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October 12, 2006
Is this the justice you want
A lot of us who are opposed to more stringent anti-terror legislation are accused of being "soft", "pro-terror" and branded with many more unprintable epithets.
Today we discover that David Blunkett urged Blair to bomb Al-Jazeera's transmitter in Baghdad during the during the Iraq war.
The Mirror - BLUNKETT: WE MUST BOMB AL-JAZEERA TV
The disgraced ex-Home Secretary makes his astonishing revelation in a Channel 4 Dispatches programme, to be shown next week, saying he viewed the Arab television station as a legitimate target.
He brushes aside protests that, as a civilian organisation, the bombing of al-Jazeera would have been illegal under international law.
Now, at the same time as Blunkett is saying that not only was it okay to bomb a civilian TV station but he actually urged the PM to carry out such an attack, the two people charged with the leaking of the "non-existant" Bomb Al-Jazeera memo are facing a massively extended legal process. Originally their trial was set for 9th October 2006, but now that has been put back to next year.
BBC - Secrets case hearing in private
A pre-trial hearing of the case of two men accused of leaking details between world leaders has been held in private at the Old Bailey.
David Keogh and Leo O'Connor, both from Northampton, have been charged under the Official Secrets Act.
It is alleged that Mr Keogh passed a memo of a meeting between US President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair to Mr O'Connor.
Both men deny the charges and the trial will take place on April 18 next year.
So the whole process is to remain secret in the interests of national security. One can only presume that politcal embarassment would threaten our security, as the only reason for secrecy is to prevent the contents of the memo from entering the public domain.
Meanwhile, it would seem that letting intelligence material be used in trials could have a more negative impact on justice than first thought.
BBC - Judge critical of MI5 testimony
A judge in a secret hearing has criticised the Home Office over contradictory MI5 intelligence in the trial of two terrorism suspects.
The intelligence only came to light because - by chance - the same barrister was acting in both cases.
Mr Justice Newman said the "administration of justice" had been put at risk in the trial of Algerian Abu Doha and a suspect known as MK.
The government is getting away with playing fast and loose with justice under current legislation. Do you really want to give them even more powers?
Update - More info at Blairwatch and Bloggerheads.
Posted by Clive on October 12, 2006 9:52 AM in the category Politics