Australia’s first political prisoner, Scott Parkin, has finally won the right to know the contents of an adverse ASIO security assessment which caused him to be deported in 2005.
Amazing the leaps forward you get in democracy with just one tiny little change of government.
-weez
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Thanks, weez.
Missed that one and passed it on.
But heh,
“Australia’s first political prisoner”?
That is a bit of a stretch and not denying the ‘deep shit’, Scott, copped.
Comment by joe2 07.26.08 @ 11:08 pmI dunno joe, I think it’s fairly reasonable to call Parkin a political prisoner. He pretty clearly was not detained on suspicion of any criminal activity. If that were the case, he would have been remanded for trial, not deported to his home country. The definition of ‘political prisoner’ would mainly be ‘detained by government authorities to silence political dissent or punish a person for expressing political views.’ This is a close description of what happened to Parkin.
Whether he’s the first or not is somewhat debatable.
Comment by weez 07.28.08 @ 6:58 amWeez, he was definitely a political prisoner but certainly not the first. Maybe the first American political prisoner?
Anyway, i will cease my hairsplitting. It was a nice little bit of economical legal work to get the asio info 3 people for the price of one.
Next stop the federal police learning how to be open and transparent, in the Haneef political prisoner case, like cute and cuddly asio. tee hee
Comment by joe2 07.30.08 @ 5:39 pmoh my yes, saw that this AM…
ASIO didn’t see Haneef as a threat
So… where did the order to jail him come from?
I am detecting the distinct and pungent smell of a politician filling his nappy, you? đŸ˜†
Comment by weez 07.30.08 @ 5:47 pm“This morning i spoke with Scott Parkin, who’s in washington DC for the IMF/World Bank protest; He and about 300 other protestors are now trapped in Freedom Plaza”
Wow trapped in freedom plaza eh? Amazing.
Comment by Liam 07.31.08 @ 12:28 pmyeah, trapped in Freedom Plaza by armed riot police. Ow, ow! The irony! It burns! it burrrrrns! đŸ˜‰
Comment by weez 07.31.08 @ 12:57 pmYer, well, whatever. Apart from the travelogue .. has anyone done any serious, upfront “news” items about the role Haliburton ..oops, Kellog Brown Root .. (apart from being the major contractor for the Alice to Darwin railway) is playing in Australia, especially with regard to their role in the Australian “defense” industry??
Comment by Davo 08.13.08 @ 5:17 amYeah. He’s certainly not the first. He’s not even the first american. Heck it was only in the 90s (I think) that Lorenzo Komboa Irvin copped the exact same treatment on his tour over here
http://www.eskimo.com/~galt/australia.html
But you can go right back to the treatment of Political activists like Yagan (Aboriginal resistance leader) and things get even uglier.
Australia is not as democratic as its subjects like to think it is.
Comment by don ooorst 08.15.08 @ 11:38 amLeave a comment
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