‘Anyway who cares about civil liberties should be outraged at this decision. We hear about authoritarian governments putting people under house arrest in Burma – well, now it’s happening right here in Australia!’
Putting people under house arrest
AUSTRALIA: MELBOURNE: Les Thomas from Civil Rights Defence today expressed his outrage at the Australian Federal Police’s decision to serve his brother Jack Thomas with a control order, despite the Appeal Court quashing charges against him.
‘My brother is being persecuted,’ said Les Thomas. ‘Jack was trying to recover from his ordeal by spending time on the beach with his wife and family when the AFP dropped this new bombshell. He has had to return home and has been told he must report to a police station daily.’
Les Thomas said that the community should be appalled at the way new anti-terrorism was being used. ‘My brother spent months in maximum security, on the basis of an interview conducted after he’d been put through the mill in a Pakistani gaol. The court let him go free – but the AFP still won’t leave him alone.’
‘This has nothing to do with justice or security. The court’s decision embarrassed the government and they are going after my brother to try to save face. Amnesty International once described the control order provisions of the anti-terror legislation as “house arrest under a different name”. What is Australia coming to when a man can have charges dismissed by the legal system – but the government can still target him like this?’
‘Anyway who cares about civil liberties should be outraged at this decision. We hear about authoritarian governments putting people under house arrest in Burma – well, now it’s happening right here in Australia!’
Mr Les Thomas can be contacted on 0409399429 or via Jeff Sparrow on 0421390373.
===============================
Thomas family vows to fight control order
by Parrort Press Tuesday August 29, 2006 at 12:14 AM
The family of Melbourne man Jack Thomas plans to fight an interim control order imposed against him.
The order was made 10 days after Mr Thomas walked free from jail, when his [alleged] terror offences were quashed on appeal.
Feral Draconian-General philip duddock has confirmed a control order has been placed on Mr Thomas.
Duddock says Mr Thomas is the subject of a curfew from midnight to 5 am, and will have to report to police three days a week.
"That is Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, so as to avoid conflict with any 'religious obligations'," he said.
He also will need written approval to make telephone calls.
His lawyer, Rob Stary, says he also has to identify all of his telecommunications devices.
"Which might include Internet facilities, mobile phones, home phones, things of that nature so that presumably they can be monitored," he said.
"The fifth series of things is that he's not [to] associate with various people, or communicate with various people, curiously that includes Osama bin Laden," he said.
Duddock says the matter must be treated seriously, a political.
"The issue is about protecting the Australian war criminal dictators by punishing a person for nothing, proven beyond a reasonable doubt," he said.
"And if you work on the assumption that only those people who could be convicted of an offence could be the subject of a control order, that's everyone? Then you wouldn't have control orders and you'd have to charge them, the old fascist way, when you allege that they've committed a crime and then try to convict them in our kangaroo caught."
But Mr Thomas's brother, Les, says the move is a political stunt.
"The timing is just extraordinary and we're hoping that this can be overturned promptly," he said.
He says the lawyers never expected this sort of control order to be handed down.
"They basically laughed at the idea, saying it was basically beyond belief that that would even be attempted, so it's a great shock to us that they've taken this move," he said.
The Federal Court ruled that Mr Thomas was still a potential terrorist resource because of his training in Afghanistan.
The interim order will be subject to further proceedings in the Federal Magistrates Court later this week.
===============================
Thomas control order based on scapegoat idea
by Parrort Press Tuesday August 29, 2006 at 09:01 AM
The brother of Victorian man Jack Thomas has criticised the reasons the australian federal police (afp) have given for placing an interim control order on the former accused scapegoat.
Jack Thomas has spent his first night at home under the draconian interim control order, just days after his scapegoat conviction was overturned.
Jack Thomas does not have links to the [alleged] Indonesian extremist leader, preacher and teacher Abu Bakar Bashir, another CIA scapegoat in the Coalition of the Killings war on terror/liberty.
Les Thomas: "I think it's an extraordinarily far-fetched idea," he said.
"I think the only tenuous connection that I know of relating to Abu Bakar Bashir is the fact that Maryati, Jack's wife, went to school with a woman who later went on to marry him," he said.
"We cannot believe that this is the kind of thing that is being dragged out and used to justify this action."
Les Thomas says the control order is a political stunt.
"Throughout my brother's entire case you've seen a mythology built around the 'Jihad Jack' idea," he said.
"I think that this has aided the Government's agenda in creating a kind of example - a sacrificial lamb, if you will - of my brother.
"It's just an enormous setback for him personally."
Draconian Control Order
Jack Thomas was set-up and used as a scapegoat earlier this year and was alleged to have received money from Al Qaeda, but the set-up was overturned by the Victorian Court of Appeal.
The afp sought permission to have the order imposed against Mr Thomas, but that will be challenged in the Federal Court later this week.
Mr Thomas has to adhere to strict conditions, including a curfew between the hours of midnight and 5:00am and having to report to police three times a week.
His lawyer, Rob Stary, says Mr Thomas has also been given a list of people he is not to contact, including some high profile terror figures.
"Why would you have a list for instance that included Osama Bin Laden?" he said.
"Surely the authorities would want him to contact Osama Bin Laden if there was ever the remotest possibility that he could so that they could trace Osama Bin Laden and capture him."
'Sour grapes'
Liberty Victoria president Brian Walters says the afp look as though they are trying to make up for being embarrassed.
"It smacks of sour grapes, having been shown up for the impropriety in which the australian federal police were involved in Pakistan, and having the interview rejected," he said.
"If ever there was a case where an end should have been brought to it, this is that case."
Mr Walters says he is concerned for the health of Mr Thomas, who has been undergoing psychiatric treatment.
"Of course it's going to have a massive impact on his psychiatric condition, and of course it's very dangerous for him personally," he said.
"This cannot be justified, in the light of the jury's finding that he was not involved in any terrorist activity."
===============================
Comments:
New US ambassador defends Hicks's detention?
by Parrort Press Monday August 28, 2006 at 03:08 PM
The new US ambassador to Australia robert mcKill-um has defended the treatment of Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee, David Hicks.
===============================
So he also defends torture and years of detention without trial or charge?
He defends the neo-cons and george dubya bushit and I guess he also defends the coalition of the killing!
===============================
Mustn't contact Osama
by Anon Monday August 28, 2006 at 10:11 PM
Yeah I see on the News he isn't allowed to contact Osama bin Laden. Like he'd have his mobile phone number, would he? And wouldn't it be better to let him contact Osama so that the CIA or whoever can find out where the gentleman is?
===========================
Just political prisoners
by Sam Monday August 28, 2006 at 04:42 PM
A whole bunch of people should go down the police station with him everytime he goes down to protest!
The authorities should feel embarrassed.
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/08/120670_comment.php
Related:
QLD errorism suspect prepares bail application?
Appearing via video link today for a mention, Amundsen regularly spoke over the magistrate, saying he wanted to make another bail application because he now has technical information to prove that the devices in his home were not bombs.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/20627
Lodhi gets 20 years for thought crime?
But what effect of what bombing attack? Thought crime attacks cause no vicitims or I might add no real threat to anyone! More fear has been created by the authorities baseless charges of crimes that were never committed and by the parrot press screaming out terrorist.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/20387
Amendments to proposed anti-terrorism/liberty directives have been dismissed in the Western Australian Parliament.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display/20365/index.php
Convicted attention seeker Jack Roche called by afp as informant
A convicted 'attention seeker' Jack Roche now an afp informant has given hearsay evidence at the committal hearing for 13 men facing [alleged] terrorism charges in Melbourne.
http://sydney.indymedia.org/node/38379
American Concentration Camp located at Guantanamo Bay
The American Concentration Camp located at Guantanamo Bay must be closed. Let the people go free. Pardon them. Show them Christian charity. Stop this evil.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/20129
Lodhi lawyer welcomes Thomas appeal win
Perhaps the abc should get another Walkley award?????????????????????
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/19969
If they were any tougher they'd Rust!
Tougher terrorism laws predicted after Thomas ruling?
A top defence lawyer says he is concerned the Government might push for tougher anti-terrorism laws as a result of the quashing of convictions against Melbourne man Joseph Terrence Thomas.
abc 18 Aug 06
Judge quashes Thomas conviction
This is fantastic news. Congratulations to Jack and the Thomas family! It is a vindication of everyone prepared to fight for basic rights -- and makes the bus trip all the more important. We're in the process of putting a press release out. Good news for a change!
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display/19874/index.php
Prosecution playing 'dirty tricks' in terrorism trial
The defence lawyers for Melbourne's 13 terrorism suspects have accused the prosecution of playing dirty tricks.
The prosecution today played a taped conversation between defendants Shoue Hammoud and Bassam Raad in which the prosecution alleges Raad suggests the authorities that put other members of their group in jail need to be slaughtered.
But in a heated volley of legal argument, defence lawyers said the reference to slaughter instead refereed to Raad's fears about what could happen to his friends in jail.
The defence lawyers said the prosecution was trying to drum up outrageous headlines to excite the media and to compound the fear being peddled in the Australian community.
The defence lawyers said the prosecution should just get on with the evidence.
ABC 18 Aug 06
Court hears fishing expedition letter 'referred to sacrifices to a cause'
The letter reads: "My love, How I miss you already? What would I ever do if we were separated for more than a day? Inshallah I will never find out. May the only cause for our separation be the cause of Allah. And may he grant me paradise alongside you as queen of your Hoor." [kiss, kiss, kiss, hug]
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/08/119746.php
Faheem Lodhi - another non-terrorist jailed under Australia's 'anti-terror' laws?
Jack Thomas, a non-terrorist, has been jailed under Australia's anti-terror laws. Now Faheem Lodhi has been convicted under the terror laws on flimsy, circumstantial evidence. It is likely he is another non-terrorist jailed for political purposes under the terror laws.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/19641
Terrorism scapegoat was kidnapped, court hears
The Melbourne Magistrates Court has heard a man charged with [allegedly] directing a terrorist organisation was kidnapped last year.
The court was told Abdul Benbrika alleged in a conversation recorded by police that he was questioned and hit during an abduction which lasted about six hours.
The defendant did not indicate who was responsible for the alleged kidnapping.
Magistrate Paul Smith heard police initiated an internal investigation into the alleged kidnapping, but it was dropped after numerous efforts to contact Benbrika.
HoWARd's abc 15 August 2006
Magistrate allows AK-47 photo to prejudice scapegoat trial
No doubt that the magistrate seeks to incorporate the media throughout the proceedings of these innocent men because of a lack of concrete evidence and just so they can be used as scapegoat's for hoWARd's war on terror.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/19476
Former medical student to stand trial in kangaroo court!
Lawyers for the 23-year-old argue the charge is not constitutionally valid because they say the laws cannot cover alleged acts committed on foreign soil which do not have an Australian connection.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/19027
Student loses bid for High Court hearing
Lawyers for the 23-year-old argue the charge is not constitutionally valid because they say the laws cannot cover alleged acts committed on foreign soil which do not have an Australian connection.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/18535
Attorney General Ruddock is Oddball over anti-terrorist laws!Attorney
Attorney General Ruddock attacks different laws.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/17746
Australia's Guantanamo
Have the 13 Muslim men arrested under Australia's new anti-terror laws been subjected to Guantanamo Bay-style conditions? It's an allegation being made by Civil Rights Defence
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/18341
Major Michael Mori writes re David Hicks
The US Supreme Court has ruled the special Guantanamo trials illegal. An acceptable solution from the Americans is likely years away and our Government has run out of excuses not to act. Nearly 40,000 Australians have put their name to the Open Letter calling for David Hicks to be repatriated. I hope you'll join us now by clicking on the link:
http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/DefendAustralianRights
International Protest Day calls for the end of Guantánamo Bay
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/17099
Judges weigh 'Joseph Thomas's' appeal! Get your facts right!
What would she have imposed for stealing a passport?
http://newswire.indymedia.org/en/2006/07/843328.shtml
Joseph Thomas conviction immoral
AN EMBARRASSING conviction based on TORTURE IMMORAL
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/07/117441.php
Standardising terrorism in the prison population?
Try giving us hope, access to our communities, a sense of caring by the outside community. And letting us out to make restitution instead of building festering anger.
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/07/117580.php
Scapegoats accused 'exploited' by guberment prostitutor
The rest of the prisoners had to stay in jail in AA maximum security segregted with no contact with human people in a box within a box with no fresh air or sunlight with the worst of the worst offenders.
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/07/117553.php
Jury indicated it could not reach a verdict, but was ordered to push on?
These charges were that he collected maps of the Australian electricity supply system in preparation of a terrorist act (15 years), BUT WITH NO DETAILS ABOUT THE PREPARATION ACCEPT MATERIAL TO SUPPORT THOUGHT CRIME? that he sought information on chemical prices for the use of explosives for a terrorist act (life), BUT NO SOUND EVIDENCE ABOUT WHETHER THE CHEMICALS WERE GOING TO BE PURCHASED OR USED FOR THE USE OF EXPLOSIVES OR A TERRORIST ACT and that he possessed a document with information on the manufacture of poisons and bombs in preparation for a terrorist act (15 years). THAT HE LIKE MANY OTHERS MAY HAVE DOWNLOADED FROM THE INTERNET WHICH IS NOT ILLEGAL USUALLY?
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/06/115129.php
A dangerous precedent: Australian man convicted of “preparing terrorism”
Since 2001, the government has seized upon the “war” declared by US President George Bush for both domestic and international purposes. Under the guise of combating terrorism it has participated in the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, diverted attention from mounting economic and social problems at home and legitimised previously unthinkable police state-style measures, including semi-secret trials, “preventative” detention and the ability to impose life sentences without any evidence of an actual terrorist act.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/16401
Secret evidence used in Australian “terrorist” trial
Lodhi was bundled into the court building in shackles, in full view of the media. The display was intended to convey the impression that he is a violent and highly dangerous individual. Like several other Muslim men charged with terrorist offences in Australia over the past year, Lodhi has been denied bail and held in virtual solitary confinement in a “super max” prison, cut off from family and friends. Under state and federal “counter-terrorism” laws, the traditional presumption in favour of bail has been scrapped. It will only be granted in “exceptional circumstances”. On receiving a confidential affidavit from the Commonwealth, Magistrate Michael Price imposed a number of secrecy orders despite vigorous objections by lawyers for Lodhi and by media organisations. The orders mean that the affidavit itself will remain suppressed, and the media is barred from disclosing even the general nature of the material relied upon in it.
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2004/12/866066.shtml
Merry Christmas Mr Kent and Mr Haddara
After and ASIO fishing expedition they were charged last month with knowingly belonging to a Melbourne-based terrorist group, that did not exist.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9799
ASIO raid family home
This is an assault on civil liberties, for all Australians - on the eve of Human Rights Day 2005 that marks the day in 1948, that the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Shame hoWARd shame on you!
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9706
Tight security impedes scapegoat case
Indymedia has learnt this includes a bank account his supporters say was set up to fund legal representation for Muslims facing any kind of legal action. The prosecution is understood to allege the money was intended for terrorist purposes.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9693
Some evidence is prejudicial to national insecurity
It has been previously reported that he is facing nine charges and is accused of planning a major terrorist attack on Sydney defence sites and the electricity grid using downloads off the internet and having 100 rolls of toilet paper to wipe his arse after low level bombs and farts. Shit!
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9682
Terrorism suspects' custody conditions 'inhumane'
"This treatment is very cruel and inhumane and what I've put forward to the Premier Morris Iemma to intervene and put an end to this scandal," he said.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9657
DPP should lose the plot!
Now why would the DPP do that? Based on some notion I suppose, that john hoWARd (the hangman) wants to use Thomas's butt again, to raise the fear stakes in the introduction of the new Anti-Liberty-Dissent Directives!
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9617
Things and places identified
He said Mulahalilovic worked as a handyman, lived with his wife, parents and brother and, with the help of family members, could provide around $1 million security to ensure his freedom until trial.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9423
Dangerous handyman terror threat?
But the only mother of SATAN here is John HoWARd and his new Ant-Terrorism Bill!
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9418
Terror suspects 'kept in dark'
"They're all kept in solitary confinement, they're kept in Guantanamo Bay style conditions and they're very oppressive," he said.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9413
What are the dangerous chemicals police found when they went fishing?
If police say they were making bombs when they were painting motor vehicles then the only terrorist act that wasn't prevented was when police went on a fishing expedition.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9395
Man shot by police in fishing raids
But there is no such thing as an independent investigation team in NSW because police investigate themselves and cannot be relied upon ever.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9392
ASIO fishing expedition makes arrests
Are you satisfied truthseeker? Well I'm not this is just another public relations exercise that no one can prove. But trust us we know best?
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9384
hoWARd, ruddock, ellison, keelty and news ltd plotted chaos
Now they go on in the article to describe themselves as intelligence officials? But I'm sorry to say that any group of people who ask another group of people to believe what they believe based on no evidence is amongst the most unintelligent and lost group of people the world has ever known.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/8663
Houses raided over 'possible' political attack plans?
"Furthermore, nothing is reasonable about a raid on people's homes because for an alleged possibility. For those sorts of enquiries one should approach a 'soothsayer' and if you get the all clear only then should they approach people via the front door with the appropriate warrant to search one's home. A warrant based on concrete evidence that has been filtered by a juge or magistrate of the court to see whether the material is frivolous or vexatious."
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/8659
If he'd been given his passport he'd be a free man
During his trial Mr Mallah's defence counsel said he was only trying to sustain the media spotlight when he sold details of his plans to an undercover officer posing as a journalist.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/8192
Melbourne man charged over ASIO links
Apparently this victim will appear before the Melbourne Magistrates Court later today and hopefully he won't be sent to the nearest "AA" Super-max prison for "social isolation" just in case ASIO aren't telling us the truth!
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display/7545/index.php
Australian prisoners' linked to Bin Laden: Ten News
Hatzistergos: "For example, because of a perceived risk that they may engage in, or incite other persons to engage in, terrorist activities."
Terrorist prisoners held in a "box within a box" with no "fresh air or sunlight" at Goulburn HRMU may incite alleged terrorists in Long Bay to blow up Long Bay Prison's Twin Towers?
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/liverpool/2004/11/300344.html
Andrew Sullivan and the Tortued Truth
Mr. Habib said he was taken to a room with hooks on the wall and a barrel, set sideways like a roller, on the floor. His arms were stretched out, he said, and each wrist was handcuffed and fastened to a hook on the wall. By his description, the only way not to be left hanging was to stand on the barrel; an electric wire ran through it. Mr. Habib said he believed the interrogators in that room were Pakistani.
Mr. Habib said that when he refused to confess to being part of a 1995 terror plot, one man turned on the current. He lifted his feet to avoid the shock, he recalled, and he was suspended from the wall.
"I lost everything," he said.
http://bodyandsoul.typepad.com/blog/2005/02/theres_been_a_s.html
‘My brother is being persecuted,’ said Les Thomas. ‘Jack was trying to recover from his ordeal by spending time on the beach with his wife and family when the AFP dropped this new bombshell. He has had to return home and has been told he must report to a police station daily.’
Les Thomas said that the community should be appalled at the way new anti-terrorism was being used. ‘My brother spent months in maximum security, on the basis of an interview conducted after he’d been put through the mill in a Pakistani gaol. The court let him go free – but the AFP still won’t leave him alone.’
‘This has nothing to do with justice or security. The court’s decision embarrassed the government and they are going after my brother to try to save face. Amnesty International once described the control order provisions of the anti-terror legislation as “house arrest under a different name”. What is Australia coming to when a man can have charges dismissed by the legal system – but the government can still target him like this?’
‘Anyway who cares about civil liberties should be outraged at this decision. We hear about authoritarian governments putting people under house arrest in Burma – well, now it’s happening right here in Australia!’
Mr Les Thomas can be contacted on 0409399429 or via Jeff Sparrow on 0421390373.
===============================
Thomas family vows to fight control order
by Parrort Press Tuesday August 29, 2006 at 12:14 AM
The family of Melbourne man Jack Thomas plans to fight an interim control order imposed against him.
The order was made 10 days after Mr Thomas walked free from jail, when his [alleged] terror offences were quashed on appeal.
Feral Draconian-General philip duddock has confirmed a control order has been placed on Mr Thomas.
Duddock says Mr Thomas is the subject of a curfew from midnight to 5 am, and will have to report to police three days a week.
"That is Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, so as to avoid conflict with any 'religious obligations'," he said.
He also will need written approval to make telephone calls.
His lawyer, Rob Stary, says he also has to identify all of his telecommunications devices.
"Which might include Internet facilities, mobile phones, home phones, things of that nature so that presumably they can be monitored," he said.
"The fifth series of things is that he's not [to] associate with various people, or communicate with various people, curiously that includes Osama bin Laden," he said.
Duddock says the matter must be treated seriously, a political.
"The issue is about protecting the Australian war criminal dictators by punishing a person for nothing, proven beyond a reasonable doubt," he said.
"And if you work on the assumption that only those people who could be convicted of an offence could be the subject of a control order, that's everyone? Then you wouldn't have control orders and you'd have to charge them, the old fascist way, when you allege that they've committed a crime and then try to convict them in our kangaroo caught."
But Mr Thomas's brother, Les, says the move is a political stunt.
"The timing is just extraordinary and we're hoping that this can be overturned promptly," he said.
He says the lawyers never expected this sort of control order to be handed down.
"They basically laughed at the idea, saying it was basically beyond belief that that would even be attempted, so it's a great shock to us that they've taken this move," he said.
The Federal Court ruled that Mr Thomas was still a potential terrorist resource because of his training in Afghanistan.
The interim order will be subject to further proceedings in the Federal Magistrates Court later this week.
===============================
Thomas control order based on scapegoat idea
by Parrort Press Tuesday August 29, 2006 at 09:01 AM
The brother of Victorian man Jack Thomas has criticised the reasons the australian federal police (afp) have given for placing an interim control order on the former accused scapegoat.
Jack Thomas has spent his first night at home under the draconian interim control order, just days after his scapegoat conviction was overturned.
Jack Thomas does not have links to the [alleged] Indonesian extremist leader, preacher and teacher Abu Bakar Bashir, another CIA scapegoat in the Coalition of the Killings war on terror/liberty.
Les Thomas: "I think it's an extraordinarily far-fetched idea," he said.
"I think the only tenuous connection that I know of relating to Abu Bakar Bashir is the fact that Maryati, Jack's wife, went to school with a woman who later went on to marry him," he said.
"We cannot believe that this is the kind of thing that is being dragged out and used to justify this action."
Les Thomas says the control order is a political stunt.
"Throughout my brother's entire case you've seen a mythology built around the 'Jihad Jack' idea," he said.
"I think that this has aided the Government's agenda in creating a kind of example - a sacrificial lamb, if you will - of my brother.
"It's just an enormous setback for him personally."
Draconian Control Order
Jack Thomas was set-up and used as a scapegoat earlier this year and was alleged to have received money from Al Qaeda, but the set-up was overturned by the Victorian Court of Appeal.
The afp sought permission to have the order imposed against Mr Thomas, but that will be challenged in the Federal Court later this week.
Mr Thomas has to adhere to strict conditions, including a curfew between the hours of midnight and 5:00am and having to report to police three times a week.
His lawyer, Rob Stary, says Mr Thomas has also been given a list of people he is not to contact, including some high profile terror figures.
"Why would you have a list for instance that included Osama Bin Laden?" he said.
"Surely the authorities would want him to contact Osama Bin Laden if there was ever the remotest possibility that he could so that they could trace Osama Bin Laden and capture him."
'Sour grapes'
Liberty Victoria president Brian Walters says the afp look as though they are trying to make up for being embarrassed.
"It smacks of sour grapes, having been shown up for the impropriety in which the australian federal police were involved in Pakistan, and having the interview rejected," he said.
"If ever there was a case where an end should have been brought to it, this is that case."
Mr Walters says he is concerned for the health of Mr Thomas, who has been undergoing psychiatric treatment.
"Of course it's going to have a massive impact on his psychiatric condition, and of course it's very dangerous for him personally," he said.
"This cannot be justified, in the light of the jury's finding that he was not involved in any terrorist activity."
===============================
Comments:
New US ambassador defends Hicks's detention?
by Parrort Press Monday August 28, 2006 at 03:08 PM
The new US ambassador to Australia robert mcKill-um has defended the treatment of Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee, David Hicks.
===============================
So he also defends torture and years of detention without trial or charge?
He defends the neo-cons and george dubya bushit and I guess he also defends the coalition of the killing!
===============================
Mustn't contact Osama
by Anon Monday August 28, 2006 at 10:11 PM
Yeah I see on the News he isn't allowed to contact Osama bin Laden. Like he'd have his mobile phone number, would he? And wouldn't it be better to let him contact Osama so that the CIA or whoever can find out where the gentleman is?
===========================
Just political prisoners
by Sam Monday August 28, 2006 at 04:42 PM
A whole bunch of people should go down the police station with him everytime he goes down to protest!
The authorities should feel embarrassed.
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/08/120670_comment.php Related:
QLD errorism suspect prepares bail application?
Appearing via video link today for a mention, Amundsen regularly spoke over the magistrate, saying he wanted to make another bail application because he now has technical information to prove that the devices in his home were not bombs.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/20627 Lodhi gets 20 years for thought crime?
But what effect of what bombing attack? Thought crime attacks cause no vicitims or I might add no real threat to anyone! More fear has been created by the authorities baseless charges of crimes that were never committed and by the parrot press screaming out terrorist.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/20387 Amendments to proposed anti-terrorism/liberty directives have been dismissed in the Western Australian Parliament.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display/20365/index.php Convicted attention seeker Jack Roche called by afp as informant
A convicted 'attention seeker' Jack Roche now an afp informant has given hearsay evidence at the committal hearing for 13 men facing [alleged] terrorism charges in Melbourne.
http://sydney.indymedia.org/node/38379 American Concentration Camp located at Guantanamo Bay
The American Concentration Camp located at Guantanamo Bay must be closed. Let the people go free. Pardon them. Show them Christian charity. Stop this evil.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/20129 Lodhi lawyer welcomes Thomas appeal win
Perhaps the abc should get another Walkley award?????????????????????
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/19969 If they were any tougher they'd Rust!
Tougher terrorism laws predicted after Thomas ruling?
A top defence lawyer says he is concerned the Government might push for tougher anti-terrorism laws as a result of the quashing of convictions against Melbourne man Joseph Terrence Thomas.
abc 18 Aug 06
Judge quashes Thomas conviction
This is fantastic news. Congratulations to Jack and the Thomas family! It is a vindication of everyone prepared to fight for basic rights -- and makes the bus trip all the more important. We're in the process of putting a press release out. Good news for a change!
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display/19874/index.php Prosecution playing 'dirty tricks' in terrorism trial
The defence lawyers for Melbourne's 13 terrorism suspects have accused the prosecution of playing dirty tricks.
The prosecution today played a taped conversation between defendants Shoue Hammoud and Bassam Raad in which the prosecution alleges Raad suggests the authorities that put other members of their group in jail need to be slaughtered.
But in a heated volley of legal argument, defence lawyers said the reference to slaughter instead refereed to Raad's fears about what could happen to his friends in jail.
The defence lawyers said the prosecution was trying to drum up outrageous headlines to excite the media and to compound the fear being peddled in the Australian community.
The defence lawyers said the prosecution should just get on with the evidence.
ABC 18 Aug 06
Court hears fishing expedition letter 'referred to sacrifices to a cause'
The letter reads: "My love, How I miss you already? What would I ever do if we were separated for more than a day? Inshallah I will never find out. May the only cause for our separation be the cause of Allah. And may he grant me paradise alongside you as queen of your Hoor." [kiss, kiss, kiss, hug]
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/08/119746.php Faheem Lodhi - another non-terrorist jailed under Australia's 'anti-terror' laws?
Jack Thomas, a non-terrorist, has been jailed under Australia's anti-terror laws. Now Faheem Lodhi has been convicted under the terror laws on flimsy, circumstantial evidence. It is likely he is another non-terrorist jailed for political purposes under the terror laws.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/19641 Terrorism scapegoat was kidnapped, court hears
The Melbourne Magistrates Court has heard a man charged with [allegedly] directing a terrorist organisation was kidnapped last year.
The court was told Abdul Benbrika alleged in a conversation recorded by police that he was questioned and hit during an abduction which lasted about six hours.
The defendant did not indicate who was responsible for the alleged kidnapping.
Magistrate Paul Smith heard police initiated an internal investigation into the alleged kidnapping, but it was dropped after numerous efforts to contact Benbrika.
HoWARd's abc 15 August 2006
Magistrate allows AK-47 photo to prejudice scapegoat trial
No doubt that the magistrate seeks to incorporate the media throughout the proceedings of these innocent men because of a lack of concrete evidence and just so they can be used as scapegoat's for hoWARd's war on terror.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/19476 Former medical student to stand trial in kangaroo court!
Lawyers for the 23-year-old argue the charge is not constitutionally valid because they say the laws cannot cover alleged acts committed on foreign soil which do not have an Australian connection.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/19027 Student loses bid for High Court hearing
Lawyers for the 23-year-old argue the charge is not constitutionally valid because they say the laws cannot cover alleged acts committed on foreign soil which do not have an Australian connection.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/18535 Attorney General Ruddock is Oddball over anti-terrorist laws!Attorney
Attorney General Ruddock attacks different laws.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/17746 Australia's Guantanamo
Have the 13 Muslim men arrested under Australia's new anti-terror laws been subjected to Guantanamo Bay-style conditions? It's an allegation being made by Civil Rights Defence
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/18341 Major Michael Mori writes re David Hicks
The US Supreme Court has ruled the special Guantanamo trials illegal. An acceptable solution from the Americans is likely years away and our Government has run out of excuses not to act. Nearly 40,000 Australians have put their name to the Open Letter calling for David Hicks to be repatriated. I hope you'll join us now by clicking on the link:
http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/DefendAustralianRights International Protest Day calls for the end of Guantánamo Bay
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/17099 Judges weigh 'Joseph Thomas's' appeal! Get your facts right!
What would she have imposed for stealing a passport?
http://newswire.indymedia.org/en/2006/07/843328.shtml Joseph Thomas conviction immoral
AN EMBARRASSING conviction based on TORTURE IMMORAL
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/07/117441.php Standardising terrorism in the prison population?
Try giving us hope, access to our communities, a sense of caring by the outside community. And letting us out to make restitution instead of building festering anger.
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/07/117580.php Scapegoats accused 'exploited' by guberment prostitutor
The rest of the prisoners had to stay in jail in AA maximum security segregted with no contact with human people in a box within a box with no fresh air or sunlight with the worst of the worst offenders.
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/07/117553.php Jury indicated it could not reach a verdict, but was ordered to push on?
These charges were that he collected maps of the Australian electricity supply system in preparation of a terrorist act (15 years), BUT WITH NO DETAILS ABOUT THE PREPARATION ACCEPT MATERIAL TO SUPPORT THOUGHT CRIME? that he sought information on chemical prices for the use of explosives for a terrorist act (life), BUT NO SOUND EVIDENCE ABOUT WHETHER THE CHEMICALS WERE GOING TO BE PURCHASED OR USED FOR THE USE OF EXPLOSIVES OR A TERRORIST ACT and that he possessed a document with information on the manufacture of poisons and bombs in preparation for a terrorist act (15 years). THAT HE LIKE MANY OTHERS MAY HAVE DOWNLOADED FROM THE INTERNET WHICH IS NOT ILLEGAL USUALLY?
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/06/115129.php A dangerous precedent: Australian man convicted of “preparing terrorism”
Since 2001, the government has seized upon the “war” declared by US President George Bush for both domestic and international purposes. Under the guise of combating terrorism it has participated in the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, diverted attention from mounting economic and social problems at home and legitimised previously unthinkable police state-style measures, including semi-secret trials, “preventative” detention and the ability to impose life sentences without any evidence of an actual terrorist act.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/16401 Secret evidence used in Australian “terrorist” trial
Lodhi was bundled into the court building in shackles, in full view of the media. The display was intended to convey the impression that he is a violent and highly dangerous individual. Like several other Muslim men charged with terrorist offences in Australia over the past year, Lodhi has been denied bail and held in virtual solitary confinement in a “super max” prison, cut off from family and friends. Under state and federal “counter-terrorism” laws, the traditional presumption in favour of bail has been scrapped. It will only be granted in “exceptional circumstances”. On receiving a confidential affidavit from the Commonwealth, Magistrate Michael Price imposed a number of secrecy orders despite vigorous objections by lawyers for Lodhi and by media organisations. The orders mean that the affidavit itself will remain suppressed, and the media is barred from disclosing even the general nature of the material relied upon in it.
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2004/12/866066.shtml Merry Christmas Mr Kent and Mr Haddara
After and ASIO fishing expedition they were charged last month with knowingly belonging to a Melbourne-based terrorist group, that did not exist.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9799 ASIO raid family home
This is an assault on civil liberties, for all Australians - on the eve of Human Rights Day 2005 that marks the day in 1948, that the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Shame hoWARd shame on you!
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9706 Tight security impedes scapegoat case
Indymedia has learnt this includes a bank account his supporters say was set up to fund legal representation for Muslims facing any kind of legal action. The prosecution is understood to allege the money was intended for terrorist purposes.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9693 Some evidence is prejudicial to national insecurity
It has been previously reported that he is facing nine charges and is accused of planning a major terrorist attack on Sydney defence sites and the electricity grid using downloads off the internet and having 100 rolls of toilet paper to wipe his arse after low level bombs and farts. Shit!
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9682 Terrorism suspects' custody conditions 'inhumane'
"This treatment is very cruel and inhumane and what I've put forward to the Premier Morris Iemma to intervene and put an end to this scandal," he said.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9657 DPP should lose the plot!
Now why would the DPP do that? Based on some notion I suppose, that john hoWARd (the hangman) wants to use Thomas's butt again, to raise the fear stakes in the introduction of the new Anti-Liberty-Dissent Directives!
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9617 Things and places identified
He said Mulahalilovic worked as a handyman, lived with his wife, parents and brother and, with the help of family members, could provide around $1 million security to ensure his freedom until trial.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9423 Dangerous handyman terror threat?
But the only mother of SATAN here is John HoWARd and his new Ant-Terrorism Bill!
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9418 Terror suspects 'kept in dark'
"They're all kept in solitary confinement, they're kept in Guantanamo Bay style conditions and they're very oppressive," he said.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9413 What are the dangerous chemicals police found when they went fishing?
If police say they were making bombs when they were painting motor vehicles then the only terrorist act that wasn't prevented was when police went on a fishing expedition.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9395 Man shot by police in fishing raids
But there is no such thing as an independent investigation team in NSW because police investigate themselves and cannot be relied upon ever.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9392 ASIO fishing expedition makes arrests
Are you satisfied truthseeker? Well I'm not this is just another public relations exercise that no one can prove. But trust us we know best?
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9384 hoWARd, ruddock, ellison, keelty and news ltd plotted chaos
Now they go on in the article to describe themselves as intelligence officials? But I'm sorry to say that any group of people who ask another group of people to believe what they believe based on no evidence is amongst the most unintelligent and lost group of people the world has ever known.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/8663 Houses raided over 'possible' political attack plans?
"Furthermore, nothing is reasonable about a raid on people's homes because for an alleged possibility. For those sorts of enquiries one should approach a 'soothsayer' and if you get the all clear only then should they approach people via the front door with the appropriate warrant to search one's home. A warrant based on concrete evidence that has been filtered by a juge or magistrate of the court to see whether the material is frivolous or vexatious."
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/8659 If he'd been given his passport he'd be a free man
During his trial Mr Mallah's defence counsel said he was only trying to sustain the media spotlight when he sold details of his plans to an undercover officer posing as a journalist.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/8192 Melbourne man charged over ASIO links
Apparently this victim will appear before the Melbourne Magistrates Court later today and hopefully he won't be sent to the nearest "AA" Super-max prison for "social isolation" just in case ASIO aren't telling us the truth!
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display/7545/index.php Australian prisoners' linked to Bin Laden: Ten News
Hatzistergos: "For example, because of a perceived risk that they may engage in, or incite other persons to engage in, terrorist activities."
Terrorist prisoners held in a "box within a box" with no "fresh air or sunlight" at Goulburn HRMU may incite alleged terrorists in Long Bay to blow up Long Bay Prison's Twin Towers?
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/liverpool/2004/11/300344.html Andrew Sullivan and the Tortued Truth
Mr. Habib said he was taken to a room with hooks on the wall and a barrel, set sideways like a roller, on the floor. His arms were stretched out, he said, and each wrist was handcuffed and fastened to a hook on the wall. By his description, the only way not to be left hanging was to stand on the barrel; an electric wire ran through it. Mr. Habib said he believed the interrogators in that room were Pakistani.
Mr. Habib said that when he refused to confess to being part of a 1995 terror plot, one man turned on the current. He lifted his feet to avoid the shock, he recalled, and he was suspended from the wall.
"I lost everything," he said.
http://bodyandsoul.typepad.com/blog/2005/02/theres_been_a_s.html
Comments
Hide the following 2 comments
Australia's Terrorism Wake Up Call
28.08.2006 22:54
Strengthened the hand of the CoW
Lothar
Australia: The torture of Jack Thomas
29.08.2006 00:20
Mike Head via sam