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Saturday, 20 April 2013
Update 2 June, 2013 - original 20 April 2013 post below
It's amazing what it takes to convince some in this nation's media that a story is newsworthy.
On 20 April this year, we carried this report of the Egyptian Jihadi whose Interpol-alert status as a dangerous terrorist eluded the nice people at our Immigration Department. You will probably have noted that this week the story of the Jihadi, the pool fence to stop him escaping for a meeting with 75 virgins and the Interpol alert have become big news.
Well Nick Butterly of the West Australian had the story in April and we certainly followed it up here but it was successfully hosed down by the government - thus no further reports until the opposition brought it up at Senate Estimates last week when it finally fired up as a story.
It goes to reinforce that you should use your own judgement about assessing facts and deciding what news matters to you. And you should be very careful about determining just whose judgement - beyond your own - you trust to deliver you "news".
Here's a story from The Australian last week
A CONVICTED al-Qa'ida terrorist slipped into Australia undetected and spent five months living in low-security detention, in part because of a "processing error" by ASIO.
In what opposition justice and customs spokesman Michael Keenan described as a "grave breach" of national security, Australia's top security officials yesterday detailed the catalogue of errors that led to the asylum-seeker being kept in one of the most low-security facilities in the country, despite being convicted of murder, terrorism offences and being the subject of an Interpol "red alert" for more than 10 years.
The man, understood to be 42-year-old Maksoud Abdel Latif, is accused of being a member of terror group Egyptian Islamic Jihad and arrived in Australia by boat on May 9 last year.
On July 5, Latif was cleared for release into community detention after ASIO conducted a limited assessment, which appeared to involve simply checking his details against its existing intelligence holdings.
Update ends - original post
Hi, my passport got lost and I'm fleeing the law back home, I mean I'm fleeing persecution by nasty authorities who've taken a dim view of my murderous culturally-aligned ways. Think you can help? God bless Australia.
Alert on 'criminal' boat people
Nick Butterly Canberra Exclusive, The West AustralianUpdated April 20, 2013, 2:40 am
An accused Egyptian terrorist, a suspected Sri Lankan murderer and an Iranian wanted for drug trafficking have all arrived in Australia recently on asylum seeker boats.
The Weekend West can reveal the Egyptian man, in an Eastern States detention centre, is the subject of a high-level Interpol "red notice" for terrorism activities.
Australian Federal Police have alerted the Immigration Department about the men, who probably passed through Christmas or Cocos islands.
The Sri Lankan man is accused of killing his girlfriend before fleeing to Australia on an asylum boat.
The AFP has also warned the Immigration Department that a new arrival from Iran is an accused drug trafficker wanted by authorities in Tehran.
The Egyptian and the Iranian are in relatively low-security immigration detention centres.
The Sri Lankan is in community detention.
The claims against the men put Australian authorities in a difficult position. Under the United Nation's refugee convention, police are severely restricted in how they deal with foreign law-enforcement agencies while an asylum seeker is making a claim for protection.
Should police do anything that could be argued to have put the asylum seeker at risk in their home country, it could strengthen their claim for protection in Australia.
And while you do ponder these thoughts.
The Sri Lankan man is accused of killing his girlfriend before fleeing to Australia on an asylum boat. The Sri Lankan is here amongst us in community detention.
The Egyptian man is the subject of a high-level Interpol "red notice" for terrorism activities. The Egyptian (is) in a relatively low-security immigration detention centre.