AUSTRALIA: GOVERNMENT THREAT TO GAG AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
MichaelP
Subject: AUSTRALIA: GOVERNMENT THREAT TO GAG AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Human Rights
Date: Tue, 1 Dec 1998 10:44:32 -0500
From: Amnesty International
* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *
News Service 233/98
AI INDEX: ASA 12/11/98
AUSTRALIA
GOVERNMENT THREAT TO GAG AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Amnesty International is outraged at the Australian government's warning
that the organization could face "serious consequences" should it
continue to name or publish information identifying a Somali asylum
seeker whom the government has repeatedly tried to deport to Mogadishu,
where he could be tortured or killed. The man himself has agreed to be
named.
"This move effectively amounts to censorship. It is completely
unacceptable as it is not for governments to decide whether reporting
the case of someone facing torture or death upon deportation is in that
person's interest. It is for governments to honour their treaty
obligations not to deport people to face serious human rights abuses,"
Amnesty International said. "If the Australian government was genuinely
concerned about the man's safety on his return to Mogadishu, it should
not have tried three times to return him there".
Amnesty International first took action to protect the Somali asylum
seeker by writing to the Australian government on 28 October 1998, one
day before he was due to be deported. The Australian High Court halted
his deportation the following day. The government then sought a court
order suppressing the publication of any identifying information
regarding his case. No such steps were taken in other recent cases of
Somali asylum seekers facing deportation.
On 18 November, one day before the asylum seeker again faced
deportation, Amnesty International issued an "Urgent Action" (UA)
appeal, alerting its international membership to the imminent
deportation of the Somali man, naming him with his consent. Hours later,
10 government and security officials took him to a plane in a
restraining belt and forced him to board a flight to Mogadishu.
However, during a stop-over in Perth -- following urgent interventions
by the United Nations (UN) Committee against Torture, the UN Special
Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, as well as
Amnesty International and an Australian transport union, which took
action to prevent the man's connecting flight leaving Perth -- the man
was given a last-minute reprieve and permission to stay in Australia
temporarily.
The Australian government allowed the asylum seeker to stay while his
case is being examined by the UN Committee against Torture, on the
condition that he is detained 4,000 kilometres -- and three time zones
-- away from Melbourne, where his lawyer is based. The authorities have
however offered no guarantee that he will not be deported in the
meantime, only that he will be given 48 hours' notice.
On 19 November, the Australian government solicitor, "on behalf of the
Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs", wrote to Amnesty
International's Australian section, referring to the UA and warning the
organization to "be aware that serious consequences could flow" from
breaching a Federal Court publication suppression order made that
afternoon at the Minister's request.
Without giving any reasons for the government's move to suppress
publicity on the case, the letter quoted the court order, under which
the man's name and "any information which might identify" him cannot be
published in Australia.
It is a fundamental principle of international law that all court
proceedings should be open to the public and to the media as a safeguard
of the integrity of proceedings. The International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights -- ratified by Australia -- provides that in "the
determination of [...] his rights and obligations in a suit at law,
everyone shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent,
independent and impartial tribunal established by law".
Under Article 14 (1) of the Covenant, the media and the public may not
be excluded even from part of a proceedings, except for specific,
narrowly-defined exceptions, including "when the interest of the private
lives of the parties so requires, or to the extent strictly necessary in
the opinion of the court in special circumstances where publicity would
prejudice the interests of justice". The suppression of the name or
identifying information of the man concerned -- who wishes the public to
know about his case -- does not fall within any of these exceptions.
Proceedings to lift court orders prohibiting publication on the case are
set to continue on 8 December.
"The Australian government's attempts at censoring this case are utterly
deplorable. We cannot -- and will not -- stop campaigning against the
deportation of an individual to somewhere where he could face serious
human rights violations, or even death."
ENDS.../
Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street,
WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom
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