David Hicks, once in the news almost daily, has been off the radar - until now, when he is to be released from his imprisonment in Adelaide.
It would appear that Hicks' actions and liberties are to be severely curtailed if the Australian Federal has its way. That that is rather ludicrous is almost an oxymoron. It is a topic taken up by Tracee Hutchison in a piece "Hasn't Hicks suffered enough?" in The Age:
"I don't know why I thought the saga of David Hicks' incarceration might finally be resolved with his release on December 29 from Adelaide's Yatala Prison."
And:
"But when it came to the first real test of where this Government stands on the much-touted Howard bogyman — the war on terror — it caved to the Australian Federal Police's Howardesque mentality that David Hicks is a living, breathing local personification of the terrorist threat, a man who apparently needs to be constantly monitored for fear he will get involved with undesirables planning unmentionables of unfathomable proportions. Really? Hasn't he been through enough?"
And further:
"But the federal police application for a control order isn't really the surprise, nor is the realisation that many Australians will probably think a control order on Hicks is a perfectly reasonably imposition. Neither of those things shocks me.
It is the willingness of the Government to readily comply with the police force's continued demonising of Hicks — which is what this control order will do — that is the real surprise.
Does anyone in the police or the Federal Government really think Hicks is going to get involved with a terror plot after spending six years in jailed hell? The man won't be able to buy a carton of milk without causing a neighbourhood sensation at the local shops. It's ludicrous.
Hicks still hopes to study zoology or ecology. In the short term, he will need to earn a living around a control order and a curfew, not to mention a reputation that precedes him for all the wrong reasons.
I hope that, one day, we get to hear the real story of David Hicks — in his own unencumbered words — and can fully appreciate the circumstances that tipped the scales so comprehensively against him."
It would appear that Hicks' actions and liberties are to be severely curtailed if the Australian Federal has its way. That that is rather ludicrous is almost an oxymoron. It is a topic taken up by Tracee Hutchison in a piece "Hasn't Hicks suffered enough?" in The Age:
"I don't know why I thought the saga of David Hicks' incarceration might finally be resolved with his release on December 29 from Adelaide's Yatala Prison."
And:
"But when it came to the first real test of where this Government stands on the much-touted Howard bogyman — the war on terror — it caved to the Australian Federal Police's Howardesque mentality that David Hicks is a living, breathing local personification of the terrorist threat, a man who apparently needs to be constantly monitored for fear he will get involved with undesirables planning unmentionables of unfathomable proportions. Really? Hasn't he been through enough?"
And further:
"But the federal police application for a control order isn't really the surprise, nor is the realisation that many Australians will probably think a control order on Hicks is a perfectly reasonably imposition. Neither of those things shocks me.
It is the willingness of the Government to readily comply with the police force's continued demonising of Hicks — which is what this control order will do — that is the real surprise.
Does anyone in the police or the Federal Government really think Hicks is going to get involved with a terror plot after spending six years in jailed hell? The man won't be able to buy a carton of milk without causing a neighbourhood sensation at the local shops. It's ludicrous.
Hicks still hopes to study zoology or ecology. In the short term, he will need to earn a living around a control order and a curfew, not to mention a reputation that precedes him for all the wrong reasons.
I hope that, one day, we get to hear the real story of David Hicks — in his own unencumbered words — and can fully appreciate the circumstances that tipped the scales so comprehensively against him."
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