The Attorney General,                                    

The Hon Robert McClelland MP,                               

Parliament House,

CANBERRA.  ACT.  2600.                                           

Dear Sir, 

Re:                                                      David Hicks 

I write to question the basis of your recent decision to approve an application being made by the Australian Federal Police for a Control Order over David Hicks upon his release from Yatala Prison later this month. 

I am one of many Australians who have strenuously fought for justice for David Hicks over the past 5 years. In doing so, I campaigned relentlessly against the Howard government because of its appalling cowardice & deceit in conspiring with the American government to illegally deny Mr Hicks his freedom & his rights.  

As you are aware, Mr Hicks has never been charged or convicted of any offence under Australian law. Mr Hicks finds himself in prison as a result of a conspiracy between the previous Australian government & the current American government, wherein he was found guilty of bogus offences under a process that, even those charged with its operation, have labelled corrupt & unjust. 

Along with hundreds of other innocent people, including children, Mr Hicks was held illegally as a prisoner by the American government at Guantanamo Bay, whilst denied his human & legal rights under International Law. Mr Hicks was subjected to torture during that time & his ‘guilty plea’ to the trumped-up charges levelled against him was extracted as a cruel & deliberate act of extortion.

It is to the shame of the former Attorney-General & the Howard government that no protest was ever made to the American government over its treatment of Mr Hicks. 

In supporting the election of the Rudd Labor government, I expected to see the adoption of an honest & principled approach to the administration of justice in this country. As we are all aware, the shameless behaviour of the Howard government in so many instances certainly left room for a considerable improvement in that regard.

Travesties of justice visited on David Hicks, Mamdouh Habib & Mohammed Haneef are only a few of the examples that come to mind. I am also at a loss to understand how your government can acquiesce to a request from the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, Mr Mick Keelty, for permission to seek court approval for Control Orders in respect of Mr Hicks. 

Through his behaviour, Mr Keelty has shown himself not only to be completely incompetent, but fatally compromised through the politicisation of his position by the former Howard government.

The Australian Federal Police benefited enormously in both financial & material terms under the Howard government, without once being able to demonstrate an improvement in the capabilities or performance. Indeed, their ineptitude is legendary, rendering that ‘service’ at best an embarrassing failure.

Indeed, I am at a loss to understand how it is that Mr Keelty even retains his position as Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, given that his performance has been so fatally compromised? 

Could you please explain how it is that, in a country that is allegedly democratic in nature & professes to uphold the principles of justice & the rule of law, a citizen not charged or convicted of any offence under its laws (indeed, according to the former government, Mr Hicks has never broken any Australian law) can be held in one of its prisons as a consequence of a deliberate plot to pervert the course of justice by his government & even then, facing the prospect of release, is to be subjected to further persecution by an incompetent & completely discredited police service, with the approval of your government?  

Where is the justice in that Mr McClelland? 

Instead of condoning action to further victimise Mr Hicks & so many others, your government would do better to launch a public enquiry into the administration of justice in this country by your predecessor over the past decade.  Such an enquiry might just help restore some basic faith in our system of justice: a system that has been thoroughly discredited in the eyes of the Australian public. 

I await your early response to my questions.  

Sincerely,    

CC:      The Hon Kevin Rudd