UN Special Rapporteurs visit is best time to drop the charges!

The visit of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is the best opportunity for the National government to drop the charges against the 18 defendants in the Terror Raids case, said Peter Steiner, spokesperson for the October 15th Solidarity group.

In 2007, a complaint was made to the Special Rapporteur demanding an urgent investigation into serious human rights breaches against the defendants in the case. The grounds of the complaint are acute breaches of rights to privacy, freedom from discrimination and personal liberty, for which there is no available domestic remedy. The violations arise from conduct of the police, elected politicians and media, and pertain to what has been termed, albeit without objective or legal foundation, an “anti-terrorism” operation. The majority of those whose rights were improperly denied are Indigenous Peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand.”

“People from Ngai Tuhoe, Maniapoto, Nga Puhi, Waikato, Te Ati Awa and Taranaki were targeted in these raids. There can be no doubt that this was, and still is, a racist police operation. It had nothing to do with terrorism, it has to do with being Maori.”

“Before getting into government, Pita Sharples said he would seek justice for the people affected in these raids. Now that he is Minister of Maori Affairs he has refused to meet with the defendants in the case, saying that he is now the Crown.”

“For nearly 1000 days, the defendants in this case have been waiting for justice. A trial has been set down for sometime in 2011, nearly four years after the initial raids. Given the dodgy police case and the violation of defendants? rights that have already occurred, no justice can be achieved through the court system. It is up Attorney-General Chris Finlayson and Solicitor-General David Collins to finally pull the plug on this horrific episode. Drop the charges now!”

ENDS

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