Expert baffled by Falconio evidence DNA contamination

DNA evidence from handcuffs allegedly used on Joanne Lees was contaminated.

NT: The director of the Northern Territory's forensic science unit has told a Darwin court he does not know how his DNA contaminated a key piece of evidence in the Peter Falconio murder trial. [lost trial? After all he wasn't found?]

Peter Thatcher was called to testify after the court heard his DNA was found on hand restraints that allegedly bound the wrists of Peter Falconio's girlfriend, Joanne Lees.

Dr Thatcher said he did not know how it got there and that, in line with protocol, he believed he was wearing gloves when he handled the ties. [What about monkey business?]

He told the court his DNA could have been transferred by a sneeze or dandruff. [What about a fart?]

The court also heard swabs taken from the back of the couple's Kombi van were not tested for gunshot residue because there was no evidence of a gun being used or a cartridge being found at the crime scene.

Murdoch has pleaded not guilty to killing Mr Falconio and assaulting Joanne Lees in July 2001.

By Amanda Morgan posted 17 November 05

Corrupt police planting DNA evidence at crime scenes

Others have raised concerns about corrupt police planting DNA evidence at crime scenes.

Military lawyers await probe on DNA tampering

The Army's Criminal Investigation Command said nearly 500 forensic test results from all services dating back 10 years are under review after one of its examiners allegedly faked results. About 119 of those cases pertain to the Navy and Marine Corps.

[You see DNA evidence can be tampered with.]

Murder charge first for DNA data bank link, but not the same as solving the murder

As long as the the prisoners DNA wasn't planted at the crime scene. It is one thing to force prisoners to hand over their DNA and another thing to exploit it.

Related:

Military lawyers await probe on DNA tampering
The Army's Criminal Investigation Command said nearly 500 forensic test results from all services dating back 10 years are under review after one of its examiners allegedly faked results. About 119 of those cases pertain to the Navy and Marine Corps.

Corrupt police planting DNA evidence at crime scenes
Others have raised concerns about corrupt police planting DNA evidence at crime scenes.

Outback DNA evidence 'contaminated'
The handcuffs ['allegedly'] used to tie up the girlfriend of a British backpacker who was ['allegedly'] murdered in the Australian outback in 2001 were contaminated by a forensic scientist, a court heard yesterday.

Trial of B J Murdoch
NT: The trial of Bradley John Murdoch may be sensational - but for the wrong reason. This trial has had serious flaws in it - decide for yourself...

No Murder Weapon, No Body, No Place or Time of Death
NT: Joanne Lees ought to be the main suspect in this show trial. There is no body and no weapon to be found and Joanne Lees had a clear and present motive. She knew him, she travelled with him, she was unfaithful to him and she said that she was the last person to see him on the night she was stoned out of her head. So where does Bradley James Murdoch fit in?

Unfaithful Lees admits taking drugs, court told
AUSTRALIA: NT: Key witness Joanne lees, has testified in the Northern Territory Supreme Court to smoking Marijuana on the night her boyfriend Peter Falconio went missing.

Murdoch: Ambushed by Prosecution
AUSTRALIA: NT-Through the smell of an oily rag - A FORENSIC expert alledgedly has produced vital evidence ahead of the Peter Falconio murder trial linking his alleged killer to the camper van driven by the dead man and his girlfriend, Joanne Lees?

Day set aside for Falconio forensic evidence
More than a day has been set aside in the case of the man accused of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio to hear evidence from a Northern Territory forensic scientist. Yesterday the Darwin Magistrates Court heard from mechanics and friends of the defendant Bradley John Murdoch.

Mr Bradley Murdoch to go on trial next year!
The alleged man is not the alleged Falconio killer in my book. He's alleged to have committed a crime but the Faloconio mystery remains a secret to be unlocked by time itself and more interestingly may never be unlocked at all.

Falconio magistrate closes court
THE hearing into the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio has been closed to the public. Magistrate Alasdair McGregor has closed the court for part of the testimony of Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees.

Ch/9 News? Or Ch/9's Department of Public Prosecutions?
Bradley Murdoch committal, lawyer calls for fair hearing
The lawyer of the man accused of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio has spoken to the media in Darwin.

Peter Beattie nominated as Australian of the year: Howard
Bradley Murdoch the man alleged to have murdered English tourist Peter Falconio who has been acquitted of rape and abduction charges in the South Australian District Court.

Tourist dollar drives set-up for crime
The man alleged to have murdered English tourist Peter Falconio has been acquitted of rape and abduction charges in the South Australian District Court. Bradley John Murdoch, 45, was charged with two counts of rape, two counts of false imprisonment and two counts of indecent assault after an alleged incident in South Australia's Riverland in August last year.

Supreme Court rejects Nine appeal
CHANNEL Nine lost a Supreme Court appeal today to have a suppression order on details of the case of missing backpacker Peter Falconio lifted. The Full Bench of the NT Supreme Court today ruled Magistrate Alasdair McGregor had the power to make the order banning from publication some details of the case.

Falconio magistrate closes court
THE hearing into the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio has been closed to the public. Magistrate Alasdair McGregor has closed the court for part of the testimony of Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees.

Innocent until proven guilty? Not in Australia's outback!
There is no way that Bradley John Murdoch can get a fair trial in the Northern Territory. The entire jury pool is already contaminated, the general public have accepted the verdict of the Northern Territory News and the NT Police State has turned on the cone of silence. Maybe some of the reporters might want to ask Director of Public Prosecutions Rex Wilde QC just how he is going to secure a conviction when a body has not been found. Surely the NT bureaucracy learnt from the Lindy Chamberlain case that it is not a good idea to jail someone for murder when you haven't got a body. Maybe they have the same people working on the case. The NT Police forensic team certainly do.

Taken "A Dingo Took My Baby!"
They were the words that Lindy Chamberlain had screamed out into the blackness of the cold night in a camping ground close to Ayers Rock, Central Australia, on the night of August 17, when she discovered that her nearly ten-week-old baby, Azaria had been taken by a dingo.

Man Says He Shot Dingo That Snatched Baby SYDNEY, Australia (July 5) - A distraught mother's scream 24 years ago that a dingo snatched her baby from a camp site near Ayers Rock in the Australian Outback ignited one of Australia's most enduring mysteries. An elderly man's claim that he retrieved the infant's bloodied body from the jaws of the wild dog has revived the case and - if true - could finally lead to the discovery of Azaria Chamberlain's body.

Australia to see the light on tourism
A total of $120 million has been earmarked for the campaign's international marketing, which tops up the Australian Tourist Commission's annual budget of $90 million. The inbound and domestic tourism industry contributes $70 billion to the economy and employs 500,000.

Ten reports $76.9 million profit
The Ten television network has reported a full-year profit of $76.9 million. Even if it were down by half on the previous year they're still greedy self-interested people who care little about the real damage done, not just in Australia but the world. That profit is obviously on top of wages and expenses yet they're still greedy enough to turn the news upside down to suit the Howard government's investment in advertising.

DNA Links:

Corrupt police planting DNA evidence at crime scenes
Others have raised concerns about corrupt police planting DNA evidence at crime scenes.

The ABC for good or evil?
He had a suspect that he wanted to find guilty based on the chances of a spouse killing a spouse which were greater in anycase, at least more likely than that of a stranger.

First Grabs To Control Our DNA
A small company in Australia has been subjected to gross denials of rights after DNA database technology was stolen from it's company. This one year saga has spawned them to form a new approach to projects of importance to all people.

Worries over DNA and racial profiling
UK: Black men are four times more likely than White men to be on the national DNA database and there is growing concern about racial profiling in criminal investigations.

Lab's Errors Force Review of 150 Virginia DNA Cases
US: WASHINGTON, - A sharply critical independent audit found that Virginia's nationally recognized central crime laboratory had botched DNA tests in a leading capital murder case. The findings prompted Gov. Mark Warner to order a review of the lab's handling of testing in 150 other cases as well.

Witch-hunt targets scientists
QLD: SCIENTISTS at the John Tonge Centre are being threatened with jail in the wake of a government hunt for the source of leaks highlighting serious problems in the forensic laboratories.

Fresh swipe at DNA labs
Scientist Kris Bentley, whose departure yesterday follows that of forensic biologist Deanna Belzer after concerns about "inaccurate" DNA results and unvalidated equipment, issued a scathing resignation letter leaked to The Courier-Mail.

DNA leads 'CSI' cold-case squad to first arrest?
Frozen case? I don't really know what to say about them until they come up with their case. They say it involves DNA evidence but that's the only stuff we know.

Criminal's DNA filed under relative's name
The New South Wales Opposition is calling for an investigation into claims that police have entered DNA data for serious offenders under incorrect names.

DNA fingerprinting 'no longer foolproof'...
The genetic profiles held by police for criminal investigations are not sophisticated enough to prevent false identifications, according to the father of DNA fingerprinting.

THE BUTLER DIDN'T DO IT!
PROFESSOR BARRY BOETTCHER: Now, there should be a law enacted within Queensland so that when cases come up like this they can be brought to attention and if an appropriate authority such as a judge of your Supreme Court considers that it merits further inquiry, an inquiry be ordered.

'Rape' officer clears his name
UK: A former policeman has been cleared of rape after protesting his innocence for 15 years. Judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh ruled that Brian Kelly, 47, had suffered a miscarriage of justice over crucial DNA evidence.

New unit investigates unsolved deaths?
A new police unit has been established to investigate more than 360 unsolved deaths in New South Wales, with many of the deaths dating back more than 30 years.

Prisoner's bid for review denied
Prisoner Roger Cheney has lost a Supreme Court action to have a judicial review of his 1993 convictions an 30-year jail sentence. Justice Shaw said he was concerned about the prisoner's claim that DNA evidence held by the police could prove his innocence. Although Cheney had requested the results of the DNA tests, he had been denied access to the forensic analysis.

QLD Prisoners DNA Bid THE curious case of Queensland's "cat lady" murder is set to test the state's legal authorities again, with the man convicted of the killing asking the Attorney-General to take the unprecedented step of releasing blood samples for DNA retesting.

Database clears up crimes?
NSW Police Minister John Watkins said at the launch of a Sydney conference of international forensic experts meeting to mark 100 years of fingerprinting in NSW. He said the collection of DNA from prisoners and suspects in NSW during the past two years had led to more than 5,400 matches on the forensic database.

A Question of Innocence
Katrina Bolton: The promise of DNA freeing the innocent as well as convicting the guilty has been repeated by politicians across Australia, usually while DNA laws are being expanded. The promise was made as a national DNA database, ‘Crimtrac’ was created, and it was made as NSW introduced legislation giving unprecedented powers to take DNA samples from prisoners, by force if necessary.

Weak Carr Government suspends Innocence Panel
It's a callous disregard for justice! The panel takes applications from convicted prisoners for DNA evidence to be analysed a move that may help in a future court appeal.

JUST BEAT IT! Govt lauds crime-solving technology?
The New South Wales Government says advances in crime solving technology are helping the progress of hundreds of police investigations.

DNA testing causes debate in murder case
The use of voluntary DNA testing in the investigation of a murder case in New South Wales has been applauded by victim support groups who are ill informed about the process said Justice Action's spokesperson Gregory Kable.

Abolition of double jeopardy law a political stunt: NSW Opp
Why draconian laws? What about the re-trial by media that goes along with it? Twice shy?

ARE YOU INNOCENT?
The NSW government has finally appointed somebody (Justice John Nader) to head up its Innocence Panel and has produced leaflets and forms for people convicted of serious crimes (eg murder) to apply for DNA testing if they believe it may help prove their innocence. You can get the info by phoning 1300 881 717 or writing to the panel at GPO Box 45 Sydney NSW 2001.

Is the Westminster System flawed?
Most people would say Lady Di got the boot and NSW has so much trouble getting the Innocence Panel moving. I said hey, what's going on!

Murder charge first for DNA data bank link, but not the same as solving the murder Mass DNA testing of prisoners has led to the first NSW case of a person being charged with a previously unsolved murder as a result of a controversial gene-matching data bank. The Herald reported 25 Nov 02 "a DNA saliva swab led to the charging of a former prisoner with the bashing murder of a woman. Police had been unable to find any witnesses or suspects following the murder in Sydney's inner city two years ago. Detectives had admitted they faced a tough job finding the killer."

Prisoners can prove innocence for $20
Les Kennedy Daily Telegraph reported today that" Prisoners who believe that DNA will prove they were wrongly convicted will have the chance to prove their innocence for a mere $20 administration fee. The move comes 20 months after NSW inmates were asked to provide DNA for comparison with a databank of DNA from unsolved crime scenes for possible convictions.

DNA yours or mine?
Now they have isolated two genes that they say tells you if you're more likely to be depressed. What does that mean? It could mean that you should stay in jail because you are more likely than not to continue your offending behaviour according to a Department of Corrective Services Forensic Psychiatrist.

DNA = Do Not Assume - DNA Controversies!
The national DNA database of all known offenders proposed by Prime Minister Tony Blair could mean that innocent people will be accused of crimes they did not commit.

DNA Evidence of Bipartisanship
Last week the U.S. Congress passed the Justice for All Act, which includes provisions of the Innocence Protection Act. As of this posting, the legislation has not yet been signed by President Bush. Attached is an analysis of the legislation prepared by the Justice Project.

DNA - A Shadow of Doubt
One case points to misinterpretation of evidence that helped put a man behind bars. The other shows just how easy it is to plant falsely incriminating DNA evidence. As our forensic techniques become ever more sensitive, so the possibility of abuse continues to grow.

Murder charge first for DNA data bank link, but not the same as solving the murder
As long as the the prisoners DNA wasn't planted at the crime scene. It is one thing to force prisoners to hand over their DNA and another thing to exploit it.

SPEECH AT "STOP THE WAR COALITION" RALLY

SPEECH AT "STOP THE WAR COALITION" RALLY, CITY WALK FOUNTAIN, CANBERRA CITY, 12.30 pm SUNDAY 6 NOVEMBER 2005 - Tony Kevin.

TK: Several hundred people gathered in Canberra City on 5 November 2005 as part of a nationwide series of weekend rallies on the themes: Defend Civil Liberties, Defend Muslims, Troops out of Iraq.

I spoke along with Neil Mudford (National Tertiary Education Union), Mohammed Berjaoui (Canberra Islamic Society), Wayne Berry (ACT ALP Member of Legislative Assembly), Deb Foskey (ACT Greens MLA), and Rick Kuhn (ACT NOW):

What I have to say today is simple:

1. We have no reason to trust John Howard, given his record for deceit and gross abuse of human rights.

2. John Howard and his cronies created the climate of fear and anxiety we live in in Australia today.

The first point is self-evident.

On the second point: It's nonsense to say, as Howard says, that our invasion of Iraq in 2003 made no difference. It made all the difference.

Howard and Ruddock say that our help to the people of East Timor evoked Islamic anger. That is a lie. There were passing references to Australia somewhere in a Bin Laden speech in 2000. It would have been a forgotten footnote in history. [ And lost just like Bin Laden?]

When Australia joined the invasion of Afghanistan after the [false flag] September 11 2001, Taliban and Al Qaeda hardly noticed we were there. Some idiot Australian journalist jumped up and down at a press conference in Pakistan, begging the Taliban Foreign Minister to please threaten us too. Finally, out of politeness, he agreed.

Still none of this meant anything much, until our criminal invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The Australian people knew this was a turning point, which is why a million of us marched to try and stop it. We failed, because Howard doesn't give a fig for democracy. To him, we were just "the mob".

Howard says that because the Bali bombings in October 2002 preceded the Iraq invasion, this proves the invasion made no difference. That is nonsense too: because it was well known long before October 2002 that Howard intended to take Australian troops into Iraq. He'd been speculating about this since early 2002, and in July senior ADF officers were already in the US helping General Tommy Franks draft the battle plan. It was all over the press during 2002.
[And Bali was a CIA assisted false flag operation and a call to arms for Iraq.]

Why don't our media recall this factual history now? Why don't they call Howard's lies on this ?

So, at every step of the way, the little Crusader trumpeted and ramped up his hostility to the Islamic world. And he took Australia with him, into dangerous places. Howard is the greatest threat to our peace and security in Australia today - with Beazley bobbing along obediently behind him.

These two men are agents provocateurs - they are agents of provocation. Everything they have said since the [false flag] London bombings these past six months is calculated to distress, to humiliate, to threaten, and to destabilize Australia's vulnerable Islamic communities.

Howard and Beazley just love their new theme of "homegrown terrorists" - "people who seem to be pretty much like the rest of us, but deep down hate us". What a guaranteed way to generate fear and prejudice, to rip our society apart. These two men have no civic wisdom and no generosity. They are spoilers.

Let me share a secret with you. Howard and Beazley both profoundly wish an Islamist terrorist event in Australia to happen. Because that is the only thing that might retrospectively "justify" the damage they have already done to our precious civil liberties, their reckless warmongering, their fomenting of community fear and straining of intercommunal harmony, their creation of feelings of exclusion and insecurity in our Australian Muslim communities.

Look at the record: Beazley's contemptible proposal that the state needs new powers to "lock down" neighbourhoods at risk: anyone for the Warsaw Ghetto ? The Lakemba or Coburg ghettoes ?

Howard, sooling two of his nastiest MPs as attack dogs onto helpless Muslim teenage schoolgirls, with their hateful campaign to ban headscarves in state schools. It was only when Petro Georgiou called that nasty proposal for what it was, that Howard hastily backed away, saying "Oh No, it wasn't my view".

We have probably this week passed the point of no return towards a national security police state. One doesn't recognize these thresholds until much later - the Germans found that out in the 1930s - and one looks back and says - "Ah, then was the time we should have made our stand".

Australia passed that point this week when six premiers and then the Parliament agreed to debate a slightly modified version of the terror law. Our Parliament should have heeded Jon Stanhope, Malcolm Fraser, Terry O'Gorman, Alastair Nicholson, and all the other lawyers and former judges who spoke out bravely over the past month.

Our Houses of Parliament should have exercised a conscience vote and thrown out this bad law. Our Parliament failed us this week.

In a few weeks, we will no longer have the protection of law for rights of free expression which we used to take for granted.

I will go to jail, if I have to, under this law: not for anything to do with terrorism, but for accusing this government of being a criminal regime. I've done that for some time now. It will surely count as sedition and sowing disaffection, under this new law ?

If the Howard authorities take no steps to send me to jail, it will prove that we are no longer a society based on law but on the selective, politically convenient application of law. It will prove that they will only prosecute those they choose to prosecute. This is not the rule of law - it is tyranny.

I will go on saying such seditious things as this: That our state's military participation in the illegal invasion of Iraq and in the subsequent criminal destruction of Fallujah, a city of 250,000 people, were criminal acts.

That our state's conduct of the Operation Relex border protection campaign and its covert people smuggling disruption program in Indonesia in 2001 were criminal acts, which may have contributed to large numbers of deaths on SIEV X and other asylum-seeker boats.

That our state's mistreatment of people detained for long periods in Australian camps and in Nauru and Manus were criminal acts. That our state's neglect of its duty of care to Australian holidaymakers in Bali in 2002, in withholding relevant threat intelligence from them, was criminal negligence. [Complicity in a false flag operation by the CIA.]

I will go on saying that John Howard has intimidated or corrupted most of our public institutions - our federal public service, our federal police, our defence force, our big media. A fish rots from the head, and when I observe the operations of the senior executives of these organizations, I smell the rot.

Only our judiciary and a tiny embattled band of courageous MPs and Senators across party lines now stand between Howard and total power.

I will go on saying all these things, because they are true. If saying them sends me to jail, the Australian people may finally see these laws for what they are - Orwellian laws against Thoughtcrimes.

I know I won't be alone in jail; there will be many good Australians there with me.

I say this especially to our Muslim compatriots and friends. These are terrible times for you. But please, do not be goaded by this man. Do not give him and Beazley the vindication of a terrorist event.

Let us wage this fight to restore our multicultural democracy, but always by peaceful means. We may need martyrs to this cause - people like Mandela, Gandhi, Solzhenitsyn - but we must not see any acts of anti-government violence. Howard wants that. We don't.

Decent words and decent values are our weapons. By our courage, we will show the people what a power-hungry and divisive coward this man is.

There are people of decency and courage on both sides of Parliament, and I include here the independent MPs and the Greens and Democrat Senators. We are inspired by them. But the two major parliamentary parties, as parties, have badly let us down last week.
We have to fight for our democracy here now, outside Parliament. It will take real courage - we will be tested as never before. It is down to us now.

By Tony Kevin 6 NOVEMBER 2005

Rally Speech

Related:

Guilty until proven innocent - justice in the `war on terror'
In the week in which PM John Howard's support as preferred prime minister dropped to a three-year low, the arrest of 17 people in Sydney and Melbourne on November 7-8, allegedly for planning a terrorist attack [scapegoats to bolster support and quell dissent for the Coalition of the Killing's resource wars in the Middle East], was exceedingly fortunate timing for the federal government.

House passes IR bill after debate gagged
The House of Representatives has passed the Federal Government's industrial relations (IR) bill after debate on the legislation was gagged.

Open Letter to Kim Beazley
Dear Kim, dear polluticians, I really want to know before Christmas, why you are in the Labor Party, and not in the Liberal Party.

Bush, God and Transnationals
The tragedy (for the entire world) is not that Bush is delusional, mentally unstable and intellectually challenged - that is well known. Rather, it is that he remains as commander in chief of the USA - placed in that position by commercial and other financial interests.

The race that doesn't stop the nation
CANBERRA: And welcome to Canberra on the first Tuesday in November for the race that doesn't stop the nation. The Anti-Terrorism Cup. The final horses are being brought into the barriers, and we are almost ready for the start.

Constitution: Defending Against State Terror and Despots
Australia has no major laws that are not derivatives of English Law and all of our major laws rely on British court precedents for interpretation and implementation. These laws and our Constitutional Monarchy system create a situation where, even if Howard and all State Premiers vote unanimously on the Anti-Terrorist laws, and every ALP/Dem/Lib/Nat/Green party hack also votes unanimously on their laws, and even if such laws are given Royal Assent, those laws are still void.

Open Letter to Australian Senate
Every West Australian needs to take note of the proposed terror legislation that will be debated in the Senate next Tuesday. Our own Premier has sold us out, and the time has come for some serious and organised protest in WA to protect our democracy and civil liberties. Write to the Senate, to the papers, and to every political party. This is a fundamental issue that affects the future of our society.

Australia: Right to strike to go
'The right of workers to leave their jobs is a test of freedom. Hitler suppressed strikes. Stalin suppressed strikes. But each also suppressed freedom. There are some things worse than strikes, much worse than strikes - one of them is the loss of freedom.' US President Eisenhower.

Australia, the International Image and disintegration of human-rights The international image of Australia is, by now, surely under question, if not from the governments of the international community, then from the organisations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the United Nations. And not least from the citizens of the world who watch the news, seeing Australia but thinking South Africa, or Communist Russia.

Stanhope flags doubts on 'hasty' terrorism bill
ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope says he may refuse to sign off on parts of the Federal Government's hasty terrorism bill.

Unfair Industrial Laws: It's up to you!
When the WorkChoices legislation was before Parliament, GetUp members sent emails to Senators Barnaby Joyce and Steven Fielding asking them to stay strong and independent. This was followed up with a national telephone campaign.

Our human rights are poor: judge
Australia's reputation as a human rights champion [?] had been so tarnished in recent years that it could be called a wolf in sheep's clothing, the retiring High Court justice Michael McHugh said yesterday.

Question Everything: Worry, be alert and alarmed!
BELIEF in the future is perhaps the most important value for a free society. It is what makes so many interested in getting an education, or investing in a project, or being nice to their neighbours. If we think nothing can improve or that the world is coming to an end, we don't work hard for a better and more civilised future. And we will all be miserable.

It's not the terrorists' it's us
While we watch the latest round of appalling violence and mayhem spilling across our screens it is worth considering its cause.

Spots and Stripes
It is well known that John Howard, infamous lackey and liar, is devoid of anything that could be remotely regarded as masculine or manly; the draconian measures he has implemented to 'secure' Australia against the terrorist bogeyman are astounding.

ABC: Inside the Insiders
These shows demonstrate how even our best mainstream news/current affair shows are effectively another corrupt decoy for career politicians (and the rich they serve) to legislate their way to further wealth... via media cronyism.

Australia: Cop Watch - drugs in the force
Taking the illegal drugs leads to the officers associating with drug suppliers, stealing drugs, stealing money and supplying friends, and providing confidential information to the drug suppliers.

Exporting the death penalty - Bali 9
Did the AFP believe the Bali 9 would get an 'on the spot' fine or something? ...and had observers present during one of the drug raids by Indonesian police claim they have - "ended co-operation with Indonesian police investigating the Bali Nine because they could face the firing squad if convicted."

News on David Hicks:
Hicks is being used as a 'pawn' for prime Meanster john hoWARD's war crimes against humanity. HoWARd has also been linked to his co-offenders, tony bliar, and george w bushit's, US Military Industrial regime.

Victorian cops the most corrupt in Australia
A weekly round up of news on the cops. Former Australian Crime Commission Chair says Victorian cops are the most corrupt in Australia -- so they are given extra powers -- and so Melburnians can be patrolled by the army -- and have business deals with McDonalds. Top cops in NSW cleared after investigation -- but another one charged with child slavery. Western Australian police officer leaves the force under secrecy -- and Canberra hospital nurse tells the Federal Police to bugger off.

What is Happening to Australian Democracy
"Australia nominally has all the right democratic institutions--regular elections, parliamentary sovereignty, ministerial responsibility, an independent judiciary, federalism, a non-partisan and expert public service and a free press.

Hundreds attempt self-harm in detention
Nearly 900 immigration detainees have tried to harm themselves in the past three years, Immigration Department figures reveal.

The clock is ticking: Aboriginal Leaders
Aboriginal leaders say only immediate action will remedy the appalling state of remote communities in the Northern Territory, writes.

Association for the Prevention of Torture
The Optional Protocol requires 20 ratifications to enter into force. 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.

Explosions rock Baghdad, jets overhead Iraq
BAGHDAD, March 20 [Rooters] A handful of explosions rocked Baghdad at dawn today as jets roared overhead, Iraqi anti-aircraft batteries opened up and air raid sirens sounded.

AUSTRALIA AT WAR! Moment of death...
THE war on Iraq has begun with the first military strikes heard over Baghdad at approximately 1.40pm (AEDT). Air raid sirens sounded over central Baghdad before explosions were heard a little over one hour past the 48-hour deadline for war set by US President George W. Bush.

No Murder Weapon, No Body, No Place or Time of Death

NT: Joanne Lees ought to be the main suspect in this show trial. There is no body and no weapon to be found and Joanne Lees had a clear and present motive. She knew him, she travelled with him, she was unfaithful to him and she said that she was the last person to see him on the night she was stoned out of her head. So where does Bradley James Murdoch fit in?

Simple, police decided she was the victim and went about making sure someone else did it when all accounts should point to Joanne Lees who was unfaithful to her boyfriend Peter Falconio and stoned off her head on the night she said she had been attacked.

JOANNE Lees would identify Bradley James Murdoch or anyone else who was profiled to fit the crime. She has a very good reason to do so otherwise she would look very guilty indeed.

The 32-year-old wept as she told a jury she believed she would die after her attacker bound her and forced her into his vehicle on a lonely stretch of the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory in 2001.

No one else was there and this is her story believe it or not. She was quite capable of inventing an attacker and binding her own hands to make it look like there had been an attack but there was and adventure a misadventure. Tears can be manipulated and manufactured. She was entwined in the relationship maybe Peter would not let her out?

If you asked a killer who has no remorse whether someone else did the killing what answer do you think you're going to get?

During a dramatic day of evidence, prosecutor Rex Wild, QC, asked Ms Lees if she got a good view of the man as he held a western-style silver revolver to her head.

[The weapon that can't be found.]

"Yes," she replied.

"Do you see that man here today?" asked Mr Wild, the Northern Territory's Director of Public Prosecutions.

"Yes, I'm looking at him now," she replied in a loud voice, staring directly to where Murdoch sat in the dock of the Northern Territory Supreme Court.

[But she'd never seen him before the trial? And wasn't prompted.]

Murdoch looked back and shook his head.

Ms Lees responded by nodding vigorously.

[Intimating that she was guilty but had no other choice.]

She also appeared to mouth some words as she nodded back at Murdoch, but they were not audible.

[Sorry...I am Sorry...Please forgive me...?]

Ms Lees was giving testimony on the second day of the trial into the alleged murder of her boyfriend, Mr Falconio, who has not been seen since that night in July 2001.

Lees, who was stoned out of her brain on dope and who'd had a recent affair had a better motive for the killing and could easily have committed the crime herself. So why wasn't she the main suspect?

Bradley Murdoch, 47, has pleaded not guilty to murder, and to the unlawful assault and deprivation of liberty of Ms Lees.

Lees has accused Bradley John Murdoch of Peter Falconio death but until the alleged strong DNA evidence appeared late in the police investigation there was probably no case at all.

DNA results that just happened to appear now place Bradley John Murdoch at the crime scene and no doubt have helped the police case against the accused.

Back in April 2005, Murdoch's defence team was furious at the new DNA evidence. Claiming his client had been ambushed by the prosecution, Ian Baker, QC, made an application to have the hearing stopped and the trial date, put back to allow his side to have its own DNA tests done on the cable ties.

Commenting on the new development, the judge, Brian Martin, told the Northern Territory Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Tony Elliot: "The evidence you propose to lead, if accepted by the jury, would inevitably place the accused not only at the scene, but having used the ties used to tie up Miss Lees. It is critical." ?

Dr Whitaker's world-first DNA testing technique [?] has allegedly identified fragments of DNA belonging to Murdoch at the crime scene?

But earlier results of tests on mixed DNA on the gearstick and steering wheel were so poor that they were inadmissible in court. [?]

Ms Lees, who said she still bore scars from that night, said a man pulled up beside the couple as they drove their Kombi north from Alice Springs.

But she's the only witness to that and she was also quite capable of making it appear that she had been tied up and grazed.

If it were the case that she was bound then it would have been highly unlikely that she would have survived to tell the story.

Of course a murderer is not capable of making up a story to make it look like she suffered a misadventure by binding here own hands and leaving marks for all to see?

When he signaled for the couple to pull over, Ms Lees said she urged Mr Falconio not to stop.

[Sure, where in the middle of nowhere in the dark and she intimates they should stop? A street wise pom? Bullshit!]

She said, he did stop, however, and went to the back of the vehicle to talk to the man about sparks he had seen coming from the exhaust.

"Cheers mate, thanks for stopping," she heard Mr Falconio telling the man.

As she was revving the engine for Mr Falconio, she said she heard a bang which sounded like a car backfiring.

Apparantly it wasn't until the stranger appeared at her car window with a silver revolver that she realised the sound may have been a gunshot.

[Maybe it was the Lone Ranger?]

Ms Lees said she struggled as the gunman bound her hands behind her back, forced her from the Kombi and tried unsuccessfully to tie her legs with tape as he straddled her on the ground.

So he managed to bind her hands but he could not manage to bind her feet, the easy part?

He did not rape her or shoot her in the head but apparently he had no trouble with Peter Falconio?

"He punched me in the right temple, it stunned me," she said.

"I was then screaming for Pete to come and help me."

She said the man led her towards his vehicle and tried unsuccessfully to put tape around her mouth.

She also managed to shake off a canvas sack he put over her head.

He pushed her into the passenger's side of his vehicle and then into its rear tray area.

"I asked him why he was doing this, did he want money, did he want to rape me," Ms Lees said.

"He came back and told me to shut up or he would shoot me."

Asked today what was going through her mind during the attack, Ms Lees wept and said:" I felt alone.

And that just about sums it up because she was alone and has to prove otherwise, surely?

"I kept shouting for Pete. I thought I was going to die."

But the man who had her tied up couldn't find her? Or manage to bind her legs, rape her or even shoot her? But he managed to take care of Peter. Maybe he was gay? Or just plain clumsy?

Then the man moved away from his vehicle and she seized the moment to escape, she said, shuffling her legs over the rear of an unsecured canopy onto the ground with her hands still bound behind her back.

[And he could not see her in the middle of nowhere? Neither could he hear her?]

"Then I just ran," Ms Lees whispered, recounting how she curled up and hid under bushes.

Ms Lees said she heard the crunch of the man's footsteps as she hid.

"I didn't speak - I was trying not to breathe even," she said.

She heard the man drive a vehicle away, and later again heard the crunch of gravel and the man dragging something.

"I thought it could be Pete," she said.

The court has heard Ms Lees hid under the bush for five hours, before running out onto the road, still bound, and flagged down a passing road train.

[And the man ran away with the bone!]

The trial continues.

By Amanda Mortein 19 October 05

Related:

Falconio suspect to be extradited

It was only after Murdoch was arrested in SA on sex charges that police, citing DNA evidence, alleged he was linked to the Falconio case.

To avoid further delays in having the murder case heard, Mr Prescott dismissed charges against Murdoch regarding firearms offences that were currently before the Adelaide court.

Bradley John Murdoch will face a court in Darwin tomorrow, charged for the first time over the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio.

An Adelaide magistrate today ordered Murdoch, 45, to be extradited to the Northern Territory where he will be formally charged with murdering Mr Falconio and attempting to abduct Mr Falconio's girlfriend, Joanne Lees.

Murdoch's extradition follows his acquittal earlier this week on unrelated sex charges and his immediate rearrest.

Handcuffed and flanked by prison officers and Adelaide Magistrates Court staff, Murdoch showed no expression as Chief Magistrate Kelvyn Prescott dismissed arguments that his arrest was unlawful.

Related Links:

Unfaithful Lees admits taking drugs, court told
AUSTRALIA: NT: Key witness Joanne lees, has testified in the Northern Territory Supreme Court to smoking Marijuana on the night her boyfriend Peter Falconio went missing.

Murdoch: Ambushed by Prosecution
AUSTRALIA: NT-Through the smell of an oily rag - A FORENSIC expert alledgedly has produced vital evidence ahead of the Peter Falconio murder trial linking his alleged killer to the camper van driven by the dead man and his girlfriend, Joanne Lees?

Day set aside for Falconio forensic evidence
More than a day has been set aside in the case of the man accused of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio to hear evidence from a Northern Territory forensic scientist. Yesterday the Darwin Magistrates Court heard from mechanics and friends of the defendant Bradley John Murdoch.

Mr Bradley Murdoch to go on trial next year!
The alleged man is not the alleged Falconio killer in my book. He's alleged to have committed a crime but the Faloconio mystery remains a secret to be unlocked by time itself and more interestingly may never be unlocked at all.

Falconio magistrate closes court
THE hearing into the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio has been closed to the public. Magistrate Alasdair McGregor has closed the court for part of the testimony of Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees.

Ch/9 News? Or Ch/9's Department of Public Prosecutions?
Bradley Murdoch committal, lawyer calls for fair hearing
The lawyer of the man accused of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio has spoken to the media in Darwin.

Peter Beattie nominated as Australian of the year: Howard
Bradley Murdoch the man alleged to have murdered English tourist Peter Falconio who has been acquitted of rape and abduction charges in the South Australian District Court.

Tourist dollar drives set-up for crime
The man alleged to have murdered English tourist Peter Falconio has been acquitted of rape and abduction charges in the South Australian District Court. Bradley John Murdoch, 45, was charged with two counts of rape, two counts of false imprisonment and two counts of indecent assault after an alleged incident in South Australia's Riverland in August last year.

Supreme Court rejects Nine appeal
CHANNEL Nine lost a Supreme Court appeal today to have a suppression order on details of the case of missing backpacker Peter Falconio lifted. The Full Bench of the NT Supreme Court today ruled Magistrate Alasdair McGregor had the power to make the order banning from publication some details of the case.

Falconio magistrate closes court
THE hearing into the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio has been closed to the public. Magistrate Alasdair McGregor has closed the court for part of the testimony of Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees.

Innocent until proven guilty? Not in Australia's outback!
There is no way that Bradley John Murdoch can get a fair trial in the Northern Territory. The entire jury pool is already contaminated, the general public have accepted the verdict of the Northern Territory News and the NT Police State has turned on the cone of silence. Maybe some of the reporters might want to ask Director of Public Prosecutions Rex Wilde QC just how he is going to secure a conviction when a body has not been found. Surely the NT bureaucracy learnt from the Lindy Chamberlain case that it is not a good idea to jail someone for murder when you haven't got a body. Maybe they have the same people working on the case. The NT Police forensic team certainly do.

Taken "A Dingo Took My Baby!"
They were the words that Lindy Chamberlain had screamed out into the blackness of the cold night in a camping ground close to Ayers Rock, Central Australia, on the night of August 17, when she discovered that her nearly ten-week-old baby, Azaria had been taken by a dingo.

Man Says He Shot Dingo That Snatched Baby SYDNEY, Australia (July 5) - A distraught mother's scream 24 years ago that a dingo snatched her baby from a camp site near Ayers Rock in the Australian Outback ignited one of Australia's most enduring mysteries. An elderly man's claim that he retrieved the infant's bloodied body from the jaws of the wild dog has revived the case and - if true - could finally lead to the discovery of Azaria Chamberlain's body.

Australia to see the light on tourism
A total of $120 million has been earmarked for the campaign's international marketing, which tops up the Australian Tourist Commission's annual budget of $90 million. The inbound and domestic tourism industry contributes $70 billion to the economy and employs 500,000.

Ten reports $76.9 million profit
The Ten television network has reported a full-year profit of $76.9 million. Even if it were down by half on the previous year they're still greedy self-interested people who care little about the real damage done, not just in Australia but the world. That profit is obviously on top of wages and expenses yet they're still greedy enough to turn the news upside down to suit the Howard government's investment in advertising.

DNA Links:

The ABC for good or evil?
He had a suspect that he wanted to find guilty based on the chances of a spouse killing a spouse which were greater in anycase, at least more likely than that of a stranger.

First Grabs To Control Our DNA
A small company in Australia has been subjected to gross denials of rights after DNA database technology was stolen from it's company. This one year saga has spawned them to form a new approach to projects of importance to all people.

Worries over DNA and racial profiling
UK: Black men are four times more likely than White men to be on the national DNA database and there is growing concern about racial profiling in criminal investigations.

Lab's Errors Force Review of 150 Virginia DNA Cases
US: WASHINGTON, - A sharply critical independent audit found that Virginia's nationally recognized central crime laboratory had botched DNA tests in a leading capital murder case. The findings prompted Gov. Mark Warner to order a review of the lab's handling of testing in 150 other cases as well.

Witch-hunt targets scientists
QLD: SCIENTISTS at the John Tonge Centre are being threatened with jail in the wake of a government hunt for the source of leaks highlighting serious problems in the forensic laboratories.

Fresh swipe at DNA labs
Scientist Kris Bentley, whose departure yesterday follows that of forensic biologist Deanna Belzer after concerns about "inaccurate" DNA results and unvalidated equipment, issued a scathing resignation letter leaked to The Courier-Mail.

DNA leads 'CSI' cold-case squad to first arrest?
Frozen case? I don't really know what to say about them until they come up with their case. They say it involves DNA evidence but that's the only stuff we know.

Criminal's DNA filed under relative's name
The New South Wales Opposition is calling for an investigation into claims that police have entered DNA data for serious offenders under incorrect names.

DNA fingerprinting 'no longer foolproof'...
The genetic profiles held by police for criminal investigations are not sophisticated enough to prevent false identifications, according to the father of DNA fingerprinting.

THE BUTLER DIDN'T DO IT!
PROFESSOR BARRY BOETTCHER: Now, there should be a law enacted within Queensland so that when cases come up like this they can be brought to attention and if an appropriate authority such as a judge of your Supreme Court considers that it merits further inquiry, an inquiry be ordered.

'Rape' officer clears his name
UK: A former policeman has been cleared of rape after protesting his innocence for 15 years. Judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh ruled that Brian Kelly, 47, had suffered a miscarriage of justice over crucial DNA evidence.

New unit investigates unsolved deaths?
A new police unit has been established to investigate more than 360 unsolved deaths in New South Wales, with many of the deaths dating back more than 30 years.

Prisoner's bid for review denied
Prisoner Roger Cheney has lost a Supreme Court action to have a judicial review of his 1993 convictions an 30-year jail sentence. Justice Shaw said he was concerned about the prisoner's claim that DNA evidence held by the police could prove his innocence. Although Cheney had requested the results of the DNA tests, he had been denied access to the forensic analysis.

QLD Prisoners DNA Bid THE curious case of Queensland's "cat lady" murder is set to test the state's legal authorities again, with the man convicted of the killing asking the Attorney-General to take the unprecedented step of releasing blood samples for DNA retesting.

Database clears up crimes?
NSW Police Minister John Watkins said at the launch of a Sydney conference of international forensic experts meeting to mark 100 years of fingerprinting in NSW. He said the collection of DNA from prisoners and suspects in NSW during the past two years had led to more than 5,400 matches on the forensic database.

A Question of Innocence
Katrina Bolton: The promise of DNA freeing the innocent as well as convicting the guilty has been repeated by politicians across Australia, usually while DNA laws are being expanded. The promise was made as a national DNA database, ‘Crimtrac’ was created, and it was made as NSW introduced legislation giving unprecedented powers to take DNA samples from prisoners, by force if necessary.

Weak Carr Government suspends Innocence Panel
It's a callous disregard for justice! The panel takes applications from convicted prisoners for DNA evidence to be analysed a move that may help in a future court appeal.

JUST BEAT IT! Govt lauds crime-solving technology?
The New South Wales Government says advances in crime solving technology are helping the progress of hundreds of police investigations.

DNA testing causes debate in murder case
The use of voluntary DNA testing in the investigation of a murder case in New South Wales has been applauded by victim support groups who are ill informed about the process said Justice Action's spokesperson Gregory Kable.

Abolition of double jeopardy law a political stunt: NSW Opp
Why draconian laws? What about the re-trial by media that goes along with it? Twice shy?

ARE YOU INNOCENT?
The NSW government has finally appointed somebody (Justice John Nader) to head up its Innocence Panel and has produced leaflets and forms for people convicted of serious crimes (eg murder) to apply for DNA testing if they believe it may help prove their innocence. You can get the info by phoning 1300 881 717 or writing to the panel at GPO Box 45 Sydney NSW 2001.

Is the Westminster System flawed?
Most people would say Lady Di got the boot and NSW has so much trouble getting the Innocence Panel moving. I said hey, what's going on!

Murder charge first for DNA data bank link, but not the same as solving the murder Mass DNA testing of prisoners has led to the first NSW case of a person being charged with a previously unsolved murder as a result of a controversial gene-matching data bank. The Herald reported 25 Nov 02 "a DNA saliva swab led to the charging of a former prisoner with the bashing murder of a woman. Police had been unable to find any witnesses or suspects following the murder in Sydney's inner city two years ago. Detectives had admitted they faced a tough job finding the killer."

Prisoners can prove innocence for $20
Les Kennedy Daily Telegraph reported today that" Prisoners who believe that DNA will prove they were wrongly convicted will have the chance to prove their innocence for a mere $20 administration fee. The move comes 20 months after NSW inmates were asked to provide DNA for comparison with a databank of DNA from unsolved crime scenes for possible convictions.

DNA yours or mine?
Now they have isolated two genes that they say tells you if you're more likely to be depressed. What does that mean? It could mean that you should stay in jail because you are more likely than not to continue your offending behaviour according to a Department of Corrective Services Forensic Psychiatrist.

DNA = Do Not Assume - DNA Controversies!
The national DNA database of all known offenders proposed by Prime Minister Tony Blair could mean that innocent people will be accused of crimes they did not commit.

DNA Evidence of Bipartisanship
Last week the U.S. Congress passed the Justice for All Act, which includes provisions of the Innocence Protection Act. As of this posting, the legislation has not yet been signed by President Bush. Attached is an analysis of the legislation prepared by the Justice Project.

DNA - A Shadow of Doubt
One case points to misinterpretation of evidence that helped put a man behind bars. The other shows just how easy it is to plant falsely incriminating DNA evidence. As our forensic techniques become ever more sensitive, so the possibility of abuse continues to grow.

Australia: Rattling the cage

ASIO interrogators were grossly incompetent: judge

Recently, the federal government announced a controversial new 'counter-terrorism' package. Civil libertarians were quick to raise the spectre of a police state . Yet Muslim groups argued that the new security regime is already having an impact on the democratic freedoms and everyday safety of their communities.

VICKI SENTAS talks to Agnes Chong and Waleed Kadous from the Australian Muslim Civil Rights Advocacy Network about the impact of the anti-terror laws so far.

Since 2002, over 20 pieces of state and federal counter-terrorism laws have been introduced in Australia. These laws created new broad criminal offences, most of which only indirectly relate to violent political acts, and confer unprecedented powers on police and intelligence agencies.

Agnes Chong, from the Australian Muslim Civil Rights Advocacy Network (AMCRAN) argues that increased police powers have resulted in systematic government intervention in Muslim people's lives: "The terrorism laws have the effect of constructing Muslims as a suspect community -- just being a Muslim makes you a target of suspicion and subjects Muslim communities, as a whole, to increased surveillance. This has disempowered the Muslim community, with people now afraid to speak out on political issues and even, ironically, the anti-terrorism laws themselves."

ASIO and Federal Police raids in 2001, after the [false flag] New York attacks, and in 2002, after the [false flag call to arms] Bali bombings, targeted Muslim homes in Sydney and Melbourne, with no arrests.

The New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties reported that 30 raids occurred in 2002, most of them in Sydney, on the basis of innuendo, rumour and conduct taken out of context.

Waleed Kadous from AMCRAN believes the recent ASIO raids conducted against 'suspected terrorists' in Melbourne and Sydney in June 2005 followed a similar pattern: "The ASIO raids yielded no evidence of wrongdoing, despite the broad ranging laws under which preparatory acts can be prosecuted. No one was arrested. Instead, government officials said the purpose of the raids was to 'rattle the cage', and frighten people from the 'next step'. It highlights how ASIO uses its powers to intimidate."
AMCRAN is a voluntary community network established in 2004 by Agnes and Waleed. Concerned with the impact of the war on terror on Muslim communities, AMCRAN is dedicated to preventing the erosion of the civil rights of all Australians, and, by drawing on the rich civil rights heritage of the Islamic faith, provides a Muslim perspective in the civil rights arena.

Counter-terrorism legislation has been widely criticised as generally eroding civil liberties and democratic freedoms. However the laws have had a specific impact on Muslims. Waleed explains that because the laws define offences so broadly, the only possible way they can be used is through selective application. He describes it as "a back door... for it to be used discriminatorily. Currently, the target of choice is the Muslim community. The list of banned organisations, which is proscribed by the Attorney-General [Philip Ruddock], currently has only self-identified Muslim organisations on it, unlike any other country in the world. Consequently, there are currently some offences that exclusively apply to Muslims."

"The laws are so broad that they cover not only the acts commonly understood to be terrorist actions, but legitimate resistance movements. Under the new regime, the African National Congress or Fretelin would be considered terrorist organisations. In the case of Muslims, resistance to the brutal dictatorship in Uzbekhistan, or even financial support to Palestinian families who lost their houses due to the Israeli policy of demolishing homes of suspected -- not convicted -- suicide bombers, would be considered acts of terrorism."

This year, federal legislation gave ASIO powers to question and detain people not suspected of committing an offence, for up to seven days. Criminal justice standards such as the right to silence and the right to a lawyer are circumscribed. Disclosing information about the existence of a questioning or detention warrant to anyone, including family, is an offence punishable by five years imprisonment.

These 'secrecy provisions' also extend to third parties and the media, making public scrutiny of these exceptional powers not only difficult, but criminal. At the recent Parliamentary Joint Committee reviewing ASIO's new questioning and detention powers, AMCRAN presented evidence that ASIO have threatened people with a detention warrant in order to secure cooperation in informal questioning.

"There is evidence to suggest that the powers are being used as a coercive measure in the community, particularly in light of the provision that requires a person's passport to be surrendered when the Director-General [of ASIO] seeks the Attorney-General's consent to request for the issuing of a warrant," says Agnes.

While the laws foster differential policing towards Muslims, an anti-Muslim climate is also evident more generally. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission 2003 report, Isma: Listen documents Arab, Muslim and Sikh Australians experiences of racial vilification and violence since September 11, 2001. The report outlines incidents of social incivility; verbal abuse; threats of violence including stalking and sexual assault; physical assaults such as women having their hijab torn in public places; people being spat upon or more violently assaulted; incidents of arson, vandalism, threats and harassment. Women are reported as overwhelmingly the subject of racist attacks.

Particular incidents prompt an intensification of everyday and ongoing forms of racism. During the Gulf War in 1991 and immediately after the September 11 attacks and the October 2002 Bali bombings, a sharp increase in incidents of racial vilification or violence were reported, and remained at an elevated level for some months afterwards. The London bombings resulted in over 300 official reports of racist violence in a three week period in Britain and at least one racially motivated murder of a Pakistani man.

In 2004 AMCRAN produced Terrorism Laws: ASIO, the Police and You, a know-your-rights guide outlining the terrorism laws and legal and civil rights. A second edition of the booklet, translated into Arabic, Urdu and Bahasa Indonesia, will be available in October.

AMCRAN considers circulating experiences of police interventions and surveillance together with grassroots community education as a key strategy for supporting community responses to the war on terror.

"The complexity of the laws leads to fear of engagement in politics and community discussion," explains Agnes. "An important function of the booklet is to let the community see clearly the problems with the laws and why the campaign to change them is so important; while simultaneously showing them that they still have certain rights."

BY VICKI SENTAS 8 October 05

Vicki is involved in community-based campaigns against terrorism laws. For more information see AMCRAN.

Related:

AUSTRALIA: MUSLIMS SOLD OUT!
Hand picked alleged Australian Muslim leaders are being used to cut their own throats the same as the hand picked Indigenous mob have been used by the John HoWARd Government to screw ATSIC.

Anti-terrorism laws put rights at risk: Fraser
Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser says Australians could be treated unfairly under the Government's anti-terrorism [draconian] laws unless a human rights act is introduced.

Stop the war on civil liberties!
Prime Minister John Howard is using the "war on terror" to promote widespread fear about "terrorists" and "terrorism" in Australia. This is despite the fact that the biggest act of terror being committed today is being carried out by foreign troops, including Australia's, in occupied Iraq.

Spots and Stripes
It is well known that John Howard, infamous lackey and liar, is devoid of anything that could be remotely regarded as masculine or manly; the draconian measures he has implemented to 'secure' Australia against the terrorist bogeyman are astounding.

They know where you live
Twenty-four hours after the country's leaders agreed to draconian counter-terrorism laws this week, the Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, was playing down media claims that ASIO believed there were 800 would-be suicide bombers living in Australia.

When Terrorism Outlaws Democracy
On September 27, 2005, Australian democracy surrendered to terrorism. On that day, a coalition of willing federal and state leaders agreed to anti-terrorism legislation that will enable police persecution of the Muslim community and threaten dissidents with imprisonment. In a country without a Bill of Rights, the prospect of more draconian Terror Laws delivers ultimate control through fear. Australia, with its history of penal colonies, racism and detention centers, is now set to become a police state.

Evans: moderate threat
Evans doubts reports that 800 potential terrorists are living in Australia.

No! Your Rights Australia
You have the right to not remain silent.

800 people deemed a potential security risk?
As reported in the Australian today, ASIO has apparently identified up to 800 people deemed a potential security risk. Ruddock says the draconian COAG measures "deal with people who pose a risk to the safety and security of the Australian community." Hmmm, like detained and deported US peace activist Scott Parkin perhaps? What is this broad definition of a "Terrorist"?

Democrat Will Oppose Anti-Terrorism Laws
NSW Democrat MLC, Dr Arthur Chesterfield-Evans, has accused the Premier, Mr Morris Iemma, of selling out to John Howard after agreeing to new 'Anti-Terrorism' laws yesterday. Dr Chesterfield-Evans said the proposed laws agreed to by Morris Iemma will not work.

Mein Kampf by John Howard
Months before Bali Au warships were seen invading Iraqi territorial waters in deliberate provocations under American protection. It was obvious that Howard had decided before Bali to join in an illegal and aggressive invasion of Iraq and in fact , when that happened, it was led by Au stormtroopers BEFORE the ultimatum given Baghdad had even run out!

Collection of Terrorists Meet to Take Away Our Rights
Tomorrow (27th of September) the State Premiers and the Federal Government are meeting to conspire to strip Australians of their rights. Welcome to the brave new world of electronic tagging and "preventative" detention.

Tell Your State Premier: Don't Do Ruddock's Dirty Work
Over the past several years, the Howard government has passed a series of dangerous new laws. These laws have undermined our basic legal and democratic rights.

Australian government unveils legal framework for police state
In the lead-up to his September 27 "counter-terrorism summit" with the eight Australian state and territory leaders, Prime Minister John Howard last week unveiled a package of legislation that goes well beyond the already deep inroads made into essential civil liberties under the fraudulent banner of the "war on terrorism..."

Australia: Counter-liberty plans unveiled
AUSTRALIA: VIC: BLACK Hawk helicopters and fighter jets will patrol Melbourne's skies during the Commonwealth Games next March, as part of counter-terror measures outlined today.

John H.o.W.A.R.d line roars at Fascism Week
AUSTRALIA: Parody: (Rooters) - While Attorney General Phillip Duddock helped wrap up a US protester for Prime Meanster, John HoWARd during Australia's Fascism Week after a 5 day detention debut and the removal of Mr Scott Parkin a peace activist who was deported back to Houston, Texas. The h.o.W.A.R.d fascism line, adding a dash of despotism to a week of largely draconian styles.

Parkin charged $11,700 for detention and removal
Los Angeles Friday, 16 September, 2005 : American peace activist Scott Parkin arrived back in the US today, escorted by 2 Australian immigration officials. He is expected to arrive in Houson, Texas on a Continental Airlines flight at around 3pm AEST.

Government out of control on security: Wilkie
Australia: Canberra Thursday, 15 September, 2005 : Former intelligence analyst Andrew Wilkie today staunchly defended US peace activist and teacher, Scott Parkin, saying that the government's national security agenda is out of control.

Australia, USA, Iraq: Scott Parkin
The rapid and widespread response to the detention of US peace and global justice activist, Scott Parkin, has been heartening and effective on many levels. Actions have taken place in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns and outside several Australian Consulates in the United States.

Peace Activist Agrees to be removed but challenges security review
ATTENTION: CHIEFS OF STAFF - IMMIGRATION REPORTERS - LEGAL REPORTERS

Australia's fascist ideal: Proof
Philip Ruddock, Federal Attorney General to Australian, hopes to eclipse the neo-cons of the US in the race toward the fascist ideal of social uniformity and control (oppression).

Anti-War Extremists Loyal to Scott
What can I say to someone like Scott Parkin? Sorry mate, to get a PEACE prize in this country you need to be drop dead sexy, go-tees are out - you gotta go. Peace Prize.

US Peace Activist to be Deported
Scott Parkin, a Texas based peace activist was detained by Federal police at approximately midday Saturday. He was en route to give a workshop about the progress and success of the peace movement in the US and companies profiting from the Iraq war.

Howard government threatens academic freedom
As Peter McGregor noted in GLW #639, I recently resigned in protest from a committee of the federal government's National Health and Medical Research Committee (NHMRC) and called for a boycott by academics of government committees generally.

'Different times' call for bill of rights, says QC'
To ensure no future government can erode basic human rights. Lex Lasry, QC, gave last night's key note address at the University of Western Australia's annual Day of Ideas.

Australia: a little dab will do ya .....
Reflections on the phoney, hypocritical "values" debate being promoted by the federal government, as part of its proscriptive program to emasculate our democracy.

Government warned Terror Laws "inherently dangerous, draconian and open to misuse" John North, Law Council of Australia: "In times of fear, it is easy for governments to impose ever (more) draconian laws."

Fishing expedition pays off
A man whose home was targeted by ASIO in fishing raids this year is facing fraud charges along with a co-accused who is linked to firearms offences.

The Terrorism of ASIO Laws
Wanda Fish asks Australian Senators to reject Howard's proposal to strengthen laws that already erode our basic legal rights. This legislation has the potential to turn ASIO agents into terrorists who can kidnap and detain innocent Australians simply because they "might know something".

Terrorgraph not quiet on 'Aussie militant' probe
AFP refuses to comment on investigation into militant video: hoWARd's abc.

Phillip Duddock's 'accent' heard in militant broadcast
Australian/Arab television has broadcast a video showing a masked militant with an apparent Australian accent criticising British Prime Minister tony bliar over Iraq.

HICKS: Not a Happy Birthday!
AUSTRALIA/CUBA/US :David Hicks, the Australian imprisoned at the US Base of Guantanamo Bay, will be 30 years old this coming Monday August 7, 2005.

GetUp! Stand Up! Stand Up For Your Rights!
Because of you, something exciting happened in our democracy last week. From every corner of the country, more than 20,000 emails were sent to the Coalition Senators. Our message was simple: now you have control of the Senate, we will be holding you to account. Thousands of you added personal messages to your representatives about the issues you care about.

Australia: We're Living In A War Zone
Prime Minister john hoWARd and his cronies have now placed us in a war-zone moving defence capabilities to Australia's south-east coast.

All the alleged terrorists are Muslims
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) commissioner mick keelty, a well know propagandist and liar, now claims that 60 Islamic extremists are operating in Australia and they are not news to the police and intelligence agencies.

All the wicked witches in Pakistan?
Pakistani authorities say 800 suspected militants [scapegoates and patsies] have been arrested in raids following the deadly London [false flag operation] bombings, as Islamic groups protest a move to expel 1,400 foreign students.

It's just not cricket: Khan
The perception in the West remained that somehow Islam was connected to militarism and terrorism, that all Muslims believe that all suicide bombers go straight to heaven. No one mentioned that before [false flag operations of] 9/11 70 per cent of suicide bombings in the world were committed by the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, who were Hindus.

Lawyer dismisses ASIO fishing raids as PR stunt
Fascist federal Police (AFP) and ASIO officers conducted more raids in Melbourne and Sydney yesterday but the publicity surrounding the raids has been dismissed as a public relations exercise by the Melbourne lawyer for an accused terrorist.

Howard off to US, UK - part 5
PART-5- PRIME minister john hoWARd will meet US president george w buSHIT, British prime minister tony blair and queen 'imperialism' herself during a 10-day visit to the United States and the UK next month.

hoWARd, ruddock, ellison, keelty and news ltd plotted chaos
AUSTRALIA/CUBA: Government and corporate propaganda agencies 'believe' they have foiled an attack on the Melbourne Stock Exchange by a radical Islamic network linked to a covert group, which has carried out surveillance on key Sydney sites.

Houses raided over 'possible' political attack plans?
ASIO have raided a number of properties in Melbourne on a 'fishing expedition' in relation to a 'possible' political scare campaign by the hoWARd government, playing on the fears of all Australians... again!

Is this our most dangerous Newspaper?
The Daily Terrorist should be managed with manacles and flown into Siberia via a jumbo jet tomorrow amid fears government fascists may attempt to use them again on someone else.

HOSTAGES OF THE WAR ON TERROR
This forum will bring together legal representatives and victims of counter-terror, along with justice campaigners and organisations in order to share strategies for achieving justice for these men and the many other like them.

WAR ON TERROR, WAR ON HUMAN RIGHTS: AMNESTY
The Canterbury-Bankstown Peace Group & the Justice for Hicks & Habib Campaign welcome the statement by Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan, condemning the US Administration for condoning torture and the suppression of 'human rights' in their 'war on terror'.

Murdoch's war on truth in war reporting
People who remain to be convinced that cross-media laws are important to maintaining the fabric of our democracy need look no further than today's page one of The Daily Telegraph.

Chomsky signs on for justice
Noam Chomsky has signed the Justice for Jack campaign petition which calls on the Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock and Director of Public Prosecutions to "drop any charges reliant on records of interviews conducted under duress without the presence of a lawyer."

If he'd been given his passport he'd be a free man
A Sydney man [scapegoat in the Coalition of the Killings resource wars in the Middle East] has been found not guilty of preparing for a terrorist attack on a Commonwealth building [ruling class propaganda.]

Trial by unrelated video clips
Should alleged terrorist suspects [scapegoats for the resource wars in the Middle East] be shown on television side-by side-'terrorist training camp film clips' gathered by the government and media archives to give the wrong impression of accused people facing trial?

Accused Australian Citizen 'denied passport in 2002'?
AN AUSTRALIAN CITIZEN who was refused a passport by DFAT in mid-2002 became frustrated at the government for treating him differently.

Court should be told Gov't using 'Jack'!
A Melbourne court should have been told a man accused of working for Al Qaeda is being used by the fascist Australian Government as a pawn in their leverage to win support for their illegal and degrading activities.

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.

New account adds weight to interrogation claims
Australia/Cuba/Iraq: The fascist Federal Government is under further pressure today because Australians were involved in the interrogation of tortured Iraqi prisoners.

Australian senate accused govt of war crimes
Did you hear the one about David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib having a Barbeque in Afghanistan with Bin Laden? Yeah it was reported on Channel Seven's Sunrise this morning! But they don't know if it was a sheep or a goat, but sources say it was most likely a goat.

DPP to appeal innocent man's bail
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will seek to have an innocent Melbourne man Joseph 'Jack' Thomas, returned to isolation in custody?

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.

Innocent witch verballed by federal fascists!
Shame on the federal fascists. The wicked old witch is dead! A Melbourne Magistrates Court has heard that a 31-year-old innocent Victorian man was facing terrorism charges?

Lawyer blames police for Habib break-in
John HoWARd, Alexander Downer, Phillip Ruddock, Robert Hill, to name just a few....HOW DO YOU PLEAD?

No reason for Habib to sell story: Beazley?
Federal Agreement Leader Kim Beazley is a well-paid loser. A loser who supposed to be defending our democratic rights by standing up to the HoWARd Government's fascism.

Australia: a presumption of guilt......
KAREN PERCY: Two of Australia's leading barristers have seized on the return of Guantanamo Bay detainee, Mamdouh Habib, to launch an unprecedented attack on the Federal Attorney General, Philip Ruddock.

Aust Community criticises Govt for 'crimes'!
Australia: The Law Council of Australia is warning that the Federal Government must learn from its mistakes over Guantanamo Bay? Now that's a mistake!

Australian Govt Guilty of Crimes: Community
Australia: The community says federal fascists who allowed the torture of its citizenry including Mamdouh Habib may be arrested when the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal address the War Crimes Indictment set out by the community.

What they did to Habib
Mamdouh Habib was the victim of atrocities fit for a concentration camp, including being tied to the ground while a prostitute menstruated on him, his lawyer said yesterday.

Australian Federal Government complicity in war crimes
Complaint to Australian law officers about Australian Federal Government complicity in war crimes.

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.

Howard rejects spy agency overhaul
Prime Minister John Howard has played down the need for a major overhaul of Australia's spy agencies as a result of an inquiry by former intelligence officer Phillip Flood.

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.

Innocent witch verballed by federal fascists!
Shame on the federal fascists. The wicked old witch is dead! A Melbourne Magistrates Court has heard that a 31-year-old innocent Victorian man was facing terrorism charges?

Innocent Victorian man held in custody for Xmas?!
Lawyers have argued the case against Mr Thomas was weak and based on a statement he made in Pakistan without a lawyer present and therefore unlawful.

Innocent Melbourne man makes second bail bid
Rubish, just plain propaganda, fear-mongering, draconian nonsence from the HoWARd goverment's war agenda stink tank.

MPs to review spy agency powers
Australian spy agency ASIO'S controversial powers to detain and question suspected terrorists [scapegoats for HoWARd's resource wars] will be re-examined by a parliamentary committee. Parliament passed the new counter-terrorism powers in July last year.

Goulburn Jail breaches UN standards
NSW: Greens MP Lee Rhiannon has called on Justice Minister John Hatzistergos to bring Goulburn Jail's Maximum Security Wing into line with United Nations standards, after a prison inmate's covert survey of his fellow inmates revealed problems with rehabilitation programs and basic amenities.

Lodhi toilet paper: crap!
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.

Brain injury for suspicion 'inhumane'
Faheem Khalid Lodhi refused bail by a Sydney court and remanded until June in hell at the (HARM-U) High Risk Management Unit at Goulburn. While he is in there he will receive a brain injury and is likely to self-harm due to the gross violation of living standards.

Ul-Haque 'the man who wants to become a doctor'
The taskforce is investigating French man Willie Brigitte, who was tipped back home for a visa breach. Allegedly the Un-Australian Newspaper claimed he also attended training camps before his six-month stay in Sydney. Police have not alleged Mr Ul-Haque knew Brigitte. The Un-Australian just mentioned it because they are 'you guessed it' up John Howard's butt and they like the USA want 'you guessed it' our Federal Government. Well Yankee go home!

Daily Terror rolled-over for Howard's war games
The DAILY TERROR is suspected of being the source of the news this morning that Willie Brigitte is a terrorist and that Sydney faces a bomb attack.

Ruddock foreshadows new terrorism laws
The new laws will allow police to access emails and mobile phone SMS messages, enable wider use of surveillance devices, and protect sensitive national security information during terrorism trials.

Community seeks more power to interrogate ASIO suspects
Greens Senator Bob Brown does not think increased police powers are necessary. "We have enormous powers for surveillance, apprehension or punishment of people who are engaged in or intending to engage in or thinking about being engaged in terrorist acts in this country," he said.

Greens warn of 'politicised' terror trials
AUSTRALIA/CUBA?: The Australian Greens say they are concerned that new anti-terrorism laws being debated in the Senate allow for the "political black-banning" of defence lawyers at terrorism trials.

Lawyer claims Al Qaeda suspect's evidence tainted!
Before returning to Australia last year, Thomas was arrested and held in custody for five months by Pakistani authorities before being released without charge.

Man terrorised by ASIO remanded in 'AA' isolation!
A Victorian man has been remanded in custody after being charged with terrorism offences, including having links to Al Qaeda?

Melbourne man charged over ASIO links
ASIO a know Australian terrorist organization is verballing the community again...about allegations that a man, while living overseas, received funds from Al Qaeda and had close association with the members of the terrorist group.

DING DONG! THE WITCH IS DEAD
A court has been told Joseph Thomas is a sleeper? ZZZ! Melbourne Australia: A court has been told that Osama bin Laden asked a Melbourne man to become a "sleeper" in Australia before undertaking activities for the Al Qaeda network? Munchkins: "Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch! Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead."

AFP: The unlikely CRIMINAL
It was born of a bombing and it made its name after a far more devastating act of terrorism. But for most of the 25 years in between, little was known about the Australian Federal Police force or the work it did.

Mamdouh Habib: Taunted and Tortured!
Four Corners [Walls]: Terrorist - or Taunted by the Australian Defence Force who sacked him as a cleaning contractor? Who is Mamdouh Habib? And why was he harassed by the Australian Federal Police? Then tagged and labelled as a spy? Why was he vilified by the community? When he fled to Pakistan how did he end up being tortured in Egypt? And how did he end up at Guantanamo prison camp reserved for the men America calls "the worst of the worst.

He was an undercover agent for the blues
He was my journalist, he was working undercover. The fellow knew all of the moves.... He really had me romping, bare footing stomping. He just kept igniting my fuse....

Up there Khasali: Innocent man new bail laws
The New South Wales Supreme Court has asked innocent man Bilal Khazal to increase to amount of surety offered, before the bail is formally continued.

HEY! BIG BROTHER? LET INNOCENT PEOPLE GO!
Young men terrorised, tortured, and threatened with charges for no crime by Australia mate the lucky country. Lucky if you're not used for Howard's FEDERAL ELECTION and George Dubya's WAR ON LIBERTY! Who shot liberty? IGNORANCE!

Keelty foresees more terrorism
Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Mick Keelty says terrorist groups will continue to find new ways to threaten countries.

Islamic movement denies links to Al Qaeda
The Islamic Youth Movement has denied having any links to Al Qaeda and says it is considering legal action against the Four Corners program. In a statement released early this morning, the group rejects allegations it is helping coordinate any kind of terrorist network inside Australia and says it is being unfairly targeted.

2nd Renaissance -10 The War on Witches [150]
In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued a Papal Bull that became the rationale for establishing the Inquisition in Germany. The following excerpt from the Bull sets out the official view of the danger of witches to the community. The Bull and this this passage provided the sole excuse for the torture and cruel executions that were, ultimately, to be the fate of up to fifty percent of the population of some villages.