A welcome development to erase the stain of the ongoing “war on terror”. I look forward to hearing those in Australia who backed David Hicks’ incarceration and torture saying sorry for this terrible injustice: David Hicks has enlisted legal experts in the hope of having his terrorism conviction quashed. In the three years since his…
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The Hicks fiasco
As the impending sham “trial” of Guantanamo Bay captive David Hicks approaches, Australian public opinion has soundly turned in his favour. This is not about supporting his alleged “crimes”, but his right to a fair trial. Amnesty has launched a new campaign. Try and imagine what it’s like living in his Gitmo cage…
Hicks
Australian Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks is facing a US military trial some time this month. ABC Four Corners last night presented the so-called “case” against Hicks (the Sydney Morning Herald has more) and discovered that in fact he was probably in the wrong place at the wrong time. A mis-guided man is one thing,…
US Senate report on torture shows state violence goes unpunished
My weekly Guardian column: The details shocked. Shackled prisoners were treated like cattle, watched by their CIA interrogators. Testimony from one observer stated that men blindfolded and tied “were made to run down a steep hill, at the bottom of which were three throws of concertina barbed wire. The first row would hit them across…
Speaking in support of Julian Assange and Wikileaks
This week’s British Supreme Court decision over Julian Assange was yet another step in the farcical legal case against the Wikileaks publisher. Australian and American politicians have shown over the last years a disturbing desire to shut Wikileaks down. Let them try. They will fail. There was a large rally in Sydney this week in…
Murdoch logic; backers of war should receive a peace prize
Noam Chomsky has won the 2011 Sydney Peace Prize over his legendary support for human rights and challenging power it all its forms. That makes him an enemy of a Murdoch empire that spends its entire time wanting to be intimate with government and business. The poor dears can’t understand why a man who opposes…
What Wikileaks Gitmo files says about our Western “values”
My following article appears in today’s ABC The Drum: The Wikileaks-released Guantanamo Bay files provide an invaluable insight into the mindset of the US and its allies since September 11. An infrastructure of torture was implemented, a practice still defended by the US government today, to allegedly protect the homeland from future attack. The result…
ABCTV News24 on human rights in China, Gitmo torture and Sri Lankan war crimes
I appeared last night on ABCTV News 24’s The Drum alongside ABC journalist Marius Benson and lobbyist Sue Cato (video here). While China, we learn via Wikileaks, ignores Australia’s supposed concerns for human rights, I asked if Prime Minister Julia Gillard actually cared about human rights as there had been no public comments from her…
Where is media accountability for years repeating US lies over “terrorism”?
Many in the Western media and political elites have spent years since 9/11 smearing a litany of Muslim “terrorists” because the US leaked selective information to friendly journalists and leaders. Serious questions were dismissed. The Murdoch press globally loved to hype bogus US claims about the “worst of the worst” at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere.…
Thousands gather in Sydney to back Wikileaks
Last night’s large event in Sydney to support the right of Wikileaks to publish material was a huge success. Thousands turned up to hear speakers chastise the Australian government for shamefully bowing down to America’s wishes over Julian Assange. Wikileaks enjoys majority community support: A high-profile human rights lawyer claims Julian Assange’s only crime is…