We don't need no standard pain. We don't need no standard minimum rules for the Torture of Prisoners!I am forwarding the following statement issued by AMCRAN in regards to a paper: "Not Enough (Official) Torture in the World? The Circumstances in which Torture is Morally Justifiable" written by Professor Mirko Bagaric, Head of Deakin Law School & Julie Clarke, Lecturer, Deakin Law School, in which they justify torture.
I have been reading the paper and I find it abhorrent. I am amazed that these individuals are heading a leading university and involved in the preparation/education of law students.
According to Bagaric and Clarke "The pejorative connotation associated with torture should be abolished. A dispassionate analysis of the propriety of torture indicates that it is morally justifiable," and they go on to argue their point as to when torture is "morally permissible."
To them the prohibition of torture is "pragmatically unrealistic," to argue for an individual's "absolute right" is "in fact nonsense." If people found themselves in the position of sanctioning torture or rejecting it they would surely opt, according to the circumstances, for the former.
We don't need no thought control.
It seems that advocates for such immoral act are trying their best to start a discussion on the subject, engendering fear and panic to excuse the barbaric act of torture. The issue is that these are 'sick, psychopathic' arguments, which will not only appeal to vulnerable individuals of our society but also to fascists and psychopaths.
One of the members of the Canterbury-Bankstown Peace group, Mr Mamdouh Habib, was subjected to torture. Mr Habib's ordeal has not ended. He continues to be harassed and psychologically traumatised by the 'authorities' of the Howard Government.
No dark chasms in the classroom.
The CBPG will be organising a forum to bring to the public the plight of Mamdouh, as well as that of David Hicks and Ahmed Aziz Rafiq who continue being hostage of the US administration. [We will keep you informed]
David and Ahmed are being tortured this very minute, like more than 500 others imprisoned at Guantanamo and more than 17,000 imprisoned in various parts of the world by the US torture squad. We need to stop this.
Teacher, leave those kids alone.
Torture is a barbaric act, morally wrong!
Please write to "Professor" Mirko Bagaric & "Lecturer" Julie Clarke of Deakin Law School.
Hey, teacher, leave those kids alone!
For a world without torture (& without academics such a Bagaric & Clarke), Marlene Obeid (Mob.0401 758 871)
All in all it's just another prick under your fingernail.
All in all you're just another prick in the in the Neo-Liberal Party.
Civil rights group says torture can never be justified
SYDNEY, Australia - 17 May 2005 - A Muslim civil rights group is appalled by claims by two Deakin University academics that torture can be justified as an interrogation method.We don't need no torture education.
The Australian Muslim Civil Rights Advocacy Network (AMCRAN) condemns Professor Mirko Bagaricâs comments to the Age newspaper that some cases would legally justify the torture of an innocent person to death.
"Nothing -- no moral, legal or philosophical argument -- can genuinely justify the use of torture", said Dr Waleed Kadous, co-convenor of AMCRAN. "It is a demarcation between civilization and barbarism that we must never cross."
We don't need no thought control.
"Indeed, the view that a good end might be reached through an evil method mirrors the thinking that lies at the heart of the 'public threats' that torture would supposedly prevent."
"Furthermore, entrusting these kinds of powers to any government can only lead to abuse and misuse", Dr Kadous warned.
No dark chasms in the classroom.
"Historically, governments that have held the power to torture have misused them. Indeed, the use of torture by the Saddam regime has been frequently cited as a principle justification for our presence in Iraq."
The Islamic faith, like all world faiths, joins anyone who has studied the lessons of history, in condemning torture in all its forms.
Teachers, leave those kids alone.
International treaties like the Geneva Convention and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights were not born out of theory, but in the aftermath of the bloodbaths of two massive world wars.
"It is particularly disturbing that a proponent and apologist for torture has been sitting on the Refugee Review Tribunal deciding the fate of people who may themselves be victims of torture," said Dr Kadous.
Hey, teacher, leave those kids alone!
For more information contact:
Sydney: Dr Waleed Kadous Ph: 0403 440 586
Melbourne: Nasya Bahfen Ph: 0422 564 485
Australian Muslim Civil Rights Advocacy Network
All in all you're just another prick under your fingernail. All in all you're just another prick in the Neo-Liberal Party.
United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. Or Standard guidelines for corrections in Australia.
By Gregory Kable, Marlene Obeid and Pink Floyd posted 23 May 05
Related:
Torture not acceptable on anyone: Community!
Australia: A former chairman of the National Crime Authority has spoken out in favour of torture for John HoWARd and the Neo-Cons no doubt, saying it should be used against terrorists and in domestic criminal situations but not against QC's?
Torture okay: propaganda paper
Mean in Black John HoWARd and Pastor Peter Costello with Professor Mirko Bagaric, and fellow Deakin lecturer Julie Clarke, torture okay for them. Question?
Association for the Prevention of Torture
What needs to be done now? All States Parties to the UN Convention against Torture should seriously consider ratifying the OPCAT as soon as possible. National Institutions and others promoting the human rights of people deprived of their liberty need to be informed of their potential role as national preventive mechanisms under the OPCAT.
Chronology of a Tasmanian Prison System: A Documented Report
Prison Action and Reform is dedicated to progressive reforms in criminal justice and to the humane treatment of inmates in our prison system.
ICOPA XI International Conference on Penal Abolition
We are excited to announce that ICOPA X1, the eleventh International Conference on Penal Abolition will happen in Tasmania, Australia from February 9 - 11,2006. Please pass this onto all networks.
CUBA: A letter to Amnesty USA
I write as an Australian prisoners' rights campaigner who has been watching Amnesty's interventions over the arrests and jailing of several dozen "dissidents" in Cuba over the past two years. I have also visited Cuba on two occasions.
Unlock the Box:
Unlock the Box is a product of many years of struggle to shut down the Security Housing Units in California. During this time, the United Front to Abolish the SHU was created as a forum to coordinate the actions of everyone involved in this campaign.
Baxter,'akin to the time in Nazi Germany'
I went to Baxter this Easter just past, and became more aware that this time is akin to the time in Nazi Germany when the concentration camps were being set up.
Decade after inspector left in disgust, report tells of filth
UK: Dirty, mice-infested cells, high levels of self-harm, and widespread bullying over drugs and medications were just some of the damning findings of a report into conditions at Holloway, Britain's largest women's prison.
Overhaul Department of Justice: Reform Group
WA: The Prison Reform Group of WA is calling for a complete overhaul of the Department of Justice following recent events which have compromised its integrity, placing prison staff, prisoners, their families and the community, at risk. We call for the Minister to publicly apologise for last week's debacle which has seen the public badly let down by the Department of Justice yet again.
Breakthrough in prison revolt
Philippines: The Un-Australian: "NEGOTIATORS last night made a breakthrough in the 12-hour standoff with al-Qa'ida-linked militants?, (suspected and imprisoned people) who staged an escape attempt from a Philippines prison that left six people dead."
Control order flaws exposed
UK: First interview with ex-detainee reveals a regime that leaves him in despair : Ex-detainee exposes flaws in terror control orders.
CIA defends terror suspect transfers?
Suspected terrorists [scapegoats for the Coalition of the Killings's resource wars in the Middle East] in US custody have been transferred to third countries for the past 20 years, CIA director Porter Goss told the US Senate armed services committee.
Noble Cause Torture?
AUSTRALIA: The Labor Party has decided not to support a Senate inquiry into new allegations made by Mamdouh Habib that the Australian Government cooperated with Egyptian intelligence authorities who he insists tortured him.
Detention Centres, Solitary Confinement
On Friday night the NSW Council for Civil Liberties awarded Sydney solicitor John Marsden honorary life membership. Julian Burnside was invited to make the speech in Marsden's honour. In the course of his speech, Burnside referred to the unregulated use of solitary confinement in Australia's immigration detention centres, criticising it as inhumane and also as unlawful.
Youth 'murdered for officers' pleasure'
UK: An Asian teenager was murdered by a white racist after they were placed in the same cell as part of a game to fulfil the "perverted pleasure" of prison officers, a public inquiry heard on Friday.
Deaths in isolation as prison segregation increases
The use of segregation [solitary confinement] of prisoners as punishment has been increasing recently in Australia, the US, and the UK. Segregation can be used for protection or punishment, but in both cases it results in extreme psychological stress. An indication that segregation is being over-used is the appearance of deaths in custody from suicide of those placed in segregation.
Fascist Australian Govt torture exposed
The fascist Federal Government has been exposed for the torture of Australian Mamdouh Habib and the US Government's allegations against him (if they were true) would have been made under duress.
Put in the way of self-harm in a place intended to protect others
UK: Sarah Campbell, 18, spent the last hours of her life in the segregation unit of Styal prison, Cheshire. "The seg", as those places are referred to, used to be known as "the block", short for punishment block. [ Seg is a bullshit word for Punishment, Solitary Confinement, Torture, Mental Illness, Self-Harm, Human Rights Abuse and that is State Terror.]
Where the Norm is Not the Norm: HARM-U
In the absence of public policy, this paper is an attempt to shine a light through the rhetoric and test for coherency in the policy and function of NSW’s only supermax prison, the High Risk Management Unit. Its present use will be compared with the ‘vision’ flogged by the Premier and the Department of Corrective Services (the Department) at its inception in 2001.
Downer won't press US for 'torture' report?
The Australian Government says it has tried and failed so far to get a copy of a report by the International Red Cross which claims psychological and physical coercion of detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba?
UK solitary confinement
UK: Segregation units are prisons within prisons - the places where the most unchecked brutality is meted out to prisoners. In recent years conditions in high security segregation units have deteriorated, and the use of long-term segregation as a control mechanism has increased.
Inquiry must root out prison racists
UK: It is difficult to imagine a more brutal murder than that of Zahid Mubarek. The 19-year-old was clubbed to death by his cellmate at Feltham Young Offender Institution in the early hours of 21 March 2000. He was due to be released just a few hours later.
Justice Denied In NSW Corrective Services
There used to be a (VJ) or Visiting Justice who would go into the prison and judge any claim or accusation that was made by any prisoner or prison guard. If it were found that a prisoner had offended then punishment was metered out.
Torture, the British way
Great to be British, isn't it? Time was, we were really uptight, but now we can talk about anything - sex, religion, politics. No matter how personal and complex the subject, we'll discuss it with Richard and Judy, or slap our private Polaroids of it on our websites. Which leaves me puzzled about our silence, even shyness, over this whole torture thing.
Prison suicides soar as jails hire 'babysitters'
UK: Prison officers are being taken off suicide watch and replaced by unqualified 'babysitters' because the system is overwhelmed by an epidemic of self-harm.
Concern as UK prison suicides hit record level
UK: More prisoners took their own lives in English jails in August than in any other month since records began, prison reformers said today.
Abu Ghraib inquiry slams Aust Government
A US inquiry into the Iraqi prison abuse scandal has been highly critical of Australian, Major George O'Kane, for glossing over early warnings about the treatment of detainees.
Guantanamo abuse claims prompt new inquiry calls
New claims of abuse at Guantanamo Bay Cuba have prompted fresh calls for an Australian inquiry into the treatment of detainees David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib.
Justice Action: NSW Corrective Services undermine prisoner contact For nearly 20 years, Justice Action has been corresponding regularly with individual prisoners without seeking approval from the Commissioner of Corrective Services for each individual letter sent to them.
Mamdouh Habib: Taunted and Tortured!
Habib came to ASIO's notice when he fell out with the ADF obviously someone had it in for Mamdouh and the ADF tipped off ASIO and the AFP to taunt him. By the sounds of it he was declared a wog. That's Aussie slang for get the bastard he's not one of ours and we can discriminate against him he is an easy target. Aussie race hate!
Habib to face US military trial
The United States Government has given the go-ahead for the Australian Guantanamo Bay inmate, Mamdouh Habib, to go to trial for being innocent. Mr Habib could now be granted access to a military and civilian legal team.
US tortured Habib in Egypt: report
Australian terror suspect Mamdoub Habib was allegedly tortured in Egypt before being sent to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, according to the Pakistani Government.
There is no justification for torture
In the weeks since the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison were revealed, evidence continues to seep out of similar mistreatment of prisoners in other US military detention centers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay.
End of years of despair as Holloway closes its doors
But now Holloway prison in north London - where Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in Britain, was hanged in 1955 - has been earmarked for closure, along with several other women's prisons, which have been hit by a spate of suicides.
Abu Ghraib, USA
When I first saw the photo, taken at the Abu Ghraib prison, of a hooded and robed figure strung with electrical wiring, I thought of the Sacramento, California, city jail.
On Solitary Confinement
There has been much written about solitary confinement by some of the world's leading psychiatrists, but very little written by victims of solitary themselves. I believe that the 32 years I have spent in solitary qualifies me for the task.
Rumsfeld had approved abuse
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorised hoods, the stripping of prisoners and the use of dogs to terrify inmates at Guantanamo Bay almost two years ago, documents released yesterday revealed.
Failure to condemn prison abuse risks lives: Kenny
The Prime Minister is morally bankrupt stay "alert and alarmed"
Prisoner's identity concealed to prevent Red Cross access
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, acting at the request of the CIA, ordered that a suspected Iraqi insurgent leader be detained off the books to conceal his identity from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Pentagon has confirmed.
US has secret prisons: rights group
The United States is holding terrorism suspects in more than two dozen detention centres worldwide, about half of which operate in total secrecy, according to a new human rights report.
Prisoner Abuse Not Just in Iraq
The shocking revelations of abuse of prisoners by US prison guards in Iraq have been denounced by politicians around the world, including our own Prime Minister.
How detox and self-help brought suicide jail back from the brink
UK: Six suicides in 12 months made Styal jail notorious and the Prisons Ombudsman criticised the prison and its staff for serious failures. But things are changing.
Belmarsh detainees consider suicide, says freed man
UK: The first of the Muslim detainees released from Belmarsh high security prison after being held on suspicion of terrorism has told the Guardian his fellow prisoners are suffering such severe mental problems that they constantly consider suicide.
Maoist Internationalist Movement
March 6 -- Protesters took to the streets in cities across the state of California to demand California prisons shut down the Security Housing Units (SHU). Like other control unit prisons across the country, the SHU are prisons within a prison. They are solitary confinement cells where prisoners are locked up 23 hours a day for years at a time. The one hour a day these prisoner sometimes get outside of their cell is spent alone in an exercise pen not much larger than their cell, with no direct sunlight.
The Nagle Report 25 years on
In 1976 the New South Wales Government invited Mr Justice Nagle to head the Royal Commission into NSW Prisons. The Royal CommissionÕs Report was tabled in Parliament in March 1978.
REPORT CARD ON NSW PRISONS
Former Royal Commissioner Justice John Nagle and Professor Tony Vinson are the keynote speakers at a seminar this week marking 25 years since the landmark Nagle Report into NSW prisons.
From Terrell Unit in Texas to Abu Ghraib Doesn't It Ring a (Prison) Bell If the president wasn't so forthright about his disinterest in the world, it would have been hard to believe him Wednesday when he said the abuse in Abu Ghraib prison "doesn't represent the America I know."
High court keeps alive case of inmates held in solitary
NEW ORLEANS: The nation's highest court refused Monday to kill a lawsuit brought by two prisoners and an ex-inmate at the Louisiana State Penitentiary who spent decades in solitary confinement.
High Risk Management Unit (HRMU) INSPECTION
The Special Care Unit (SCU) at Long Bay Correctional Centre was inspired by Barlinnie. The SCU was opened in 1981 to replace the Observation Unit, which was strongly criticised by the Nagle Report. The SCU was closed in 1997 because of lack of record-keeping which could give a measure of effectiveness. The SCU was replaced by the Four-Stage Violence Prevention Program, which is housed within the Metropolitan Special Programs Centre (MSPC).
Watchdogs slaughtered in NSW
On Tuesday the Carr Government reduced transparency and accountability yet again and New South Wales is in danger of becoming entrenched with cronyism and intimidations with the Carr Labor Government that continues to slaughter the watchdogs.
Escape proof but not so the prisoners mind
Fewer prisoners escape from prison these days because they're "cemented in" by materials that do not break and by legislation that can keep prisoners in jail until they die.
Suicides and unrest have soared, admits Home Office
UK:The already overcrowded prison population is set to go on rising and will top 80,000 within the next three years, a senior Home Office civil servant warned yesterday.
