By Linda Waldron, Melbourne
Young Somali man Hussein Farah, who was at the centre of protests in Footscray in November 2003 against police racism and violence, was acquitted in the Sunshine Magistrates Court on March 4 of charges of resisting arrest and assaulting police.
Farah was charged with travelling without a valid concession card, giving a false name and address, resisting arrest and assaulting police. All but the charge concerning the concession card, which he pleaded guilty to, were thrown out. Farah was then fined and no conviction was recorded. Ironically, this is what Farah asked police to do — fine him — in the first place. Instead, he says, he was knocked unconscious and has since faced two years of dragged-out legal proceedings initiated by police.
Farah claims that, while travelling to Footscray by train to attend class on October 7, 2003, he was subjected to racial and religious abuse by police transit patrol officers. At Footscray railway station he was searched and detained in public for 20 minutes. Finding this humiliating, he suggested they move to the police station to clear up the matter.
According to Farah, a chair was pulled from underneath him at the police station and, while on the ground, he was kicked unconscious by several officers. He was also subjected to further verbal abuse and called a "terrorist" and "Osama bin Laden".
At the time, Farah was not charged with any offence. Charges were laid after the Western Suburbs Community Coalition Against Racism was formed to organise a November 2003 rally against police racism and violence, at which 350 people marched on the Footscray police station.
The magistrate at Farah's trial said that there were "inconsistencies" in the police evidence. According to Farah, three of the six police that gave evidence of him "assaulting police" were those who had assaulted him. He said that the police reports were suspiciously similar and when questioned about this some admitted to working on their reports together. Farah also noted that some police admitted to not even writing a report about the alleged assault on police until after the Police Ethical Standards Unit started an investigation into Farah's complaint.
Although Farah won in court, his complaint against the police assault has gone nowhere. According to Farah's lawyer James Dowsley, the Police Ethical Standards Unit cleared the police of wrongdoing before Farah's court case, and the police ombudsman decided to take no action.
Despite this, Farah remains convinced that organising the rally was the best response to the police racism and violence, and that as a result, police harassment of African youth in the region dropped dramatically as a result. "Still today", he said, "the level of police stopping you and picking on you is much lower than before".
Farah was also thankful to activists in the area who supported his case. "I want to say thank you to the Socialist Alliance for all your help and support", he said.
[Lynda Waldron is a member of the Socialist Alliance and helped to organise the November 2003 anti-racism rally in Footscray.]
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, March 23, 2005.
Visit the