Monday 23rd of December 2024
Home » Blogs » John Richardson's blog

embarrassing values .....

‘Unfortunately, politics has replaced justice in the case of David Hicks.

David has been detained for four and a half years without trial, and has been in isolation for the past four months. He sits in a concrete room for 23 hours a day. He is allowed one book per week and one hour outside his cell for exercise in what best could be described as a large dog kennel, and to shower.

I will visit him shortly to see if there is any improvement in his living conditions since the recent announcement that part of the Geneva Conventions will apply to David. We have tried in the past to get David working on his high school certificate which is something that David has put his heart into. The conditions that he is kept in make this difficult to accomplish.

The four and half year delay, so far, in bringing David to trial is due to the fact that David did not violate any international law so the US had to make up charges and an unfair system that would rubber stamp the charges without question. Had the US used a real court system like the courts-martial, we could have had a trial within the first year. But of course, David would have been acquitted which would not have served the political agendas in the US and Australia.

All David has wanted is a fair trial and Australia did nothing to obtain that for him since a fair trial would have proven David's innocence.’

Guest Blog By Major Michael Mori

David Hicks' father

Let it be known here and on the ether that David Hicks' father, Terry, will be interviewed on ABC-FM (tune to it in your area) next Tuesday at 10:05 AM on the Margaret Throsby show... Be there (unless this episodes gets canned).... You can also listen on stream...

Reappointment

From the ABC

Military lawyer reappointed to Hicks case
The Pentagon has reappointed Major Michael Mori as military lawyer for Australian Guantanamo Bay inmate, David Hicks.

Major Mori's posting will extend for another year.

After the US Supreme Court overturned the military commissions set up to try Hicks and other Guantanamo inmates, Major Mori was concerned he would be posted elsewhere while a new legal system was worked out.

But the marine has just been told his posting on the Hicks case will extend until July 2007.

"You've got a saying, 'you've got to bloom wherever you're planted', and I came to this job and got assigned to David and I'm going to keep at it as long as they'll let me," he said.

"Obviously, I am happy to stay with David as long as possible."

Major Mori is coming to Australia next week to once again lobby on his client's behalf.

bucking the brass

 

Major Michael Mori is a hero. It takes a lot of guts to buck the brass when one is wearing a uniform, and Mori has done just that from day one of his appointment as Hick's military lawyer. G'don'em.

 

You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation. ~~ Marian Wright Edelman