Zaoui Verdict Justice?

Libertarianz leader Bernard Darnton expressed his hope today that the Supreme Court would bring Ahmed Zaoui a step closer to justice. "Zaoui must be either charged or released," declared Darnton. "There are some basic principles that have to be followed for a country to call itself civilised," he said. "An important one is that you can't just lock people up without a trial. That's the sort of behaviour we might expect in a dictatorship, not in a liberal democracy."

"This Government seems committed to the destruction of the justice system, and to the overthrow of the few legal safeguards we have against abuse by the justice system," Darnton claimed. "Justice Minister Phil Goff wants to dump the requirement for unanimous jury verdicts; he wants to dump the ban on double jeopardy (or being tried for the same crime twice); and most recently, with the new confiscation laws, he wants to dump the presumption of innocence. All of these long-held legal protections are fundamental parts of a working justice system. In Zaoui's case it seems as if the Government wants to dispense with holding trials altogether. This is absolutely despicable."

"This Goverment has trampled our freedoms in many ways but its destruction of the justice system is perhaps its most heinous crime."

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