Go to it Canberra

Postalgeek said :

dungfungus said :

Seeing as Peter has dual nationality (Australian/Latvian) wouldn’t it be a good idea to have this protest run concurrently with Amnesty in Latvia?
I am mystified as to why Peter sees it necessary to have Latvian nationality anyhow as he was born in Australia.

Latvia is a part of the European Union. Peter is a foreign correspondent. Free movement (until now) in the EEA and all that.

So, is the EU with all of its posturing on human rights for immigrants, doing anything for Peter?

bigfeet said :

Sebastian Fernandez said :

The court has not provided any form of written judgement in either English, Arabic or Vietnamese. And I don’t believe they ever will.

So what are you basing your righteous indignation on? I’m not trying to be difficult but as others have stated quite often the reasoning appears to be:

‘That person is a white Australian and they aren’t. So it’s wrong. The government should do something. Because it’s wrong”

Based on what i know and the fact that very little has been released there is a good chance that he did nothing wrong, but the issue is, majority of Australians wouldn’t have a clue whether he has or hasn’t, and Australian media coverage is always going to be “How dare a foreign country convict an Australian”. Its one of those rare occasions, Murdoch, Fairfax and the ABC all agree!

However I’m not a legal expert and threatening Egypt isn’t going to change anything. I will say that this has implications for media and journalists covering any country. Its not unlike our own government who are flexing their muscles against the ABC, because they find it too left wing for their tastes.

Its a dangerous thing when the media loses its freedom and becomes another China/North Korea type place.

dungfungus said :

Seeing as Peter has dual nationality (Australian/Latvian) wouldn’t it be a good idea to have this protest run concurrently with Amnesty in Latvia?
I am mystified as to why Peter sees it necessary to have Latvian nationality anyhow as he was born in Australia.

Latvia is a part of the European Union. Peter is a foreign correspondent. Free movement (until now) in the EEA and all that.

Sebastian Fernandez said :

The court has not provided any form of written judgement in either English, Arabic or Vietnamese. And I don’t believe they ever will.

So what are you basing your righteous indignation on? I’m not trying to be difficult but as others have stated quite often the reasoning appears to be:

‘That person is a white Australian and they aren’t. So it’s wrong. The government should do something. Because it’s wrong”

bigfeet said :

Sebastian Fernandez said :

patrick_keogh said :

I have been unable to locate an English version of the court’s decision so I have no opinion as to whether Peter Greste committed a crime or not. However this leads me to the position that those arguing for Peter’s release probably either:
– have read the court’s decision, have a good understanding of the Egyptian legal system and believe that under that system he should have been found innocent,
– don’t care about the Egyptian legal system but think that because he is (pick one of many possibilities including “white”,”Australian”,”a journalist”,”a relative of mine” or some others) the law shouldn’t apply,
– think that the entire Egyptian legal system is invalid, or
– think that the sentence is too severe.

I’m sure that amongst the host of supporters of Schapelle, sorry, Peter, there is a mix of all three. Are there any other considerations? Once again let me reiterate that I have nothing against Peter and I have no view as to whether he is innocent or guilty. I’m not even exactly sure what the specifics were of the alleged crime. It is just that having sat through a similar outpouring of righteous indignation around Schapelle Corby I am a little wary of this kind of thing.

Patrick,

The reason this case is so different is that Peter was just doing his job. It seems the Egyptians have an expectation that journalists in their country will only cover the Govt side of the story. This wasn’t communicated to any media organisations or working journalists.

Peter Greste was just reporting the news and it’s a massive injustice to see him incarcerated for doing so.

Can you please provide a link to an English translation of the courts summing up of the evidence and the defenses and arguments raised against that evidence. I would like to base my opinion in this matter on fact, not rhetoric if you want me to condemn the legal system of another country.

I assume you would have done the same, so the link should not be too hard to produce. Apologies of course if you read it in the original Arabic to make up your mind, I don’t have those linguistic skills.

The court has not provided any form of written judgement in either English, Arabic or Vietnamese. And I don’t believe they ever will.

Sebastian Fernandez said :

patrick_keogh said :

I have been unable to locate an English version of the court’s decision so I have no opinion as to whether Peter Greste committed a crime or not. However this leads me to the position that those arguing for Peter’s release probably either:
– have read the court’s decision, have a good understanding of the Egyptian legal system and believe that under that system he should have been found innocent,
– don’t care about the Egyptian legal system but think that because he is (pick one of many possibilities including “white”,”Australian”,”a journalist”,”a relative of mine” or some others) the law shouldn’t apply,
– think that the entire Egyptian legal system is invalid, or
– think that the sentence is too severe.

I’m sure that amongst the host of supporters of Schapelle, sorry, Peter, there is a mix of all three. Are there any other considerations? Once again let me reiterate that I have nothing against Peter and I have no view as to whether he is innocent or guilty. I’m not even exactly sure what the specifics were of the alleged crime. It is just that having sat through a similar outpouring of righteous indignation around Schapelle Corby I am a little wary of this kind of thing.

Patrick,

The reason this case is so different is that Peter was just doing his job. It seems the Egyptians have an expectation that journalists in their country will only cover the Govt side of the story. This wasn’t communicated to any media organisations or working journalists.

Peter Greste was just reporting the news and it’s a massive injustice to see him incarcerated for doing so.

Can you please provide a link to an English translation of the courts summing up of the evidence and the defenses and arguments raised against that evidence. I would like to base my opinion in this matter on fact, not rhetoric if you want me to condemn the legal system of another country.

I assume you would have done the same, so the link should not be too hard to produce. Apologies of course if you read it in the original Arabic to make up your mind, I don’t have those linguistic skills.

Australia sends $43.5million in foreign aid to Egypt a year during a “budget emergency”. To rework an old phrase often used when discussing foreign aid – sanctions begin at home.

Seeing as Peter has dual nationality (Australian/Latvian) wouldn’t it be a good idea to have this protest run concurrently with Amnesty in Latvia?
I am mystified as to why Peter sees it necessary to have Latvian nationality anyhow as he was born in Australia.

Sebastian Fernandez said :

Peter was just doing his job.

My point is that I do not know whether this assertion is true and I don’t know on what basis you make it. Journalists are like the rest of us: sometimes they break the law, sometimes without knowing it. In Australia ignorance is no defence but I’m not sure that this is true in the Egyptian legal system.

I don’t know whether what he did was illegal in Egypt but it does sound like you are arguing for ignorance of the law as a defence. If an Egyptian broke the law in Australia we would be unlikely to tolerate a defence of “It isn’t illegal in Egypt”. That same Egyptian might argue that he or she didn’t know it was against the law in Australia in which case the judge would still find the case proven but might apply a light sentence such as a bond. However even in Australia the distasteful trend towards minimum sentences based on “community expectations” may leave the judge’s hands tied.

patrick_keogh said :

I have been unable to locate an English version of the court’s decision so I have no opinion as to whether Peter Greste committed a crime or not. However this leads me to the position that those arguing for Peter’s release probably either:
– have read the court’s decision, have a good understanding of the Egyptian legal system and believe that under that system he should have been found innocent,
– don’t care about the Egyptian legal system but think that because he is (pick one of many possibilities including “white”,”Australian”,”a journalist”,”a relative of mine” or some others) the law shouldn’t apply,
– think that the entire Egyptian legal system is invalid, or
– think that the sentence is too severe.

I’m sure that amongst the host of supporters of Schapelle, sorry, Peter, there is a mix of all three. Are there any other considerations? Once again let me reiterate that I have nothing against Peter and I have no view as to whether he is innocent or guilty. I’m not even exactly sure what the specifics were of the alleged crime. It is just that having sat through a similar outpouring of righteous indignation around Schapelle Corby I am a little wary of this kind of thing.

Patrick,

The reason this case is so different is that Peter was just doing his job. It seems the Egyptians have an expectation that journalists in their country will only cover the Govt side of the story. This wasn’t communicated to any media organisations or working journalists.

Peter Greste was just reporting the news and it’s a massive injustice to see him incarcerated for doing so.