another reason to elect howard out
GetUp.org.au - Action for Australia!
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Guest Blog by Major Michael Mori - Military Lawyer for David Hicks*
Unfortunately, politics have replaced justice in the case of David Hicks.
David has been detained for four and a half years without trial, and has been in isolation for the past four months. He sits in a concrete room for 23 hours a day. He is allowed one book per week and one hour outside his cell for exercise in what best could be described as a large dog kennel, and to shower.
I will visit him shortly to see if there is any improvement in his living conditions since the recent announcement that part of the Geneva Conventions will apply to David. We have tried in the past to get David working on his high school certificate which is something that David has put his heart into. The conditions that he is kept in make this difficult to accomplish.
The four and half year delay, so far, in bringing David to trial is due to the fact that David did not violate any international law so the US had to make up charges and an unfair system that would rubber stamp the charges without question. Had the US used a real court system like the courts-martial, we could have had a trial within the first year. But of course, David would have been acquitted which would not have served the political agendas in the US and Australia.
All David has wanted is a fair trial and Australia did nothing to obtain that for him since a fair trial would have proven David's innocence.
The Australian government keeps saying we can not prosecute David in Australia. That is simply because David has not violated any law, Australian or international - not that the laws don't exist. If the charges against David in the commission system were valid international law crimes, Australia could charge him with these offenses. But the charges made up against David by the commission system are not real. Every time the Australian government says "we can not charge Hicks", they are in fact saying "David Hicks has not violated any law". But the Australian government tries to use this as a reason to abandon him. It should be reason to stand up for him and bring him home to his family.
The recent ruling by the US Supreme Court finding military commissions illegal vindicates everything the legal experts in Australia have been saying for the past four years. It highlights the fact that the Australian government must have blindly followed the US Department of Defense without receiving any internal advice on the legality of the commission and chose to ignore advice that the commissions were illegal such as Lex Lasry's report for the Law Council of Australia in 2004.
There have been discussions and hearings in the US Congress on establishing a new military commission. Again it would only apply to non-U.S. citizens and may very well be a duplicate of the unfair commission system. Unfortunately, I do not expect any "new" system that maybe set up to try David to be any fairer or to be completed in the near future. It may take another year before David sees the inside of a courtroom. This will be five and half years from the start of David's detention in Guantanamo.
Clearly, a case of justice delayed is justice denied.
I'd like to thank GetUp members for your attention to David's case.
Major Michael Mori
* Major Michael Mori is a major in the United States Marine Corps, and was appointed by the United States Government as the defense lawyer for David Hicks in the Military Commission process.
Posted by Major Michael Mori at 11:11:31 AM
(130) Comments
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
David Hicks can be tried in Australia
David Hicks remains imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay because, the Australian Government claims, there is no basis for him to be prosecuted under Australian law. This is simply not true.
Hicks can be charged and tried in Australia, under existing Australian law. This contradicts the Attorney-General’s claim that the only way to bring Hicks home is to free him – another myth perpetuated by a Government that seems more than willing to forfeit justice for political convenience.
Expert advice commissioned by a partner at the Gilbert + Tobin law firm (sponsors of the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law) confirmed last June that the actions alleged by the US Military Commission, since found by the conservative US Supreme Court to be an illegal body, are offences under Australian law.
Australian law recognises crimes of the nature alleged by the US that occur outside Australia – including in the conflict in Afghanistan. Expert opinion is clear that Hicks can be charged in Australia with offences including terrorism, training with and aiding the enemy, and conspiring and attempting to do the above. Moreover, both the High Court and the State Supreme Courts can hold these trials. The Australian Government would not have to create any new laws to do this. But the Attorney-General will not make public his legal advice suggesting the contrary, on which he stakes his argument for not bringing David Hicks home.
Meanwhile, the Law Council of Australia has argued that David Hicks must either be tried immediately before an existing US court or repatriated.
The right to a fair trial is a principle the Government should be actively seeking to uphold, regardless of their view on David Hicks’ guilt. Our legal system is there to ensure those who break the law are dealt with properly, and if the Government believes there is evidence that David Hicks has done something wrong, then they have no reason not to try him at home.
Posted by Lily at 8:46:28 AM
(5) Comments
Friday, July 21, 2006
Press Conference - Australians demand justice
The lineup features ABC TV's Margaret Pomerantz, GetUp's Brett Solomon,The Hon John Dowd AO, QC (President of the International Commission of Jurists, also former NSW Attorney General & former NSW Liberal leader), Catholic Bishop of Parramatta Kevin Manning, and the SecHEREretary of Unions NSW John Robertson.
Posted by Lily at 4:08:54 PM
(1) Comments
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Guest Blog by Major Michael Mori - Military Lawyer for David Hicks*
Unfortunately, politics have replaced justice in the case of David Hicks.
David has been detained for four and a half years without trial, and has been in isolation for the past four months. He sits in a concrete room for 23 hours a day. He is allowed one book per week and one hour outside his cell for exercise in what best could be described as a large dog kennel, and to shower.
I will visit him shortly to see if there is any improvement in his living conditions since the recent announcement that part of the Geneva Conventions will apply to David. We have tried in the past to get David working on his high school certificate which is something that David has put his heart into. The conditions that he is kept in make this difficult to accomplish.
The four and half year delay, so far, in bringing David to trial is due to the fact that David did not violate any international law so the US had to make up charges and an unfair system that would rubber stamp the charges without question. Had the US used a real court system like the courts-martial, we could have had a trial within the first year. But of course, David would have been acquitted which would not have served the political agendas in the US and Australia.
All David has wanted is a fair trial and Australia did nothing to obtain that for him since a fair trial would have proven David's innocence.
The Australian government keeps saying we can not prosecute David in Australia. That is simply because David has not violated any law, Australian or international - not that the laws don't exist. If the charges against David in the commission system were valid international law crimes, Australia could charge him with these offenses. But the charges made up against David by the commission system are not real. Every time the Australian government says "we can not charge Hicks", they are in fact saying "David Hicks has not violated any law". But the Australian government tries to use this as a reason to abandon him. It should be reason to stand up for him and bring him home to his family.
The recent ruling by the US Supreme Court finding military commissions illegal vindicates everything the legal experts in Australia have been saying for the past four years. It highlights the fact that the Australian government must have blindly followed the US Department of Defense without receiving any internal advice on the legality of the commission and chose to ignore advice that the commissions were illegal such as Lex Lasry's report for the Law Council of Australia in 2004.
There have been discussions and hearings in the US Congress on establishing a new military commission. Again it would only apply to non-U.S. citizens and may very well be a duplicate of the unfair commission system. Unfortunately, I do not expect any "new" system that maybe set up to try David to be any fairer or to be completed in the near future. It may take another year before David sees the inside of a courtroom. This will be five and half years from the start of David's detention in Guantanamo.
Clearly, a case of justice delayed is justice denied.
I'd like to thank GetUp members for your attention to David's case.
Major Michael Mori
* Major Michael Mori is a major in the United States Marine Corps, and was appointed by the United States Government as the defense lawyer for David Hicks in the Military Commission process.
Posted by Major Michael Mori at 11:11:31 AM
(130) Comments
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
David Hicks can be tried in Australia
David Hicks remains imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay because, the Australian Government claims, there is no basis for him to be prosecuted under Australian law. This is simply not true.
Hicks can be charged and tried in Australia, under existing Australian law. This contradicts the Attorney-General’s claim that the only way to bring Hicks home is to free him – another myth perpetuated by a Government that seems more than willing to forfeit justice for political convenience.
Expert advice commissioned by a partner at the Gilbert + Tobin law firm (sponsors of the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law) confirmed last June that the actions alleged by the US Military Commission, since found by the conservative US Supreme Court to be an illegal body, are offences under Australian law.
Australian law recognises crimes of the nature alleged by the US that occur outside Australia – including in the conflict in Afghanistan. Expert opinion is clear that Hicks can be charged in Australia with offences including terrorism, training with and aiding the enemy, and conspiring and attempting to do the above. Moreover, both the High Court and the State Supreme Courts can hold these trials. The Australian Government would not have to create any new laws to do this. But the Attorney-General will not make public his legal advice suggesting the contrary, on which he stakes his argument for not bringing David Hicks home.
Meanwhile, the Law Council of Australia has argued that David Hicks must either be tried immediately before an existing US court or repatriated.
The right to a fair trial is a principle the Government should be actively seeking to uphold, regardless of their view on David Hicks’ guilt. Our legal system is there to ensure those who break the law are dealt with properly, and if the Government believes there is evidence that David Hicks has done something wrong, then they have no reason not to try him at home.
Posted by Lily at 8:46:28 AM
(5) Comments
Friday, July 21, 2006
Press Conference - Australians demand justice
The lineup features ABC TV's Margaret Pomerantz, GetUp's Brett Solomon,The Hon John Dowd AO, QC (President of the International Commission of Jurists, also former NSW Attorney General & former NSW Liberal leader), Catholic Bishop of Parramatta Kevin Manning, and the SecHEREretary of Unions NSW John Robertson.
Posted by Lily at 4:08:54 PM
(1) Comments
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4:04 pm
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