Roger X. & Marce Cameron, Sydney
"Nobody should assume any of these people are guilty", Dr Waleed Kadous, co-convenor of the Australian Muslim Civil Rights Advocacy Network (AMCRAN), told a November 21 public forum attended by 100 people. Kadous was referring to the November 8 ASIO-Australian Federal Police raids and arrests of 17 Muslim men in Sydney and Melbourne for allegedly planning a terrorist attack.
Kadous told the forum, organised by the Sydney Stop the War Coalition, that within hours of the raids, AMCRAN received reports of Muslim women being spat on and verbally abused by non-Muslims. "The politicisation of the events surrounding these raids aims to make the entire Muslim community fearful", he said.
Kadous pointed out that the raids show that existing anti-terrorism legislation allows for pre-emptive police raids, for alleged terrorist suspects to be held in solitary confinement and for their bank accounts and Centrelink payments to be frozen. "If we say, 'What does Australia expect if it has invaded another country?', then this means you can go to jail for seven years", under the new anti-terror legislation before the Senate.
"These new laws are ridiculous", Michael Walton from the NSW Council for Civil Liberties told the forum. "When you are diving into a police state, there's always a scapegoat. Rather than explaining what Islam has to offer to society, Muslims have to defend themselves" from bigoted attacks. He said that federal attorney-general Philip Ruddock had already proscribed 18 Muslim organisations. Walton called for a bill of rights to protect the civil liberties of Australian citizens.
Dr Tim Anderson, a lecturer at the School of Political Economy at Sydney University who was framed by ASIO and wrongfully imprisoned for the 1978 bombing of Sydney's Hilton Hotel, told the forum: "We don't have an opposition, and we don't have a media saying who the real terrorists are." He described the Howard government's participation in the invasion and occupation of Iraq as "an act of state terror" against the Iraqi people.
"Informers get paid $50-$100 to tell ASIO what was said at a meeting like this", said Anderson.
The forum also heard from Keysar Trad from the Islamic Friendship Association and Anna Samson from the Sydney Stop the War Coalition.
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, November 30, 2005.
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