Mohammad Haneef & Erosion of Civil Liberties Weland La
‘Australia’s laws are severely eroding civil liberties.’
Discuss this statement in light of the Haneef Case and one other issue (such as the right to silence, privacy, etc.), commenting on the extent to which the law balances the rights of the individual with the needs for community safety.
In correlation with the Haneef Case, Australia’s laws are severely eroding civil liberties as demonstrated by NSW’s introduction of the Evidence Amendment (Evidence of Silence) Act 2013.
The Anti-Terrorism Act (No. 2) 2005 (Cth) prevalent at the time of the arrest of Dr Haneef reveals the incapabilities of Australia’s law to balance the rights of the individual
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Dr Haneef’s detainment without charge was in direct violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) article 10 and 11. Article 10 and 11 state respectively that “Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him” and “Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence” .
Because Dr Haneef was not given a fair trial upon his criminal charge, nor was he presumed to be innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, this illuminates the erosion of an individual’s right to civil liberties. These two conditions are regarded as an international human right under the United Nation’s UDHR, yet, Australia’s laws are depicted to be disregarding an individual’s civil liberties in exchange for community
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That is, it is implied that you are possibly lying and are guilty of an offence. This repercussion is an infringement of article 11 of the UDHR and Australia’s legal maxim (innocent until proven guilty).
Additionally, a negative inference opposes Australia’s adversarial system’s criminal burden of proof (beyond a reasonable doubt), the concept that the defendant has the presumption of innocence and that the State (prosecutor) must prove that the defendant is guilty by providing evidence to an unbiased judge or magistrate.
“Right to silence’ law changed” (SMH 2012) emphasises the erosion of our civil liberties. Stephen Blanks, secretary for the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, said the right to remain silent under police questioning and the privilege against self-incrimination were generally recognised international standards “which lie at the heart of the notion of a fair procedure".
Both instances of Australian law manifest an erosion of our civil liberties, and thus, an urgent requirement for our laws to consider a balance between the rights of the individual with the needs for community safety, taking into account the liberty of the individual and the rule of
moving on the goverment is being accused of turning a blind eye to human rights in papa new guinea and investing of criminal proceeds in australia for the fear of loosing the righs to confine aslym seekers on manus
I have chosen to grant Mr. Nelson release due to the strong arguments made by the defense and weak arguments put forth by the crown. First, as seen in both the case description as well as restated by both defense attorneys, Mr. Nelson “has no prior criminal record” (Jack B.), therefore, giving proof to how Mr. Nelson “has no intention of endangering the public in any capacity” (Jacob A.), as well as rebutting doubt against Mr. Nelson not appearing in court with a summons. These arguments support the base outlines for bail release: to ensure public safety, eliminate public fear, and to diminish possible doubts of flight risk/not appearing in court. Second, the defense makes the argument where despite Mr. Nelson being charged with conspiracy to commit murder, “while police did search his home, no illicit drugs
Abdulrahman Zeitoun and Mumia Abu Jamal were two names I did not know. These two men have both undergone hardships and were both wrongly accused of crimes not committed. The comparison of these cases is hard due to the fact that Zeitoun’s case was not any type of legal and did not follow any type of normal or legal judicial proceedings. Jamal’s case however did follow judicial proceedings “legally”. The first case to point out was the fact that both of these men are innocent in my eyes.
“On July 30, 1992, an innocent person was convicted of a heinous crime”. Guy Paul Morin, an ordinary man, was arrested, imprisoned and convicted of first degree murder. The victim was Christine Jessop, a nine-year-old girl from Ontario, Canada. She was found murdered in a field about fifty kilometres from where she lived. Due to the investigation team’s carelessness and tunnel vision, the systematic failure of the justice system, and the poor handling of evidence by the crown there was not only one, but two victims in this case.
The Supreme court ruled that Section 181 of the Criminal Code intersects section 2(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guarantees the right to freedom of expression as long as the expression is not violent. They defined that the booklet that he created was not violent and allowed under the concept of freedom of expression as the form is different from the content in this scenario thus, the allegation made did not apply. The court found that section 181's attempt to censor all expressions unjustifiable since many acceptable expressions could fit that description. According to analysis, section 181 was a reasonable limit on freedom of expression in a free and democratic society. In the end, majority of the Supreme Court held that section 181 of the Criminal Code was unconstitutional and therefore, his conviction was overturned even though this is not what most wanted, the situation was dealt in this matter due to the
Canada: A Comparative approach It seems fair that, following a critical analysis of the law in JC, another jurisdiction should be considered in order to facilitate a proper outlook on what may be needed, and what has worked elsewhere. This section is intended to outline the operation of the exclusionary rule in Canada. The Canadian courts rely on legislative enjoined exclusionary rules that are justified by judicial integrity.
“You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law, you have the right to an attorney” this is a phrase commonly used by police officers and is known as your Miranda Rights. In 1963 a man named Ernesto Miranda was convicted of rape, kidnapping and an armed robbery. The police than interrogated him for hours without once informing him of his constitutional rights. Miranda then confessed to the crimes as an officer was recording. He was sentenced to 20 to 30 years in prison.
The paradox is that acts of terror thrive in the freedom of democracies. This is to say that when the people are given the freedom of association, expression and movement, this will condone acts of violence, designed to destabilise or destroy State structures. Detention of citizens
The Constitution Act of 1982 was imperative in addressing the above concerns with the Canadian Bill of Rights, since it is a part of the constitution that provides solid, expansive grounds to the protection of individual rights. This was received with both excitement and trepidation. According to the Constitution Act of 1982, our Charter of Rights and
Telling lies is reasonable during cases where an individual needs to
The article discusses how these are not crimes that are being committed, rather, these are crimes that are only being discussed. This raises the question of whether or not the United States is overcriminilizing speech. The article argues that in order for these crimes to seriously be considered as a criminal offense, the government needs to create an objective way of qualifying what is and
Our government claims that as humans we are innocent until proven guilty, however this is not the case as we are locking up these unfortunate people upon their arrival. Human rights commission released that what the government was doing is illegal. Our nation in response focused not on the mistreatment of these innocent beings but instead asked for the resignation of the human rights commissioner, Gillian Triggs for shedding the truth of what is really
Before the HRA of 1998, most people who suffered human rights abuses did not know that their rights have been violated, and even if they knew, they did not know where or who to turn to for help. The UK government educated people about their human rights and informed them of the local and international solutions available to them when their rights are violated. Equality and Human Rights Commission inspects human rights, protecting equality across nine grounds: age, disability, gender, race, religion and belief, pregnancy and maternity, marriage, sexual orientation*. The EHRC promotes equality and protect human rights in a number of ways. The EHRC can provide information to individuals so that they know what their rights are.
When he was detained, he was given a trial that only lasted 10 minutes and he was denied his rights to leave even with his current health conditions. Babaei has been suffering from gum disease, and other dental problems while he has been in prison[1]. The authorities have not given Hamid Babaei the appropriate medical attention that he
Due process is one of the basic legal concepts, which ensures a fair treatment and guarantees all the human and civil rights of a person. According to the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the US, a government cannot neglect one’s rights and freedoms unless it is acting in accordance with the rule of law. Nonetheless, despite its virtuous purpose and moral basis, the concept of due process is considered to have a number of limitations and controversies, and Devika Hovell in the article “Due Process in the United Nations” attempts to analyze and estimate three major models of it. To begin with, the author admits that quite often the power of due process is abused in order to justify those crimes that should have been brought