Hicks vigil 23 Feb : Melbourne Indymedia

Kalinda of CRD introduced the speakers and foreshadowed upcoming events, including a nation-wide protest planned for a date in April. She also appealed for people to come forward to help with the organising of the campaign. ' ... there is a real growing momentum for the campaign .. there are people all around Australia now joining and being involved, and the political climate is shifting ...'

Gerard from CRD commented on a recent statement by 'one of the characters from Guantanamo Bay' that the Nuremburg trials used hearsay evidence , 'so what's the problem?' He also raised the question of what has happened in the ALP: a year ago CRD were knocked back by Lindsay Tanner when they asked him to address a rally; now they have been asked to help organise a big public meeting 'with a probable speaker being Lindsay Tanner.'

An MP3 of Gerard's speech is posted below as a comment.

Main speaker was Patrick Emerton, law lecturer at Monash University, who discussd the legal aspects of the David Hicks case, with special reference to the so-called 'laws of war'. But he saw the case as primarily a political issue with a legal aspect, and sketched the process by which the principle of the 'rule of law not men' had been won. The 'rule of law' as it is sometimes called, does not come from nowhere, handed down magically ... we have worked hard to get it. I has to come from the bottom, can't be imposed at gunpoint ...

An MP3 of Patrick Emerton's speech is posted below as a comment.

Marcus from Stop the War Coalition spoke at the end, urging everyone to support the upcoming protest rally on 17 March to mark the 4th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

Short video - 1min.44, wmv format, 1.9MB - Gerard from CRD and Patrick Emerton, introduced by Kalinda, also of CRD.

MP3 - 6min.12, 729KB

MP3 - 18min.28, 2.2MB. Introduced by Kalinda of CRD

United States murderer and torturer Vice-President, Dick Cheney, says it has already agreed that if found guilty, Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks will serve his sentence in Australia and time he has already served in Guantanamo Bay would be taken into account.

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What is that the consolation prize? Or a John Howard concession for the election! He's not going to be found not guilty by the authorities and the powers that be, so why the if? Cheney needs to be locked up right away the man is insane. He's offered nothing. If David was tried in a criminal court of law with the proper standards then Cheney may incur yet another serious charge. If he's not tried in an Australian court or cannot be then he's not guilty therefore they owe him 5 years! What right have they got to lower the standards of the courts to find a person guilty?

Only the powers that be! If only the powers that be are the law then we are all doomed! Demand Justice!