It seems the stench of the decision to remove the right to a jury trial from those arrested in the ‘Terror Raids’ has even risen into the nostrils of usually conservative members of the intelligentsia.
Not only did (judge) Winkelmann suppress her reasoning for her December 9 decision last year but she also suppressed (for some weeks) the fact that she had made it.
“…..untenable for a senior court to rule in the prosecution’s favour and deny these people a right to have their case heard by a jury of their peers.”
and further:
Nor is it tenable for the Court of Appeal to refuse to say publicly why it has ensured the upcoming trial will be one decided by legal insiders.
Comfortable as she is, on the right of the political spectrum, O’Sullivan attacks the moral cowardice of the left for not speaking out as strongly as they could.
O’Sullivan particularly excoriates Labour and the Greens for their silence.
“….even Greens MP Keith Locke – who has been the subject of Security Service surveillance – has had little (if anything) to say on the court’s decision. But unless this carry-on is challenged this country runs the risk of being set on the path to Star Chamber hearings, where any activist facing serious charges will essentially be subject to a secret trial.
Fran O’Sullivan
By calling on the parliamentary left to stand up in condemning this decision, O’Sullivan may be mindful of the words of warning given by Pastor Niemoller before the US Congress, to the members of the establishment of the dangers that can befall, even them, for ignoring abuses of the state.
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