My Friend Jack, by Anna Sande
"What do you make of this? I am a friend of Jack Thomas and his family. I am a nominal Muslim. I am also a fifty-seven year old Australian-born mother of three, a visual artist with a number of tertiary qualifications including a Masters in Political Science. I write on the arts and on social issues. I am a concerned citizen.
"Jack Thomas is a young man whose youthful appearance belies his 32 years, he is an Australian-born practising Muslim, father of three, who has recently been on trial for alleged association with terrorists. Thomas was found guilty of receiving money from al-Qaeda and of possessing a falsified passport. He was acquitted of two additional charges of providing resources to a terrorist organization and of 'agreeing to act as a sleeper agent in Australia'.
"It was reported that Jack faced the prospect of 25 years behind bars, for being, as his brother Les put it 'always a curious fella' and in this sad instance 'in the wrong place at the wrong time'. Jack himself is reported as saying '… I was going to see for myself whether the ideal Islamic state was being created by the Taliban'. From what I’ve read in books about Afghanistan at the time of Taliban rule and women's groups group emails I received years ago, Jack was definitely barking up the wrong tree. He hadn’t done his research. He was making a mistake. But we all make them.
"That he wanted to get informed about his religion and its realities, prior to 11th September 2001, appears to be of no import in the character the media made of him.
"Jack has been in Acacia Division at Barwon Prison, however under psychiatric advice he has since been transferred to Thomas Embling psychiatric hospital and according to his family is in a very fragile mental state. Jack has no previous criminal record, he spent at least nine months in total, alone and incarcerated, here and in Pakistan prior to his sentencing. If he posed a risk to Australian society why was he allowed, on his return to Australia from Pakistan, to resume as normal a life as he could, for seventeen months before being apprehended? ...
"It was established at the trial that he had altered, or had had altered, his passport. While he was overseas the horror of September 11th had transpired. Jack wanted to get home, he was fearful. Wouldn’t you be? Do we always punish those who alter documents? There has been recent press reference to the fact that the tender documents relating to the employment of GSL (the offshore company running Australia’s detention centres) were Changed by DIMIA - the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs - 'in a bid to disguise the fact that the identity of the successful bidder, GSL, had been disclosed before it was appropriate' and that the probity adviser for the tender was inappropriately involved in other aspects of the deal. Will anyone be hauled off to court for this breach of what I hope is law? ..."
Read on at Perspective
Audio will be available here in a few days from today's date.
Tagged: civil+rights, human+rights, islam, australia, war+on+terror
"Jack Thomas is a young man whose youthful appearance belies his 32 years, he is an Australian-born practising Muslim, father of three, who has recently been on trial for alleged association with terrorists. Thomas was found guilty of receiving money from al-Qaeda and of possessing a falsified passport. He was acquitted of two additional charges of providing resources to a terrorist organization and of 'agreeing to act as a sleeper agent in Australia'.
"It was reported that Jack faced the prospect of 25 years behind bars, for being, as his brother Les put it 'always a curious fella' and in this sad instance 'in the wrong place at the wrong time'. Jack himself is reported as saying '… I was going to see for myself whether the ideal Islamic state was being created by the Taliban'. From what I’ve read in books about Afghanistan at the time of Taliban rule and women's groups group emails I received years ago, Jack was definitely barking up the wrong tree. He hadn’t done his research. He was making a mistake. But we all make them.
"That he wanted to get informed about his religion and its realities, prior to 11th September 2001, appears to be of no import in the character the media made of him.
"Jack has been in Acacia Division at Barwon Prison, however under psychiatric advice he has since been transferred to Thomas Embling psychiatric hospital and according to his family is in a very fragile mental state. Jack has no previous criminal record, he spent at least nine months in total, alone and incarcerated, here and in Pakistan prior to his sentencing. If he posed a risk to Australian society why was he allowed, on his return to Australia from Pakistan, to resume as normal a life as he could, for seventeen months before being apprehended? ...
"It was established at the trial that he had altered, or had had altered, his passport. While he was overseas the horror of September 11th had transpired. Jack wanted to get home, he was fearful. Wouldn’t you be? Do we always punish those who alter documents? There has been recent press reference to the fact that the tender documents relating to the employment of GSL (the offshore company running Australia’s detention centres) were Changed by DIMIA - the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs - 'in a bid to disguise the fact that the identity of the successful bidder, GSL, had been disclosed before it was appropriate' and that the probity adviser for the tender was inappropriately involved in other aspects of the deal. Will anyone be hauled off to court for this breach of what I hope is law? ..."
Read on at Perspective
Audio will be available here in a few days from today's date.
Tagged: civil+rights, human+rights, islam, australia, war+on+terror
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