Anti-war activist charged for 'misusing phone' to protest to US

[Say_What]

<clips>

An Auckland peace activist who sent an e-mail to the US Embassy objecting to the war on Iraq has been charged with misuse of a telephone.

Police went to the Epsom home of university student Bruce Hubbard, 38, yesterday afternoon and took him to Takapuna police station for questioning.

Mr Hubbard last night said he had been charged under the Telecommunications Act and had been told by police they would seize information from his computer under the Counter-Terrorism Act.

Friends such as fellow activist John Minto were alerted to Hubbard's plight when he sent an e-mail before being taken to the police station.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/31/1067233349746.html

[LifeDuringWartime]

1. since when was dissent illegal in australia

i miss something?

[number six]

6. Don't you mean New Zealand?

[izzie]

2. Ah yes from the parrot country that sits on Bushs other shoulder

:dunce: :dunce: :dunce:

[beyurslf]

3. What could he have

said in his email that violated the Telecommunications Act? Isn't that a US law, anyway?

[zanana]

4. I'd love to hear from an Aussie about this.

I hope they still feel free to post in DU!

[kayell]

5. Shocking

Just look at the radical organizations he belongs to: "Hubbard is a member of the left-wing groups Global Peace and Justice, Students for Justice in Palestine, and the Green Party."

Obviously any email from such a radical would be a terrorist act. /sarcasm

[peacetalksforall]

7. Austrailia = right wing?

My observation is that there is a right wing leadership in Australia that equals the U.S. There are four partners in the spy network - Echelon and others - the US, UK, Canada, and Australia - that's a good starting point for figuring out the plan for the world...sublimate, slave wages so that you have no time to get educated about what's going on, no time to protest, loss of rights, secrecy about loss of rights, maintaining traditions in words only - such as making people think that they are voting, place in prison or kill, legalize governmental terrorism against the people.

[ConcernedCanuk]

8. - Well, it's all really simple if you think about it

. . . The USA seems to be all about WAR,

so anyone that is AGAINST war has to be a bad person - right ?

Don't feck with the BFEE's WarMachine

That seems to be the message, no ?

:shrug:

[Flying_Pig]

9. This happened in New Zealand!!! WTF?

If this is happening there, how long before they start rounding us up here? I just cannot believe this. He must have said something threatening in his e-mail. We need more information. If it was just a simple letter of protest, then the world has truly gone mad, and the BFEE has taken control of the planet.

Better keep our eyes open for any new concentration camp construction going on in the hinterlands...

:wtf:

[Jack Rabbit]

10. Would some Downunda DUers please fill us in?

Did this arrest take place in Australia or New Zealand? Australia has a rightwing government that backed Bush's dirty little war against Iraq, New Zealand has a progressive government that did not.

Could we know more about the telecommunications act in whichever country it was?

Was he arrested merely for sending a letter? or should we assume that there might have been something in the content of the letter that triggered the arrest?

[number six]

11. It happened in NZ

Takapuna and Epsom are suburbs of Auckland, largest city in New Zealand.

[Flying_Pig]

12. The town named in the article is a Maori name, and is most likely

in NZ. It also says "North Shore", again, indicating NZ. Will do a Goggle, and report back.

On edit: As Number Six posted, it is in NZ.

You know, we would be wise here at DU, to keep track of every report like this. I hope someone with a better computer than I, will keep track of this story, and report back. I am going to bookmark this thread.

[Say_What]

19. Here's something that's happening in the US

They're trying to prosecute an entire organization for the actions of 2 people. How long before they try to do that with the anti-war movement organizations in the US?? They're testing the waters. It all has to do with Patriot Act II.

<clips>

US puts right to protest at risk
Government prosecutes Greenpeace over protest

Greenpeace is being taken to court by the US government because of its action against the illegal importation of mahogany. Its lawyers says it is the first time an entire organisation has been criminally prosecuted for the activities of two members.

The prosecution arises from the activity in April last year of two Greenpeace members who boarded a vessel off the coast of Miami allegedly carrying mahogany from Brazil to the US and hoisted a banner saying: "President Bush, Stop Illegal Logging."

They were accompanied by journalists who recorded the event. Both protesters and 12 other Greenpeace activists in support vessels were arrested and jailed over the weekend. Six were charged with misdemeanours, and pleaded guilty.

Normally that would have been an end of the matter, a familiar event for Greenpeace, whose activists are regularly arrested and usually fined or sentenced to short jail terms.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1074676,00.html

---

From an article about the Patriot Act:

<clips>

... One of the most significant features of the Act is a new, broader definition given to terrorism. The definition now also includes “domestic,” as contrasted with international terrorism. Section 802 states that a person engages in domestic terrorism if they do any act “dangerous to human life” that is a violation of the criminal laws of a state or the United States, if that action appears to be intended to: (i) intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping. Further, the act or acts must take place primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

This definition is broad enough to encompass the activities of such organizations as Greenpeace, Operation Rescue, Environmental Liberation Front, protests about Vieques Island, and protests at the meeting of the World Trade Organization. Civil disobedience, such as entering on the premises of a U.S. military base, which is a violation of federal law, would now be included within the definition of an act of domestic terrorism. Disrupting a meeting or procession of vehicles as a means of drawing attention to or attempting to influence an unwanted governmental policy all could be considered acts of domestic terrorism. The implications are huge and the Act can be used to prosecute political dissidents of many stripes. The Act potentially violates at least six of the ten original Bill of Rights: the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 13th Amendment. It grants broad new powers to law enforcement and permits law enforcement officials to side-step or avoid entirely many traditional controls on the surveillance, investigation, arrest, and prosecution of civilians residing in the United States.

http://www.globalpolicy.org/wtc/liberties/2003/0806patriot.htm

[Devils Advocate NZ]

13. This is a New Zealand case...

Police quiz activist over email to US embassy

31.10.2003
By SCOTT MacLEOD
An Auckland peace activist who sent an email to the United States embassy objecting to the war on Iraq has been charged with the misuse of a telephone.

Police went to the Epsom home of university student Bruce Hubbard, 38, yesterday afternoon and took him to the Takapuna police station for questioning.

Mr Hubbard last night said he had been charged under the Telecommunications Act and had been told by police they would seize information from his computer under the Counter-Terrorism Act.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?thesection=news&thesubsection=&storyID=3531747

I would assume that he has been charged under the following section of the Telecommunications Act:

112.Misuse of telephone device—

(1)Every person commits an offence who, in using a telephone device, uses profane, indecent, or obscene language, or makes a suggestion of a profane, indecent, or obscene nature, with the intention of offending the recipient.

(2)Every person commits an offence who—

(a)uses, or causes or permits to be used, any telephone device for the purpose of disturbing, annoying, or irritating any person, whether by calling up without speech or by wantonly or maliciously transmitting communications or sounds, with the intention of offending the recipient; or

(b)in using a telecommunications device, knowingly gives any fictitious order, instruction, or message.

(3)Every person who commits an offence against subsection (1) or subsection (2) is liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or a fine not exceeding $2,000.

Not having seen what he wrote in his e-mail, it is hard to say whether he is being justly prosecuted here, but I do NOT like the fact that the anti-terrorism act is being used against what is at worst a protestor who went too far in the language used in his e-mail.

I will be following this closely.

This really is unbelievable, especially when you remember that Helen Clark (our Prime Minister) was involved in a bit of a scandal when she was quoted as saying that the Iraq war wouldn't have happened if Gore was President.

Clark raised the ire of the Bush Administration in March when she said the war would not have happened if Democrat Al Gore had won the presidential elections. Clark apologised for the remark.
http://www.forbes.com/home_asia/newswire/2003/10/19/rtr1114276.html

This case could have something to do with trying "mend fences" with the Bush admin in the hopes of reviving trade talks, but I sure hope not. It would be a travesty if this guy is being prosecuted merely in order to gain a trade agreement with the US.

[saigon68]

14. I guess one POODLE BOY is not enough for the Chimpanzee

He apparently needs more than one

[Tommy_Douglas]

17. You are either with Bush...

or you're are against him. Bush was very clear when drawing the lines.

[MaryBear]

15. Thanks for your post, Devils Advocate NZ.

Will you keep us informed, particularly about what the fellow wrote and what justification is given for his arrest?

[w4rma]

16. Al Gore: I would Never Start This War

Al Gore: I would Never Start This War
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=21239

Al Gore has never been a supporter of Iraq war

Amid all the debate over Helen Clark's comments that if Al Gore had been United States President, he wouldn't have started the war on Iraq, the underlying facts have become seriously misrepresented and the public has been left grossly misinformed.

The Prime Minister has apologised to Washington for any offence caused. But she has not retracted her comments, and this has led to demands in Parliament by Act leader Richard Prebble, New Zealand First's Winston Peters and the National Party's Bill English that she make a second apology, admitting she was wrong in suggesting Mr Gore opposed the war.

She was not wrong at all. She was absolutely correct, and they are the ones who are wrong. Mr Gore has made crystal clear his strong opposition to the war and the rationale behind it. In fact, the recorded positions of Mr Gore and Helen Clark are virtually identical.
…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3451987&thesection=news&thesubsection=dialogue

[number six]

18. Go Helen Clark!

I knew NZ wouldn't let us down.