Do not forget the context.

[catsidhe]

His ‘crime’, remember — the only thing they could hang on him after twelve hours of questioning and two weeks of turning his life over with a fine-tooth-comb — was that he gave a SIM card, worthless to him, to his cousin a year ago. And as Julian Burnside points out, there are several layers of the betrayal of the presumption of innocence. He is to be imprisoned under the severest of conditions for an otherwise innocent act in another country to a person whose own guilt has been presumed. (Remember, technically, he is not guilty until a judge has found him so.)



This is neither the action of a rational executive, nor a sign of a free country.

If you're not angry, you are part of the problem.

Comments

[enrobso.livejournal.com]

I have no anger left for this government. They are villains to a man and they show no hint of resiling from their villainry.

I am angry at their enablers, those who they believe they are reaching with this stunt, the people more scared of their property value not increasing than their next-door-neighbor being hauled away in the dead of night for being an enemy of the state.

If I'm angry, it's not at the government, but at the fact that I feel ashamed at being Australian right now because of my fellow Australians.

[(Anonymous)]

Don't blame me, i didn't vote to put that bastard into power back in the 90s. Well, actually I couldn't vote back then, but I've been trying to get rid of him ever since.

We lost our freedom with the GST ... we no longer have the right to choose what we pay tax on and what we don't, we're taxed regardless (except for a few daily essentials like lollies and chocolates that the democrats begged them for... no wait, we pay tax on those too! oh, ffs!!).

And after all this, I hope he has learnt his lesson: next time buy an iphone. Those things don't come with simcards, and are so ridiculously expensive that he will think twice before aiding terrorism. Silly boy.

[last-servant.livejournal.com]

Just because guilt is not presumed, it does not mean the accused has a right not to be held as a person of interest and potential terrorist. Being separated from other prisoners and denied access to a computer is not as harsh as, oh, I don't know, being executed by the government for a war crime.

And if you think any countries are as free as their rhetoric claims, then you must need your idealism-preventing Reality Booster, cause you just aren't cynical enough.

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

I'm going to surprise you.

If all the evidence they had on him was that he gave the card to his cousin, then you are correct and he is being unjustly held.

Note the "if," though.