The magic words “War on Terror” seem to justify the abrogation of centuries of hard-won rights – the rights of citizens not to be tortured by the government, the right to a fair trial, the right of an accused person to know the evidence against him or her, the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, and the right of an accused person not to be imprisoned without being charged with an offence.
It is a disgraceful day for a supposedly civilised country when the government deliberately mistreats a person for political ends. Dr Haneef was arrested about two weeks ago, and held for 12 days without being charged with an offence. It now appears that he has been charged with recklessly aiding a terrorist organisation because he gave a relative a mobile phone SIM card with unexpired credits. For this act, he is threatened with 25 years in jail.
The magistrate yesterday granted Dr Haneef bail, but the government immediately revoked his visa and sent him to an immigration detention centre on the ground that he is illegally remaining in Australia – although against his will! How unjust is that? How can we claim to be the good guys if we are acting like the bad guys? Is it any wonder that the government’s chances of re-election later this year are minimal?