Radio Australia Today Editorial

Terror suspect hates Aussies, and refuses to stand.

26 August 2009

It’s probably no great surprise that headline, but that’s the headline in one of the Australian papers, referring to a man accused of the biggest terrorist plot in Australia’s history.

The man who supposedly hates so many people was in court, accused of plotting to go into the Holsworthy army base which is south-west of Sydney, firing weapons and trying to kill as many soldiers and other people until they themselves were killed.

Yesterday in court, the suspect and his supporters refused to stand for the magistrate, something that is required in this country. The refusal might not appear to be a big thing, but there are a couple of aspects to it. For a start, the magistrate would not accept the argument that the refusal to stand was based on religious beliefs, and said he believed the accused was just trying to make a political point. If right, it was a bit silly for the accused to do this, you might think, since he was trying to get the magistrate to grant him bail.

Another point is that refusal may well be seen as a snub for the Australian legal process and authorities, and could be seen as underlining the allegations made by the prosecutors, that the accused hates Australians, and in fact hates anyone who does not follow Islam.

So, if the prosecutor is to be believed, this is not a fatwa, this is not a religious point, this is a crime that is about hate, about xenophobia, about belief of superiority.

The prosecution is yet to make its case, and a jury is yet to decide on whether it has legs, but one thing’s for sure, the people who will decide this case will do it without the hate, prejudice and ill-will that the prosecutors claim was behind the alleged terror plot.

- Phil