Barbara Dowling's Appeal.

     Wed 7 August - Barbara Dowling's census case

10.30am, High Court, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh
        Barbara's appeal hearing over her prosecution for failing to fully complete her census form in 2011 will be held in the High Court Edinburgh. The appeal will challenge the decision by Glasgow Sheriff Court to allow the case against Barbara to proceed without allowing her lawyer to comment on an ammendment to the charge ( they were using out of date legislation ). This was just the last in a long series of legal abuses designed to scapegoat a handful of people, without making any serious attempt to prosecute all the 187,924 Scottish households that were required to send in a census form and didn't do so.
More background at http://www.ethicalcensus.org.uk/
     Please come along to make sure that the Scottish legal system knows we're watching it.

No Complicity in Torture!

ann arky's home.

Postponed Postponement!

      How many times can the judiciary postpone a case on the grounds of "lack of court time" before you can call a halt, due to unfair treatment?

Census trial adjourned again

 

      Barbara Dowling's trial for allegedly refusing to fully complete her census form has today (19 February )  been adjourned due to lack of court time until 23rd April

 

     Today's decision continues a long history of delays. Barbara first appeared before Glasgow Sheriff Court in connection with these charges in September 2011, when she entered a not guilty plea.

 

      A US-based defence contractor involved in human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib Prison helped to run the Scotland's 2011 census. The contractor - CACI International - has tried for years to claim immunity from lawsuits relating to its involvement in torture and abuse. But people in Scotland who refused, as a matter of conscience, to participate fully in the census are being pursued as criminals through the Scottish courts

 

See http://www.ethicalcensus.org.uk/

 

More info: contact@ethicalcensus.org.uk  or phone  07936432519 or 07786630764

ann arky's home.

Torture and the Scotish Census.

Support Barbara Dowling - on trial over the census on 19 February

Glasgow Sheriff Court.

Assemble outside the court from 9.30pm

Trial from 10am.

     Barbara Dowling's long delayed trial for allegedly refusing to fully complete her census form will be held on 19 February, in Glasgow Sheriff Court. Even if you can't come along for the whole of the trial, please show your support by joining us outside the court from 9.30am.

       A US-based defence contractor involved in human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib Prison helped to run the census. The contractor - CACI International - has tried for years to claim immunity from lawsuits relating to its involvement in torture and abuse. But people in Scotland who refused, as a matter of conscience, to participate fully in the census are being pursued as criminals through the Scottish courts.

See:             http://www.ethicalcensus.org.uk/

More info:     contact@ethicalcensus.org.uk

or phone:       07936432519 or 07786630764

ann arky's home.

THE RIGHT TO PROTEST.

Please circulate widely.
Support Barbara in Court - victimised over Scottish census

10am Wednesday

25th January, Dumbarton Sheriff Court, over non-payment of a fine for blockading Faslane

10am Thursday 26 January in Court 16, Glasgow Sheriff Court, over the census.

       Barbara Dowling is being charged under the Census Act, accused of not filling in her census form properly. Barbara will be defending herself.

The trial will be at 10am in Court 16, Glasgow Sheriff Court Thursday 26 January.

SOLIDARITY.

Or come a bit earlier to show your support outside the court

        Bring placards and banners, Please come along and show your support even if you can only spare a short time. Countless Scots have either failed to fill in their census forms or returned them partially completed or improved by critical comments, but have not been prosecuted. Barbara's victimisation is inexplicable.

       CACI, the firm that helped run Abu Ghraib and also helped run Scotland's Census, has so far dodged any accountability in law for its involvement in abuse and torture. It claims immunity in the US as a government contractor. And in Scotland the Crown Office refused to prosecute CACI, initially claiming lack of jurisdiction.

Barbara is the first person to be tried in Scotland over objections to the 2011 census. SHE NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT.

      Barbara will also be in court on 25 Jan over non-payment of a fine incurred for blockading Faslane nuclear Base. Barbara is refusing to pay the fine and risks a jail sentence:

10am 25th January, Dumbarton Sheriff Court.

- support in court welcome

      "The Scottish government, and any government with a principled stance, should not be going near any firm with such associations, even indirectly. The government is opening itself up to significant and justified protest. Ordinary members of the public could refuse to have anything to do with the census. A boycott is something to be considered. It would be a legitimate step. We cannot ignore our principles." - Solicitor Advocate John Scott, 2008.

       "Now it seems the Scottish government is already closing its eyes to what is going on overseas. Would we say it was OK if a firm connected to Mugabe was hired to run our census? It is unacceptable that they have been hired. This will horrify most ordinary people It is unacceptable that the Scottish government should be selling its soul to an organisation accused of torturing human beings." - Solicitor Aamer Anwar, 2008

More background and news at ethicalcensus.org.uk
Download a flyer -
http://www.sacc.org.uk/sacc/resources/census-trial2.pdf

More information
07786630764 or 07936432519

ann arky's home.

A MATTER OF GREAT CONCERN.

To John Swinney MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth Scottish Government

    An open letter on a matter of great concern to all in Scotland, perhaps everybody should demand an answer to their concerns from My Swinney. Do we really want to pour out personal information to a foreign private company who can in turn hand it over to a foreign government? Is there no company in Scotland that could do this job, if it needs to be done?

Dear Mr Swinney,

               I have already raised this matter with Charles Kennedy MP but his office have pointed out that this is a devolved matter and I should approach you.

              I understand that the 2011 Scottish census will be run by an American company (CACI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CACI International, a US-based defence contractor, who from August 2003 until the early autumn of 2005 was contracted to provide "interrogation services" for the US Army at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. While CACI staff were employed as interrogators at Abu Ghraib, prisoners were humiliated and tortured there by US military police.

            It is simply not acceptable that such a company, which is apparently facing criminal charges in the US, should be given a contract to carry out the census. I also understand that our data may be held outside the UK and made available to the US Government under their Patriot Act. This will violate the principle that data is kept confidential for 100 years. 

            Please clarify the position. If this is correct I think the Scottish people would be well advised to refuse to co-operate until the CACI contract has been cancelled and Scottish people can have confidence that the census will be wholly run by the Scottish government itself and the data will not be made available to any foreign government.

It canny be righ'

ann arky's home.