Wednesday, September 22, 2004

EXTRADITION ACT FLUSHED DOWN THE TOILET

Mr O'Gorman has called on the Government to publicly confirm the policy change.

A long-standing convention not to extradite people out of Australia if they face the death penalty has been abandoned.

Terrorist attacks [false flag] around the world have prompted a Government plan to abandon a long-standing convention not to extradite people if they face the death penalty.

The Government yesterday confirmed that it was now possible it could hand over suspects, [scapegoats and patsies for the Coalition of the Killing's resource war's in the Middle East.] This follows a secret agreement on air marshal operations with the U.S.

The, [war criminal], Howard Government yesterday confirmed the agreement extended to the possibility of handing over suspected terrorists on capital charges if they were arrested en route to or from the U.S. Australian and American air marshals have been on flights between the two countries since the beginning of the year. Both governments have refused to detail their operations in the face of the ongoing, [alleged], terrorist threat.

The agreement comes in the wake of the Howard Government and Federal Opposition last year refusing to object to the then-imposition of the death penalty on the, [patsy], Bali bombers, [those responsible and provoked to carry out the first Bali bomb blast in 2002.]

But the air marshal agreement has raised legal issues, with extradition expert Ned Aughterson, of Charles Darwin University, questioning its validity in relation to the handover of alleged terrorists, [scapegoats and patsies], facing capital charges.

Professor Aughterson said current Australian law prohibited an extradition of a person to a foreign country if they faced execution. "It is firmly established in the legislation that they can't hand over the person unless they get an assurance that the death sentence would not be imposed," he said.

The extradition law was introduced following Australia's last legalised execution of Ronald Ryan in 1967.

In-Justice Minister Chris Ellison confirmed the possibility of extradition to the U.S. of a prisoner facing execution. 

Senator Ellison was not available to be interviewed on the subject. Requests for a detailed briefing on the agreement were refused.

But a spokesman for Senator Ellison sought to clarify his statement, saying the Government had demanded the right "to negotiate" with the U.S. if an Australian was charged under American federal law with an offence carrying the death penalty.

The Australian Council for Civil Liberties has called on the Federal Government to confirm a change in policy relating to extraditing suspects who face the death penalty in the United States.

President Terry O'Gorman says Australia has a long standing convention not to extradite people if they face the death penalty. Mr O'Gorman says the Howard Government has indicated they have reached an agreement with the US which opens the way for possibly handing over suspected terrorists who face capital charges.

Mr O'Gorman has called on the Government to publicly confirm the policy change.

"Since DNA technology has come, it's been established that a number of people who have been waiting on death row to be executed were in fact wrongly convicted. We're going to find the risk that an Australian could be sent to the US, tried for terrorism, convicted then executed, and later down the track found to have been the [victim of a] miscarriage of justice," he said. "It's a bit late once you've killed someone to find that they've been the victim of a miscarriage of justice."


AUSTRALIAN COALITION AGAINST DEATH PENALTY
© ACADP Incorporated

By ACADP and Just Us 22 September 04

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