Refugee trials begin

BY KATHY NEWNAM

ADELAIDE — The trials of refugees charged with involvement in the alleged August "riots" at the Woomera Immigration Detention Centre, in the South Australian desert, began here on December 18. The case against the first defendant, Morteza Hashemy, centred on the charge of "throwing a rock".

The prosecution has relied heavily on the the evidence of security guards from ACM, which runs the detention centre, who picked out the accused from photo files of the asylum seekers supplied to them by the Australian Federal Police.

The defendants' supporters have argued that this method of identification proves the trials are little more than attempts to scapegoat a small number of refugees for the protest.

Bronwen Beechey, who has campaigned for the defendants' release, told Green Left Weekly, "The way this trial is being conducted allows no scope for identifying the real cause of the protest at Woomera — the inhumane conditions at the centre and the uncertainty and cruelty meted out to the refugees."

Supporters of the refugees gathered the day before the trials began in an angry rally, hearing from representatives of Amnesty International, the Democratic Socialist Party, which had organised the rally, and a recently released refugee from Woomera.

The following day, December 18, activists held a lively protest at a public consultation attended by immigration minister Philip Ruddock, taking the minister to task for the inhumanity of the government's refugee policy.

The trials will continue throughout January and February.

From GLW issue 432