March 16, 2006

Foreign Prisoner Support Service would like to announce that the Australian Democrats have launched a petition calling for the Guantanamo Bay military facility to be closed and highlighting the injustice faced by South Australian citizen David Hicks.

"David Hicks has languished in the Guantanamo gulag for four years and still has no real prospect of receiving a fair trial," Democrats' Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Senator Natasha Stott Despoja said.

"The continuing incarceration of David Hicks is a disgrace for the United States Government and the Australian Government. Guantanamo Bay is saturated with breaches of international law and the facility must be shut down."

Read more: Click Here - Click Here to Print Petition - Download in Word format

APPEAL

Foreign Prisoner Support Service would like to encourage all our members to make copies of this petition, distribute AND return to :-

Senator Natasha Stott Despoja, Democrats' Foreign Affairs Spokesperson PO Box 3419, Rundle Mall South Australia 5000

The United States' military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay exists in a jurisdictional void, denying detainees' fundamental human rights;

b) those suspected of any crime, including terrorist-related offences, have a right to a fair trial, to allow them an opportunity to defend all charges against them;

c) South Australian David Hicks has been detained at Guantanamo Bay for more than four years, and it is unlikely he will be repatriated by the Australian Government in the forseeable future, despite the repatriation of the citizens of nearly every other Western nation;

d) in the absence of any effort to ensure the human rights of detainees, and following allegations of outright violations of these rights, the facility must be closed.

Click Here to Print Petition - Download in Word format

Click Here for more info on David Hicks and inmates at Guantanamo Bay

The Australian Democrats today launched a petition calling for the Guantanamo Bay military facility to be closed and highlighting the injustice faced by South Australian citizen David Hicks.

"David Hicks has languished in the Guantanamo gulag for four years and still has no real prospect of receiving a fair trial," Democrats' Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Senator Natasha Stott Despoja said.

"The continuing incarceration of David Hicks is a disgrace for the United States Government and the Australian Government.

"Guantanamo Bay is saturated with breaches of international law and the facility must be shut down.

"There is much to hide: the United States recently refused to allow the United Nations full access to its facilities.

"The recent release of 133 detainees, 119 to detention in their country of citizenship, from Guantanamo Bay, has further highlighted the illegitimacy of the facility's operation.

"British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan and leading international jurists have condemned Guantanamo Bay, so why does our Government continue to offer its unquestioning support?

"Our Government must join other leading voices in the international community in opposing the ongoing operation of detention at Guantanamo Bay," Senator Stott Despoja said.

Copies of the petition are available on request.
Click Here to Print Petition - Download in Word format

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