Letter

In response to Australia’s ISIS cases test law, politics and fairness

No exceptions, no special clauses

It’s interesting and timely that these women and their children have returned home at the very time that a debate about a Human Rights Act is regaining momentum. Any genuine Human Rights Act would have to ensure that all Australians stand equal before the law. There can be no exceptions, no special clauses.

This recent return of the Australian women with their children from Syria offers a good test. Three of these returnees have now been charged with criminal offences. Their alleged offences were established under the Rome Statute which also established the International Criminal Court. This is the same Court with an outstanding arrest warrant for, among others, Benjamin Netanyahu.

So here’s my question, bearing in mind the need for no exceptions in a Human Rights Act: Will the same scrutiny, with or without the media hostility, be applied to those returning from taking an active part in Israel’s wars of extermination in Gaza, the Left Bank and Lebanon?

— Hal Duell from Alice Springs