SIEV X: New data and analysis on Marg Hutton’s www.sievx.com
In recent days, Marg Hutton has posted important new data and analysis
( re Senate Questions on Notice, and two new commentaries) on her
independent website www.sievx.com.
Below are links to her website for the material referred to:
1. Senator Ellison’s reply to Senator Brown’s Question on
Notice No 432 - extracted by Marg Hutton from Senate Hansard 10 May
2005
http://sievx.com/testimony/2005/20050510EllisonAnswerToQoN.html
|
Senator Brown (Tasmania) asked the Minister for Immigration
and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, on notice, on 10 March
2005:
With reference to the sinking of the boat known as SIEV X:
Is there an inquiry or investigation in progress; if so:
(a) how many people are involved in the inquiry; and
(b) what results have been forthcoming in the past year.
Senator Ellison (Western Australia – Minister for Justice
and Customs)- The answer to the honourable senator's question
is as follows:
Whilst some aspects of this matter await resolution before
court, there is no current investigation or inquiry.
(a) Although no current investigation is being conducted, one
Australian Federal Police member remains involved in preparation
for further court proceedings concerning this matter.
(b) Mr Daoed was committed for trial, to commence on 17 May
2005 at the Supreme Court in Brisbane. Mr Abu Quassey who was
convicted by Egyptian authorities and lost his latest appeal
against sentence in November 2004.
X-URL: http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/dailys/ds100505.pdf
|
NOTE: Senator Brown’s accompanying Question on Notice No 431 submitted
on that same date 14 March 2005 to the Minister for Immigration and
Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs , still remains unanswered as
of today 16 May 2005:
http://sievx.com/testimony/2005/20050314SenatorBrownQoN.html
|
Extracted for Senate Notice Paper 14 March 2005:
431 Senator Brown: To ask the Minister for Immigration
and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs – With reference to
the sinking of the boat known as SIEV X:
(1) Will the Minister now release the list of names of people
who are thought to have drowned.
(2) How many queries has the Government had from people seeking
the names of persons thought to have been on board: (a) from
within Australia; and (b) from outside Australia.
(3) If the list is not to be released: (a) what are the precise
reasons; and (b) if one reason is that release of the list would
endanger an informant, in what way.
|
2. "Unfinished Business", commentary
by Marg Hutton, 12 May 2005
|
'We will not relent in the pursuit of Abu Quassey. We
will never give up.'
(Justice
Minister Ellison, quoted by Tom Hyland, January 2003)
TK extracts:
Whatever the outcome of upcoming legal proceedings in
Brisbane, Australia still has unfinished business with the
convicted organiser of the tragic SIEVX voyage, Abu Quassey.
…
With regard to the second charge [Australian charge against
Quassey] of aiding illegal migration (ie people smuggling)
- did this also include the three other voyages that Quassey
allegedly organised - Donnybrook, Gelantipy and
Yambuk?
If not, then will Justice Minister Ellison make good on his
promise to 'not
relent in the pursuit of Abu Quassey' and bring him to
Australia on the completion of his sentence [in Egypt – 5
¼ years] to face charges for organising these three voyages?
The AFP
issued warrants for Quassey in respect of these voyages
back in 2002. Assuming that Egypt chose only to prosecute
Quassey for his part in organising the fatal SIEVX voyage
and not the other three voyages, then it would appear that
there is no legal impediment (ie double jeopardy) to Australia
pursuing Quassey on his release from prison in Egypt in less
than four years time.
The Australian government prides itself on having some of
the toughest laws in the world for dealing with people smugglers.
We lock up for years, poor and desperate Indonesian fishermen
who were seduced by people smugglers with the lure of easy
cash to captain vessels that arrived safely at Ashmore reef
and Christmas Island and yet this man who is known to have
sent 353 people to their deaths on a similar voyage has so
far never faced an Australian court!
We have the means to put Quassey behind bars for twenty years.
To not do so, makes a mockery of these laws.
In December 2002 Senator
Jacinta Collins moved a motion in the Senate on behalf
of the Opposition and minor parties that tasked the government
to 'undertake all actions necessary' to ensure that Quassey
be brought to justice. Two and a half years later we ask,
does five years and three months in prison constitute justice
for the loss of 353 innocent lives?
Suspicion and innuendo will continue to swirl and gather
around the issue of SIEVX until Quassey is brought to court
in Australia and a full powers judicial inquiry is held into
all aspects of the covert people smuggling disruption program
that operated in Indonesia at the time of the sinking.
If you feel strongly about this issue please write
to the Minister:
The Hon. Christopher Ellison
Minister for Justice and Customs
Parliament Contact:
Tel: (02) 6277 7260
Fax: (02) 6273 7098
Email: senator.ellison@aph.gov.au
|
http://sievx.com/archives/2005/20050512.shtml
3. "Hidden In Plain View: The BASARNAS File On SIEVX",
commentary by Marg Hutton, 15 May 2005
http://sievx.com/archives/2005/20050515.shtml
TK synopsis: Marg Hutton here establishes that the Jakarta
Harbourmaster’s Report (JHR) , giving the coordinates at which SIEVX
survivors were rescued (inside Australia’s Operation Relex border
protection surveillance and interception zone, in international waters
between Java and Christmas Island), that was obtained by SBS Dateline
reporter Geoff Parish from the Jakarta Harbourmaster and was referred
to in two Dateline features on SIEVX that went to air on 22
May and 17 July 2002, is in fact an official document of the Indonesian
search and rescue authority BASARNAS. The JHR carries the BASARNAS
logo.
Hutton concludes:
"Despite the best efforts of Opposition Senator Jacinta Collins
and others to pursue Australian agencies through the tortuous maze
of evasions and lies concerning their knowledge of the JHR and sinking
position of SIEVX, they have so far managed to evade accountability.
A key part of this evasion has been denigration and dismissal of the
JHR as a source. Now that the JHR is clearly established as an official
BASARNAS document, they can no longer duck and weave". ENDS
Marg Hutton’s website www.sievx.com
continues to be the essential source and repository of archival material
and informed analytical commentary on all aspects of the SIEV X affair.
Tony Kevin, Canberra, 16 May 2005
