A news story today brings up a topic that is dear to my heart. How much a bunch of mean spirited bastards this government is.
Remember that Gold Coast terrorist Dr Haneef? He helped his British cousins when they tried to blow up Glasgow airport, but the Australian Federal Police caught him, locked him up using our new anti-terrorism legislation before charging him with terrorism offences. Hurray for freedom!
The only problem with that political wet dream was that Mohammed Haneef was completely innocent. All charges were dropped. Furthermore, new information today reveals that Police Commisioner Mick Keelty knew the weakness of the case against Haneef early on.
Haneef’s lawyer Peter Russo: "We've got a situation now where a person has had his visa cancelled, lost his job, had his reputation suffered based on information that the AFP provided to the director's office… Now he's [Keelty’s] come out and said that he told them that the case was weak. It doesn't make any sense at all."
Let me remind you of the case here.
They arrested a very guilty looking Haneef at the airport. Fine so far. Then they held him for almost a fortnight without charge. When they finally charged him with something and he applied for bail, he got it! That’s right, he was charged with a terrorism offence and he successfully applied for bail. There must have been some striking evidence presented at that hearing.
But instead of letting him go free, a move that was certain to embarrass the Government, the immigration minister Kevin Andrews cancelled the poor bastard's visa. So he was free on bail, but was now illegal so they could lock him up again, and when the charges were finally dropped, Andrews deported him.
What a bunch of bastards. Can anyone actually justify the behaviour of the Australian Government in this matter? Is there anyone out there that doesn’t think Andrews acted like a mean spirited little bastard in this case?
Cases like this are exactly why I dislike the current Government so much. They stopped at nothing to get Dr Haneef, and when it became clear that they were barking up the wrong tree they locked him up, shut him up and deported him.
Why not apologise to the man? “Sorry we locked you up, but you looked guilty as sin back there. No hard feelings, here’s a slab of VB, enjoy the rest of your stay in Australia.”
I just can’t respect a Government that would behave in this manner. Justice was put aside to maintain the visible consistency of our Government. Let me reiterate that I can't respect any government that would behave in this way. Rudd says at the bottom of this report that he was pleased with the way the AFP handled the case.
Our Government's policy seems to be never admit being wrong; my question is, what else are they covering up?
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6 comments:
Aliens. Oh and levitating planes built from a stable form of ununpentium...
Well may we save God save the Queen, because nothing will save Kevin Andrews
bring back Vanstone!!
I hear she ate her own weight in canned ham and imploded like a neutron star.
Here's something that will blow your mind. She's my mates auntie and apparently she's the 'nice' one of the three sisters. I'm picturing them riding wolverines with baby skull necklaces here.
In my seven months in Africa, I have seen two stories on CNN about Australia. One was the floods in QLD a few months back. The other? How our esteemed government fucked over Dr Haneef. The footage I saw showed Andrews and Howard smarming it up for the cameras, with the reporters relating a story of how racist and lowdown the Libs could be. I was in a bar with a Tanzanian the other day who asked me, 'What was the go with Australia and that doctor?'. This is the image Aus gets on the international news - and we just look like a bunch of rednecks, I'm afraid.
Christ that's depressing Tom.
Check out this story about the feelings of young Muslims in Australia. The guy mentions the Haneef case.
"Look at the Haneef thing - why would we trust these guys when all you see is one fumble after another? People are afraid."
and a chillingly rational quote about the lack of trust in the government:
Mr Rahman said the Government was spending too much on campaigns directed at people who did not know what was going on - such as the Be Alert, Not Alarmed campaign - but not enough in communities such as southwestern Sydney, where about 250,000 Muslims live.
"It's not like it will be John Smith on the north shore of Sydney who will have information, it will be Mohammed or Ahmed out here," he said.
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