest site in Melbourne's Kings Domain Gardens faces the threat of eviction after police visited the camp on Friday morning. The camp was established for the Commonwealth Games to serve as a base for actions coordinated by the Black GST campaign to highlight the on going resistance of Indigenous and non Indigenous people to the illegal occupation of the Australian continent. [Full Story] |
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| oceania :: features |
| Greenpeace menyerukan disepakatinya kerjasama Inggris-Indonesia untuk menghentikan pengrusakan Hutan |
| by Jakarta IMC
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7 Apr 2006 |
 Di hari kedatangan bersejarah Perdana Menteri Inggris, Tony Blair, ke Indonesia, Greenpeace menyerukan kedua kepala negara Inggris dan Indonesia untuk menerapkan mekanisme yang mengikat secara hukum untuk menghentikan kerusakan yang sedang berlangsung di hutan-hutan alam terakhir Indonesia.Hutan alam Indonesia, bagian dari Hutan-hutan Surgawi Asia-Pasifik (1), sedang mengalami kerusakan lebih cepat dari hutan manapun di bumi. Hal ini disebabkan oleh permintaan Uni Eropa, AS, Jepang dan Cina.
Pada tahun 2004, Inggris merupakan mitra dagang terbesar untuk produk-produk kayu di Eropa dengan |
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| oceania :: features | :: manila |
| Punks Held Offline Sit-in at Commission on Human Rights |
| | 5 Apr 2006 |
| MANILA-- At least 30 punks held a sit-in protest at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) of the Philippines head office in Quezon City on Friday, demanding an impartial probe into the alleged brutal torture of 11 peers by police in Benguet province, north of Manila. The demonstration coincided with a scheduled court hearing against the torture victims in La Trinidad, Benguet, on charges of homicide in connection with a February 10 raid on an army base.[ Read More ] |
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| oceania :: features |
| Government Shuts Down Political Web Site |
| by Melbourne Indymedia
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1 Apr 2006 |
from the newswire
One week before the third anniversary of the criminal invasion and occupation of Iraq, the Australian government forced the closure of a satirical web site that powerfully exposed several key lies told by Prime Minister John Howard to justify participation in the US-led war. [Full Story] |
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| oceania :: features |
| Desecration of Sacred Site - Lake Cowal |
| by Melbourne Indymedia
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26 Mar 2006 |
 from the newswire
Looking down on the mine with its open-cut pit, which is still only at about 7% of its total depth, and the cryptic markings of the unlined tailings dams, I reflected on a famous quote by Mark Twain: What's a definition of a gold mine? A hole in the ground owned by a liar. [Full Story] |
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| oceania :: features | :: manila |
| Bringing Street Protest to Cyberspace |
| | 22 Mar 2006 |
| NEWSBREAK! (28/3/2006) HACKTIVISTS expressing solidarity with the 11 political prisoners known as the Sagada 11 have hacked and defaced the website belonging to the National Defense College of the Philippines. Their website now reads, "We don't need the government, we don't need the military, we need JUSTICE AND LIBERTY for the SAGADA 11!", along with several links encouraging people to show their support.[ Read More ] UPDATES! (26/3/2006) VIRTUAL SIT-IN ends today, says BrigadaElektronica in a message forwarded through emails, the group thanked the participants who corageously joined the |
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| oceania :: features |
| Gov’t Does the Unjust by Invoking Justice |
| by QC IMC
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19 Mar 2006 |
| From Crispin Beltran to Dinky Soliman, the government is making a mockery of the justice system. It wants to silence legitimate dissent by arresting selected personalities on trumped-up charges, even to the point where these have become patently outrageous and ridiculous. |
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| oceania :: features |
| Bentrokan Berdarah di Universitas Cendrawasih Papua |
| by Jakarta IMC
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17 Mar 2006 |
| 3 orang Brimob dan 1 intelijen TNI tewas, Seorang ibu tertembak  Aksi pemblokiran jalan di depan Kampus Universitas Cendrawasih Abepura (16/3) oleh masyarakat dan mahasiswa yang tergabung dalam Parlemen Jalanan dan Front Pepera PB Kota Jayapura, berakhir dengan bentrokan berdarah, menyebabkan 3 orang Brimob dan 1 intelijen TNI AU tewas, seorang ibu mengalami luka tembak, serta puluhan lainnya dari pihak mahasiswa dan pihak aparat mengalami luka-luka.
Aksi pemblokiran jalan ini merupakan aksi lanjutan dari sehari sebelumnya, Rabu (15/3), di tempat yang sama. Aksi pemblokiran ini dimulai sejak
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