Speak up Prime Minister – We Can’t Hear You!

We have only heard a deafening silence from our Prime Minister concerning the depraved abuse of Iraqi and Afghani prisoners at the hands of foreign occupation forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

New Zealand stands in shame alongside the others.

Our Prime Minister – alongside American and UK leaders – has refused to speak out against the torture and killing of prisoners for more than a year now.

On March 10 last year Global Peace and Justice Auckland wrote to the Prime Minister over the murder of two Afghani prisoners at Bagram airforce base in northern Afghanistan where the US and New Zealand have military personnel stationed.

We asked –

• Has the New Zealand government protested to the United Nations at the torture and killing of these 2 men? (The men were Dilawar – aged 22 and Mullah Habibullah aged 30, who died as a result of “blunt force injuries” during interrogation)

• Has the New Zealand government raised this issue with the United Nations?

• Has the government asked for a criminal investigation into the torture and killing of these 2 men?

The Prime Minister’s response was dismissive. She wasn’t interested and took no action. This despite the government saying that our New Zealand military staff at Bagram were “involved in the command and control of all coalition operations in Afghanistan”

Like the rest of the world we are still waiting for action over the deaths at Bagram – more than one year on!

© Scoop Media