SYDNEY — NSW Premier Bob Carr introduced — and had passed within
48 hours — new laws which make it nearly impossible for “terrorist
suspects” to receive bail. The laws took effect on June 3.
This move followed the granting of bail to Bilal Khazal, from
Lakemba in Sydney’s west, on June 2. He is the first person in
Australia to be charged with inciting terrorism.
Green Left Weekly spoke with Agnes Chong, legal
convenor of the Australian Muslim Civil Rights Advocacy Network. Chong
said that there were fundamental flaws with the way the legislation was
passed. “It was rushed through both houses of the New South Wales
parliament in just 48 hours. It is knee-jerk law-making of the worst
kind, stemming from nothing but hysteria.”
“The greatest irony”, said Chong, “was that the Crown
Prosecutor was reportedly neutral on the bail issue, leaving it up to
the judge. Given that even the prosecutor, who knows the evidence
better than any politician or the general public, didn’t demand that
bail be refused, what kind of position are politicians in to interfere
in the process?”
Dale Mills - Green Left Weekly issue #586, 23 June 2004
|
