The Bali bomb attacks last year killed 23 people, including four Australians, and devastated Bali’s economy. So something strikes me as a bit disproportionate about Indonesia’s justice system when I this week read both this:
AN Islamic terrorist branded a “dangerous individual” because of his skills with explosives has been sentenced to 18 years’ jail for his involvement in last year’s Bali bomb attacks. ...and this, about the Bali Nine:
The new sentences mean at least six of the Australian heroin smugglers face execution, with Andrew Chan, 22, and Myuran Sukumaran, 25, already facing the death penalty.
The legal system of Indonesia reflects their cultural concerns well. Reading a newspaper from Indonesia will show anyone that Islamo-Fascisim is not thought of as a problem, nor terrorism. Drugs are denounced by all but the most radical, westernised of pollies.
The press are not free in Indonesia, not because of law, but because those who oppose custom may be lynched.
Al-Jazeera broadcast Thursday what it called a previously unshown video in which al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden is seen meeting with some of the Sept. 11 hijackers...The video showed bin Laden sitting with his former lieutenant Mohammed Atef and Ramzi Binalshibh, another suspected planner of the Sept. 11, 2001, suicide hijackings. Will someone show the tape to Melbourne’s Sheik Mohammed Omran, head of Australia’s Ahl Sunnah wal Jama’ah Association:
“I dispute any evil action linked to Bin Laden, again I don’t believe that even September 11 from the beginning, I [don’t] believe it [was] done by any Muslim at all,” he said. And to fellow worshippers of Waleed Aly, the regular Age writer and spokesman of the Islamic Council of Victoria:
"I think the mainstream view within the Muslim community and without it is that Osama Bin Laden is responsible for various terrorist acts and as such I don’t have a great deal of time or respect for him and I hope he’s brought to justice,” Mr Aly said.
“But it is important to recognise that those marginal voices that do say that they don’t think he did any of this, are at the same time condemning the terrorism of which Bin Laden has been accused."
And to Australia’s longest-serving Imam, Sheikh Fehmi Naji El-Imam:
Do I agree that Bin Laden is responsible or not (for September 11)? I do not know,” he said.
Foul in itself, and threatening to all of us. Britain’s All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism releases its report, and among its findings:
It says that Britain’s 300,000 Jews are “more anxious and more vulnerable to abuse and attack than at any other time for a generation or longer”.
It refers to “anti-Semitic discourse”, defined as a “widespread change in mood and tone when Jews are discussed, whether in print or broadcast, at universities, or in public or social settings”...
Of particular concern to the inquiry was anti-Semitism on campuses, with literature being distributed that called for the killing of Jews and the destruction of Israel.
And this , unfortunately, is not just true of Britain:
Panel chair Denis McShane said the most worrying discovery was that anti-Semitism was entering the “mainstream”.
“Anti-Jewish sentiment is appearing in the everyday conversations of people who consider themselves neither racist nor prejudiced."
disseminators of mainstream opinion often question Israel's right to exist.
You can read faq about Israel's military campaign here http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/Israels+counter+terrorist+campaign+-+FAQ+18-Jul-2006.htm
One former friend of mine, and a former ABC employee, believes Jews own the world. Another former friend, a gay, believes Judaism founded Gay hatred.
Any lingering doubts about the link between violent crime and illegal drugs or alcohol have been dispelled by new research linking substance abuse to homicides. The UK study found that two-fifths of those who committed homicides had a history of misusing alcohol and two-fifths were misusing drugs. More than half were misusing either alcohol or drugs, Alcohol played a direct role in 45 per cent of the killings and drugs in 15 per cent.
The study published in the medical journal Addiction looked at 1168 homicides in England and Wales over a three year period.
The most common illegal drug found to have been used by offenders was cannabis (almost 250 of the 1168 homicides), followed by heroin and amphetamines. Seventeen per cent of homicides were committed by patients with severe mental illness and a history of substance misuse.
The University of Manchester study said that alcohol and drugs contributed to violent crime in two ways. Either the offenders were committing crimes to obtain money to fund their substance use, or people were under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of carrying out the crime.
“Limiting the availability of alcohol and drugs would help reduce the number of violent incidents, as would controlling the environment in which these fatalities Occur,” the study said. “There are numerous education programmes in schools on the dangers of substance abuse; however, little is provided on alcohol misuse.”
The study also contained some interesting statistics about the relationship between killers and their victims.
Thirty two per cent of perpetrators killed a family member or a current or former spouse/partner and 33% killed an acquaintance. Only 22% killed a stranger. The most common method of killing was stabbing (37%).
I'm surprised the stats are so low, when the prison communities seem to have figures around 90%. Is someone who is stone cold sober less likely to be convicted? Or are my memorised stats off?
My understanding is that drugs are highly associated with mental illness. I also understand some 40% of the community report having used drugs at some time.
Relations between the WA Police and the state’s anti-corruption watchdog body appear to be heading to a new low following some odd goings on yesterday. The WA Chief Commissioner jumped the gun and reinstated five suspended officers who were involved in the Andrew Mallard wrongful conviction case on the grounds that the force had virtually completed an internal review. But the decision came before the police had even shown the Crime and Corruption Commission the results of the review, let alone allowed it to conducted its own planned independent investigation into the case. The move forced the CCC to ask the Chief Commissioner not to release the review and not to allow any of the five officers access to it because it could “prejudice the effectiveness of the Commission’s investigation”. And the CCC said that although any decision about reinstating the officers was up to the Chief Commissioner, it reserved the right to review the move.
The CCC said in a statement late in the day that it had been told by police it would not get a copy of the cold case review of the murder that led to Mallard’s wrongful conviction until it had been officially completed on September 19.
The CCC has been awaiting the completion of the review before scheduling public hearings as part of its own investigation.
“The Commission asked (Chief Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan) to restrict all members of the Western Australian Police, especially police who might be suspected of misconduct in the Mallard matter, from accessing details of the report,” the CCC said.
Andrew Mallard served 12 years in jail for the brutal 1994 murder of Pamela Lawrence. His conviction was quashed and he was released in February after the High Court found evidence that might have acquitted him had been withheld at his trial.
Assistant commissioners Dave Caporn and Malcolm Shervill, Superintendent John Brandham, Senior Sergeant Alan Carter and Sergeant Mark Emmett were stood down in April after a new suspect in the Lawrence murder was identified using a handprint found at the murder scene and a cold case review ordered. But that suspect, already in prison for a similar murder, was found dead in his cell shortly after.
You can read more about that on the blog posting Gotcha did at the time.
The CCC’s public hearings were due to start in July, but were delayed because the cold case review wasn’t finished. The CCC is bringing in an east coast senior barrister to be counsel assisting at the hearing and examine witnesses to avoid any suggestions of bias or favoritism.
The CCC said yesterday its investigation would cover “the public officers involved in the investigation and arrest of Andrew Mallard, the charging, the trial, the appeals, the imprisonment and the subsequent actions leading up to the overturning of his conviction by the High Court”.
The decision to publicly reinstate the officers without waiting for the outcome of the CCC investigation seems a little premature, especially given that Chief Commissioner O’Callaghan himself conceded there was still a question mark over the five officers.
“I have brought them back to work but they will still have to go through a public hearing in due course,” he said. “Whether there has been any corruption, criminal conduct, or misconduct, still remains for the CCC to (determine) and that will occur in time.”
The Bali bomb attacks last year killed 23 people, including four Australians, and devastated Bali’s economy. So something strikes me as a bit disproportionate about Indonesia’s justice system when I this week read both this:
ReplyDeleteAN Islamic terrorist branded a “dangerous individual” because of his skills with explosives has been sentenced to 18 years’ jail for his involvement in last year’s Bali bomb attacks.
...and this, about the Bali Nine:
The new sentences mean at least six of the Australian heroin smugglers face execution, with Andrew Chan, 22, and Myuran Sukumaran, 25, already facing the death penalty.
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/are_drugs_really_more_deadly_than_bombs/
The legal system of Indonesia reflects their cultural concerns well. Reading a newspaper from Indonesia will show anyone that Islamo-Fascisim is not thought of as a problem, nor terrorism. Drugs are denounced by all but the most radical, westernised of pollies.
The press are not free in Indonesia, not because of law, but because those who oppose custom may be lynched.
AP reports:
ReplyDeleteAl-Jazeera broadcast Thursday what it called a previously unshown video in which al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden is seen meeting with some of the Sept. 11 hijackers...The video showed bin Laden sitting with his former lieutenant Mohammed Atef and Ramzi Binalshibh, another suspected planner of the Sept. 11, 2001, suicide hijackings.
Will someone show the tape to Melbourne’s Sheik Mohammed Omran, head of Australia’s Ahl Sunnah wal Jama’ah Association:
“I dispute any evil action linked to Bin Laden, again I don’t believe that even September 11 from the beginning, I [don’t] believe it [was] done by any Muslim at all,” he said.
And to fellow worshippers of Waleed Aly, the regular Age writer and spokesman of the Islamic Council of Victoria:
"I think the mainstream view within the Muslim community and without it is that Osama Bin Laden is responsible for various terrorist acts and as such I don’t have a great deal of time or respect for him and I hope he’s brought to justice,” Mr Aly said.
“But it is important to recognise that those marginal voices that do say that they don’t think he did any of this, are at the same time condemning the terrorism of which Bin Laden has been accused."
And to Australia’s longest-serving Imam, Sheikh Fehmi Naji El-Imam:
Do I agree that Bin Laden is responsible or not (for September 11)? I do not know,” he said.
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/more_cia_propaganda/
I wonder, had they attended school in Australia would they be in less doubt?
Foul in itself, and threatening to all of us. Britain’s All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism releases its report, and among its findings:
ReplyDeleteIt says that Britain’s 300,000 Jews are “more anxious and more vulnerable to abuse and attack than at any other time for a generation or longer”.
It refers to “anti-Semitic discourse”, defined as a “widespread change in mood and tone when Jews are discussed, whether in print or broadcast, at universities, or in public or social settings”...
Of particular concern to the inquiry was anti-Semitism on campuses, with literature being distributed that called for the killing of Jews and the destruction of Israel.
And this , unfortunately, is not just true of Britain:
Panel chair Denis McShane said the most worrying discovery was that anti-Semitism was entering the “mainstream”.
“Anti-Jewish sentiment is appearing in the everyday conversations of people who consider themselves neither racist nor prejudiced."
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/jew_hating_goes_mainstream_again/
disseminators of mainstream opinion often question Israel's right to exist.
You can read faq about Israel's military campaign here
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/Israels+counter+terrorist+campaign+-+FAQ+18-Jul-2006.htm
One former friend of mine, and a former ABC employee, believes Jews own the world. Another former friend, a gay, believes Judaism founded Gay hatred.
Any lingering doubts about the link between violent crime and illegal drugs or alcohol have been dispelled by new research linking substance abuse to homicides. The UK study found that two-fifths of those who committed homicides had a history of misusing alcohol and two-fifths were misusing drugs. More than half were misusing either alcohol or drugs, Alcohol played a direct role in 45 per cent of the killings and drugs in 15 per cent.
ReplyDeleteThe study published in the medical journal Addiction looked at 1168 homicides in England and Wales over a three year period.
The most common illegal drug found to have been used by offenders was cannabis (almost 250 of the 1168 homicides), followed by heroin and amphetamines. Seventeen per cent of homicides were committed by patients with severe mental illness and a history of substance misuse.
The University of Manchester study said that alcohol and drugs contributed to violent crime in two ways. Either the offenders were committing crimes to obtain money to fund their substance use, or people were under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of carrying out the crime.
“Limiting the availability of alcohol and drugs would help reduce the number of violent incidents, as would controlling the environment in which these fatalities
Occur,” the study said. “There are numerous education programmes in schools on the dangers of substance abuse; however, little is provided on alcohol misuse.”
The study also contained some interesting statistics about the relationship between killers and their victims.
Thirty two per cent of perpetrators killed a family member or a current or former spouse/partner and 33% killed an acquaintance. Only 22% killed a stranger. The most common method of killing was stabbing (37%).
http://blogs.news.com.au/news/crime/index.php/news/comments/fatal_hits/
I'm surprised the stats are so low, when the prison communities seem to have figures around 90%. Is someone who is stone cold sober less likely to be convicted? Or are my memorised stats off?
My understanding is that drugs are highly associated with mental illness. I also understand some 40% of the community report having used drugs at some time.
Relations between the WA Police and the state’s anti-corruption watchdog body appear to be heading to a new low following some odd goings on yesterday. The WA Chief Commissioner jumped the gun and reinstated five suspended officers who were involved in the Andrew Mallard wrongful conviction case on the grounds that the force had virtually completed an internal review. But the decision came before the police had even shown the Crime and Corruption Commission the results of the review, let alone allowed it to conducted its own planned independent investigation into the case. The move forced the CCC to ask the Chief Commissioner not to release the review and not to allow any of the five officers access to it because it could “prejudice the effectiveness of the Commission’s investigation”. And the CCC said that although any decision about reinstating the officers was up to the Chief Commissioner, it reserved the right to review the move.
ReplyDeleteThe CCC said in a statement late in the day that it had been told by police it would not get a copy of the cold case review of the murder that led to Mallard’s wrongful conviction until it had been officially completed on September 19.
The CCC has been awaiting the completion of the review before scheduling public hearings as part of its own investigation.
“The Commission asked (Chief Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan) to restrict all members of the Western Australian Police, especially police who might be suspected of misconduct in the Mallard matter, from accessing details of the report,” the CCC said.
Andrew Mallard served 12 years in jail for the brutal 1994 murder of Pamela Lawrence. His conviction was quashed and he was released in February after the High Court found evidence that might have acquitted him had been withheld at his trial.
Assistant commissioners Dave Caporn and Malcolm Shervill, Superintendent John Brandham, Senior Sergeant Alan Carter and Sergeant Mark Emmett were stood down in April after a new suspect in the Lawrence murder was identified using a handprint found at the murder scene and a cold case review ordered. But that suspect, already in prison for a similar murder, was found dead in his cell shortly after.
You can read more about that on the blog posting Gotcha did at the time.
The CCC’s public hearings were due to start in July, but were delayed because the cold case review wasn’t finished. The CCC is bringing in an east coast senior barrister to be counsel assisting at the hearing and examine witnesses to avoid any suggestions of bias or favoritism.
The CCC said yesterday its investigation would cover “the public officers involved in the investigation and arrest of Andrew Mallard, the charging, the trial, the appeals, the imprisonment and the subsequent actions leading up to the overturning of his conviction by the High Court”.
The decision to publicly reinstate the officers without waiting for the outcome of the CCC investigation seems a little premature, especially given that Chief Commissioner O’Callaghan himself conceded there was still a question mark over the five officers.
“I have brought them back to work but they will still have to go through a public hearing in due course,” he said. “Whether there has been any corruption, criminal conduct, or misconduct, still remains for the CCC to (determine) and that will occur in time.”
http://blogs.news.com.au/news/crime/index.php/news/comments/cold_case_chills_police_relations/
It sounds to me like an ALP Minister has messed up. The big question for me, is the mistake a result of incompetence or corruption?
Mallard has again been denied justice.