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Doubtful justice in Lodhi sentencing

Colin Mitchell via sam | 01.09.2006 06:33 | Analysis | Repression | Social Struggles | World

In Lodhi’s case, this has meant that the threshold of what constitutes “beyond reasonable doubt” has been lowered to an alarming degree. Justice and civil rights are the victims of this “war on terror” in which the government and security agencies benefit politically from convicting supposed terrorists. It is likely that Lodhi’s conviction and sentencing demonstrates, as in the Thomas case, that terror laws are being used to jail people who are not terrorists.

Used to jail people who are not terrorists!
Used to jail people who are not terrorists!


AUSTRALIA: On August 23, Sydney architect Faheem Lodhi was sentenced in the NSW Supreme Court to 20 years for preparing to commit a terrorist act. After Jack Thomas had his terrorism charges quashed on August 18 by the Court of Appeals on the basis that the evidence against him was obtained under duress, the Howard government and security agencies desperately needed a “terrorist” to lock up.

The August 24 Sydney Morning Herald had as its front page headline: “Mystery path from architect to terrorist”. It is indeed a mystery if Lodhi’s guilt is assumed. But the evidence against Lodhi is unconvincing, and not the kind that would normally be regarded as “beyond a reasonable doubt”. It is more likely that Lodhi is not a terrorist.

While Justice Anthony Whealy, who handed down the draconian sentence, believes that Lodhi is a terrorist, he is still “mystified” at Lodhi’s transformation from a “laissez-faire” Muslim to one with extremist views. But Lodhi has himself said that fundamentalists have distorted Islam and that he doesn’t hold such views. He has also testified that “killing innocent people is not part of Islam”.

The judge was relying on the contents of a CD-ROM of extremist material found at Lodhi’s home and played in the courtroom to dramatic effect. Lodhi denied ever having seen it before. It is possible it was planted by ASIO or the federal police, two organisations which are highly motivated to secure convictions and which may consider it ethical to plant evidence to secure a conviction if they believe their suspect is guilty and dangerous.

The judge accused Lodhi of “not renouncing his intention to prepare an attack”. But how could he if he had no terrorist intentions in the first place?

The assumption of Lodhi’s guilt in some circles can be explained by the need to find a scapegoat. As in the witch-hunts of old, and in the McCarthyist era, people’s fears can be partly exorcised by the arrest of scapegoats, who are then demonised.

Lodhi has been convicted on the basis of alleged future intentions. No actual plans for any terrorist act have been uncovered. The evidence of those intentions is weak: openly inquiring about the prices of certain chemicals in an office environment; buying two diagrams of the electricity grid; and possessing recipes for amateur explosives and one for invisible ink copied down years earlier from a juvenile “anarchist” website.

Whealy concluded that Lodhi must have been going to bomb the electricity grid, even though the diagrams he had bought would have been useless. Lodhi, an entrepreneurial type, said he wanted a wall and desk map to promote one of his business schemes — exporting electrical generators to his native Pakistan. Family and friends confirmed Lodhi’s discussion with them of his plans.

Likewise, they confirmed his discussion of plans to export detergents for tanneries in Pakistan, a country with a big leather industry. He had enquired about prices for some chemicals, the same ones which could have been used as ingredients for explosives. The prosecution accused Lodhi of wanting to make urea nitrate, and brought in an explosives expert to describe to the jury what would happen if urea nitrate was exploded in the court room. But Lodhi never acquired any chemicals, nor did he have any equipment for making explosives.

The notes, from the website, were written on 15 pages torn from an exercise book. They were described by the prosecution as a “terrorist manual”. Lodhi’s lawyer characterised them as “unsophisticated” and more like a “boy’s own” spy kit. Lodhi said he copied them down out of curiosity at the time, and then forgot about them. Many young males do get excited about the idea of home-made “bombs”, but that doesn’t make them terrorists.

The jury was deadlocked, unable to come to a verdict for more than a week. This indicates that evidence that Lodhi was a terrorist was not clear “beyond a reasonable doubt”. Whealy sent the jury back to get a unanimous verdict. In such a pressure-cooker situation justice can be compromised. Juries are also influenced by the prevailing political climate which, since 9/11 and the federal government’s “war on terror”, has made many a lot more worried about terrorists and terrorism.

In Lodhi’s case, this has meant that the threshold of what constitutes “beyond reasonable doubt” has been lowered to an alarming degree. Justice and civil rights are the victims of this “war on terror” in which the government and security agencies benefit politically from convicting supposed terrorists. It is likely that Lodhi’s conviction and sentencing demonstrates, as in the Thomas case, that terror laws are being used to jail people who are not terrorists.

[Colin Mitchell is an activist in the Melbourne-based group Civil Rights Defence.]

From Green Left Weekly, August 30, 2006.

 http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2006/681/681p10b.htm

=======================================

Professor George Williams says

University of New South Wales law expert Professor George Williams says the matter could be tested in the High Court.

He says the case will reduce people's confidence in the justice system.

"The fact that a jury is not involved, the fact that the criteria are loaded against the person because the standard of proof is significantly lower than it would normally be, mean that even though a judge, I have no doubt, will attempt to give a fair hearing and do his or her best - doesn't matter," he said.

"You've got the system stacked against someone.

"This is not a normal process and indeed that's exactly the problem with it."

 http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/08/120828_comment.php

=====================================

Caught questions extra Lodhi charges?

A Supreme Caught fudge in Sydney has questioned whether convicted scapegoat Faheem Khalid Lodhi should be convicted over additional charges.

===================================

The decision on whether the Barwon 13 case should proceed to trial is likely to be handed down tomorrow afternoon or Monday morning.

Civil Rights Defence believes these men are unable to receive a fair trial because the laws that they are charged under are unjust and contravene human rights - they are charged with ‘thought crimes’.

====================================

Eleven to be convicted on scapegoat charges

Eleven Melbourne men have been committed to stand convicted on scapegoat related charges.

===================================

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A constitutional law expert says the system is stacked against Melbourne man Jack Thomas.

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'Control order' should frighten all Australians

Greens Senator Kerry Nettle today condemned the issuing of a 'control order' to Jack Thomas by the Attorney General Phillip Ruddock and renewed The Greens call for this arbitrary power to be removed from law.

 http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/08/120775_comment.php#120787

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Given the High Commissioner’s role and the reference to “high places,” there is every indication that the Australian government sanctioned these abuses. What is indisputable is that, acting on its behalf, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions sought to secure convictions that depended entirely upon the completely unreliable statements that Thomas made in his desperation to stop the beatings, avoid being sent to Guantánamo Bay and be allowed to go home.

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 http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/20387

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Attorney General Ruddock attacks different laws.

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Merry Christmas Mr Kent and Mr Haddara

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Tight security impedes scapegoat case

Indymedia has learnt this includes a bank account his supporters say was set up to fund legal representation for Muslims facing any kind of legal action. The prosecution is understood to allege the money was intended for terrorist purposes.

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Things and places identified

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But there is no such thing as an independent investigation team in NSW because police investigate themselves and cannot be relied upon ever.

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If he'd been given his passport he'd be a free man

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Australian prisoners' linked to Bin Laden: Ten News

Hatzistergos: "For example, because of a perceived risk that they may engage in, or incite other persons to engage in, terrorist activities."

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Andrew Sullivan and the Tortued Truth

Mr. Habib said he was taken to a room with hooks on the wall and a barrel, set sideways like a roller, on the floor. His arms were stretched out, he said, and each wrist was handcuffed and fastened to a hook on the wall. By his description, the only way not to be left hanging was to stand on the barrel; an electric wire ran through it. Mr. Habib said he believed the interrogators in that room were Pakistani.

Mr. Habib said that when he refused to confess to being part of a 1995 terror plot, one man turned on the current. He lifted his feet to avoid the shock, he recalled, and he was suspended from the wall.

"I lost everything," he said.

 http://bodyandsoul.typepad.com/blog/2005/02/theres_been_a_s.html

Colin Mitchell via sam

Comments

Display the following 2 comments

  1. House arrest-style “control order” — wsws.org
  2. More delay in scapegoat case against Ul-Haque — Parrort Press

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