Lex Wotton freed - lift the gag now!

Political prisoner, Lex Wotton, is a free man again. That's to good news. But the outrageous news is that he has been politically muzzled.

http://www.treatyrepublic.net/node/392

http://indymedia.org.au/2010/07/19/lex-wotton-released-from-gaol

http://www.theage.com.au/national/riot-leader-out-on-parole-on-condition-of-silence-20100719-10hu2.html

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/gag-order-imposed-as-palm-island-rioter-lex-wotton-is-released-on-parole/story-e6frg6nf-1225894102403

Down load this international petition and start gathering signatures. Make sure Anna Bligh knows we will not allow Lex to be silenced.

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TJ Hickey, a 17 year old Aboriginal youth died following injuries sustained during a police operation in Redfern NSW  on 14 February 2004. In a communication dated 14 February 2010 his mother, Gail Hickey seeks justice for TJ Hickey by applying to the UN Human Rights Committee for a declaration that TJ Hickey's right to life was violated because the
investigation of his death was conducted by police from the NSW Police Force, the very police agency implicated in his death.  She also seeks a declaration that TJ Hickey's right to freedom from discrimination was breached because the investigation into his death did not look at the
broader issues around Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and how  discrimination impacted on TJ's death.  ISJA Melbourne is working with the Hickey family in its quest for justice.

INDIVIDUAL COMMUNICATION TO THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE

 

International Justice for TJ Day — 14 February 2010

A Message from Gail Hickey

Dear campaigners for justice

The 14th of February 2010 will be the 6th anniversary of the day my beloved son, Thomas “TJ” Hickey was impaled on a fence while being chased by Redfern Police.

And while the family grieves, the so-called Australian justice system has failed us miserably.

There is no doubt in my mind, and amongst many others in the Redfern Indigenous community and beyond, that the police killed TJ.

However, an internal police investigation was inherently incapable of finding the truth. It provided no incentive for vulnerable and threatened witnesses to come forward.  The riot in response to my son’s death is a clear indication of the despair and lack of trust felt by our people of the State’s capacity to provide justice to us.

There was a similar response amongst the Palm Island community after the death in custody of Mulrunji.

There has still been no proper investigation independent of the police and government and I no longer believe that we can get to the truth within the Australian jurisdiction.

I am therefore seeking international remedies.

Under International Law, the State must ensure that deaths where police involvement is suspected are investigated by an independent civilian agency.  Australia is currently in breach of its international obligations to ensure police are independently investigated. 

In April 2009 the UN’s Human Rights Committee expressed concern about the excessive use of force by police against young people, Aboriginal Australians, people with disabilities and ethnic minorities. It also criticised the fact that investigations of police misconduct are carried out by the police themselves.

On 14 February 2010 I will lodge a complaint with this committee seeking findings that Australia is in breach of its human rights obligations in failing to independently investigate TJ Hickey’s death.

The failure to independently investigate deaths in custody is just one of Australia’s many human rights failings. The shameful intervention into North Territory Aboriginal communities and the back to the mission days welfare quarantining measures are another.

I therefore fully support the National Day of Action on 13 February against the NT Intervention.

I am calling for 14 February 2010 to be observed as International Justice for TJ Day.

I appeal for Deaths in Custody activists and justice campaigners to organise actions in their local areas on 14 February 2010.

Such actions will:
Remember TJ and honour his life
Insist that the police be held to account
Publicise the lodgement of my complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee
Demand the full implementation of all recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
Build the on-going struggle to stop all Aboriginal deaths in custody and remember those who have died at the hands of the racist state, particularly in the last 6-years.
Until we have justice, there can be no peace.

Gail Hickey

International Justice For TJ Day is also endorsed by Action for Aboriginal Rights, Anarchist Black Cross,
Black Rights Action Group, Community Radio 3CR,  Copwatch - Melbourne, Deaths  in Custody Watch Committee of Western Australia, Flemington Kensington Community Legal Service, Freedom Socialist Party, Indigenous Social Justice Association – Melbourne & Sydney, Latin American Solidarity Network (LASNET), Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Radical Women, Radio 4K1G Townsville, Socialist Alliance, Socialist Alternative, Solidarity, Stop the Intervention Collective – Sydney. (List in progress. To endorse e-mail alison.thorne@ozemail.com.au)

Melbourne Action

Memorial & Speak Out

Sunday 14 February 2010, 10:15 am
Assemble on the steps of the Fitzroy Town Hall, Napier Street, Fitzroy
Then march on the Fitzroy Police station

Organised by Indigenous Social Justice Association — Melbourne
For more information call Solidarity Salon on 9388-0062 or Cheryl on 0401 806 331 or Sean on 0428 160 661.

Sydney Action

Rally

Sunday 14 February 2010, 10:30 am
Gather at the fence line corner of George and Philips Streets, Waterloo
Then march to The Block

Organised by Indigenous Social Justice Association — Sydney
For more information call Ray Jackson 0415858264 or Raul Bassi 0403 037 376 or e-mail ISJA@internod.on.net

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Lex Wotton's court case kicked off on Monday 6 October. While he shouldn't be having to front court on these outrageous charges in the first place, the good news is that many people know this and the solidarity to date has been grand.

Anthony Snowden got Lex's talk from the Solidarity Fiesta at the MUA hall in Melbourne on 9 August 2008 up on Engage Media. Please check it out and circulate it to your networks. <http://www.engagemedia.org/Members/d4nlaurence/videos/Wotton1.mp4/view>

Radical Women's 41st Anniversary Conference, The Persistent Power of Socialist Feminism, held October 3 – 6, San Francisco, U.S.A. unanimously passed the following resolution.
 
Radical Women’s 41st Anniversary Conference stands in solidarity with Lex Wotton, the respected Aboriginal leader from Palm Island, Australia, who faces charges of “riot with destruction” and whose court case begins tomorrow, Monday 6 October in Brisbane.

Wotton faces charges for his role in the legitimate community protest after the death in police custody of his friend, Mulrunji, and could be jailed for up to 10 years. Meanwhile, the police officer responsible for Mulrunji’s death continues to walk free.

This conference applauds the activists from all around Australia who are protesting outside the court to demand all charges against Wotton be dropped and adds our collective international voice to this demand.

We resolve to
(1) Send a message of solidarity to Lex Wotton and the Palm Island community;
(2) Send a letter to the Premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh, to demand all changes against Lex Wotton be immediately dropped.

The RW Conference brought together socialist feminists from right across the U.S. as well as from Mexico, Costa Rica, China and Australia. Melbourne Radical Women will be hosting an exciting multi-media report back event on the evening of Saturday 15 November. Details can be found out: http://www.socialism.com/activities/melbourne.html

We hope to see you at the next ISJA - Melb meeting, this Wednesday 15 October, 6:30 pm at Solidarity Salon, 580 Sydney Road, Brunswick.

And, mark Tuesday 28 October, 7 pm in your diary now. ISJA - Melb will host a public meeting where the Deadly Team who went to Brisbane for the solidarity actions will give a report back. This meeting will also be held at Solidarity Salon, 580 Sydney Road Brunswick.

We can make a difference!

Drop the Charges Against Lex Wotton NOW!

A campaign to throw out all charges against Palm Island Aboriginal leader, Lex Wotton, is gaining momentum. Wotton participated in the November 2004 protest against the killing of his friend Mulrunji, a respected community member and father, while in police custody. Singled out in the crackdown that followed, Wotton faces charges of “riot with destruction” — a charge that could lead to a jail sentence of more than ten years. A National Day of Action will coincide with the start of Wotton’s trial in early April. Support is growing in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and parts of the trade union movement. Late last year, the Sydney Branch of the Maritime Union of Australia, which is backing the national mobilisation, hosted a function for Lex Wotton to broaden support among its members.

No justice, no peace. A blatant cover up of what happened to Mulrunji in the Palm Island watch house enraged the community.Responding to yearsof racist state violence, and now Mulrunji’s death, they demanded justice. What triggered the angry protest was the release of the first state inquiry into Mulrunji’s killing, which, while noting that he had suffered a ruptured liver and four broken ribs, concluded that his death resulted from a “scuffle.” A second coronial inquiry in September 2006 confirmed what everyone already knew: that on November 19, 2004 at the Palm Island police station, Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley had struck Mulrunji with such force that it caused the Aboriginal man to die.

Four hundred people took part in the 2004 Palm Island rebellion — over 10% of the entire island’s population! The large demonstration marched on the police station and courthouse — the symbols of racist injustice. Queensland authorities retaliated with vicious repression and targeted individuals for persecution. On March 22, 2007 a jury acquitted four Palm islanders charged with “riot” in connection with the November 2004 demonstration. But the state continues to scapegoat Lex Wotton, whom they allege was the leader of the protest.

Far from being a “riot,” the Palm Island protest was an act of anti-racist resistance. This struggle, like that of Redfern after the death of T.J. Hickey nine months earlier, brought the racist hounding of Indigenous communities across Australia to international prominence. The resistance on Palm Island revitalised a national movement to expose the causes of Aboriginal deaths in custody and stop the ongoing death toll that amounts to genocide. This resistance is a big factor in why Senior Sargent Chris Hurley was brought to court. His acquittal once again confirmed how stacked the legal system is against Aboriginal Australians and how justified it was for the people of Palm Island to stand up to the institutions of this racist system in November 2004.

We will not be intimidated! By jailing Lex Wotton, the state hopes to head off future opposition to racist persecution. The Queensland government is trying to scare people away from responding to the whitewash of Mulrunji’s killing and resisting Canberra’s draconian invasion of Northern Territory Aboriginal communities.

This subjugation of Indigenous Australians is another form of the repression being unleashed against trade unionists who stand up for workers’ rights. The Australian Building Construction Commission has spied on, intimidated and threatened to imprison several building workers for organising strikes and other resistance against exploitation. (For more information see page xx)

Coordinated national protests planned for April 4 in the lead-up to Wotton’s trial, will demand: Stop the Racist Political Persecution of a Palm Island Aboriginal Resident! Defend the Right to Oppose Racist State Brutality! Drop the Charges Against Lex Wotton!

The Queensland government continues to urge Aboriginal people and their supporters to have faith in a system which acquits Senior Sargent Hurley but threatens to jail Lex Wotton for at least 10 years. The “justice” system exists to protect the rich and the powerful. It is a system where, to quote legendary singer songwriter, Kev Carmody, Aboriginal people can be “executed without trial” while held in custody. It is a system that hunts down opponents of racism, like Wotton, who protest against this injustice. We demand Lex Wotton’s freedom, now!

 

The facts about the murder of Douglas Scott.

Letty Scott, an inspirational Aboriginal woman, has fought for 20 years to prove her husband Doug was murdered in jail. Support her call for a new inquiry.

Letty Scott is an inspiration and a role model. For the last twenty years, she’s fought to prove that her husband, Douglas, did not commit suicide in Darwin’s Berrimah prison but was murdered by prison officers. Letty has built support for her campaign for justice and patiently gathered evidence.

Earlier this year, she had Doug’s body exhumed for a new autopsy. A Brazilian forensic expert, Dr Jorge Vanrell, found evidence that lesions on the body were consistent with torture. Another internationally respected forensic expert, Dr Tohru Oshima supported the findings. This evidence was part of a civil case in which Letty, and son Nathan, brought before the Northern Territory Supreme Court.

On June 16, Justice Angel ruled against Letty and Nathan’s claim. He ruled in favour of three prison officers — Barry Medley, Michael Lawson and Harold Robertson — who Letty Scott holds accountable for the murder of Douglas 20 years ago. Angel ruled “the plaintiffs have not established to my satisfaction that the deceased was murdered by the defendant prison officers.”

However Angel also said, “on the evidence before me I am unable to be satisfied that the deceased took his own life.” He noted that the prison officers had “ample opportunity to murder the deceased in his cell in the manner alleged.” He further ruled that “the evidence of witnesses Bindai and Percy cannot be dismissed out of hand.” Geoffrey Bindai and Laurie Percy, two I ndigenous prisoners housed across from Douglas’ prison cell, have given evidence that they witnessed four prison officers enter his cell. They heard Doug calling for help and t he next morning Bindai and Perry, who were subjected to threats, had to clean the blood up in Scott’s cell.

Angel criticised the police investigation as inadequate and said, “ the crime scene was not adequately secured.” He dismissed the claim, not because he was convinced by the suicide alegations but on the technical ground that Letty and Nathan had not met the onerous burden of proof required.

Justice Angel ’s ruling — taking the new evidence presented into consideration — that he could not conclude that Douglas Scott took his own life, is a vital breakthrough. Both the original inquiry into his death and the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody accepted the story of the prison officers.

The campaign to find out the truth about how Douglas Scott died has a long history.

Doug was jailed a fter an argument wit h Letty in a Darwin pub in 1985. He was arrested and sentenced to 60 days in Berrimah Jail , even though Letty refused to press charges. He was incarcerated on May 31 and died on July 5.

There are many criticisms surrounding the investigations into the death. Dr Kevin Lee , who concealed matters , did the first autopsy. Researcher, Dr Meryl exposed that Lee served in the racist Rhodesian government as a senior pathologist in the 1970s. Nass also exposed that Lee had misled the court with claims that he received his degree in Britain. He graduated in Rhodesia. These facts fueled charges that racism impacted the findings.

Ever since her husband’s murder , Letty and her family have been continually harassed. For example, the local KKK from Katherine painted racist graffiti on her home.

In 1999 Letty reached out to the international community, and with the I ndigenous Pequot Indians in the U . S ., she was able to testify before the United Nations.

It took 20 years and $20, 000 raised by Letty to have Douglas’ body exhumed for the re-autopsy this year. As Letty stated to Justice Angel in legal proceedings: “ m y son Daniel and I have had to carry this for 20 years alone, with no help from the Australian authorities or the Australian medical and legal fraternities.”

Letty is an inspiration to all people fighting for justice and change for a better world. Her strength and determination to see this fight right to the end should be supported.

On 23 July 2005, Letty called for the inquiry into the death of her late husband, Douglas Bruce Scott to be re-opened. There are many questions that remain unanswered, justifying a new inquiry.

Every action counts. By signing and helping to circulate the Indigenous Social Justice Association petition supporting Letty’s call for a new inquiry, you are a part of the solution to the problem of injustice, not just for I ndigenous people, but for all of us.

The petition — which can be signed by anyone in Australia or around the world — will be concluded on 10 December 2005, which is International Human Rights Day.

You can support the campaign for a new inquiry into the murder of Douglas Scott by:

• signing the petition

• asking others to sign the petition

• publicising the campaign

• passing resolutions of support and sending them to Greg Cavanagh, Coroner for the Northern Territory and Clare Martin, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory

• sending a personalised letter supporting Letty’s call

• sending a donation for this campaign to the Indigenous Social Justice Association Melbourne Supporters Group

Issued by the Indigenous Social Justice Association Melbourne Supporters Group with the support of Letty Scott.

PO Box 266, West Brunswick Vic 3055 Australia. Phone: 03-9388-0062