AUSTRALIAN Federal Police cooperation with regional countries that impose the death penalty is under review in the wake of controversy over the sentencing of several Australians to death on drugs charges.
Attorney-General Robert McClelland has directed the overhaul to ensure guidelines for regional police cooperation match Labor Government policy.
The issue is a delicate one for Mr McClelland after he was slapped down last year by then opposition leader Kevin Rudd for pledging Labor would seek to abolish capital punishment in the region — a long-standing Labor goal.
Mr Rudd panned Mr McClelland as "insensitive" for making the pledge in the days leading up the October 12 anniversary of the 2002 Bali bombings, and said Labor's opposition would not extend to terrorism cases.
Mr Rudd maintained his tough line yesterday after convicted bombers Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra — awaiting execution in Indonesia — this week threatened fresh attacks against Australians.
"They deserve the justice that will be delivered to them," Mr Rudd said. "They are murderers, they are mass murderers and they are also cowards."
Asian countries are said to carry out 80% of executions worldwide, in 14 states with the death penalty on their books.
The review of AFP guidelines was revealed yesterday in Melbourne during a federal parliamentary committee hearing into Australia's relations with South-East Asian nations.
AFP Commander Paul Osborne told the committee it was essential for police to share information quickly with overseas partners and were currently authorised to do so without reference to a minister.
The AFP has been criticised for helping Indonesian police investigations that led to the arrest of nine Australians in Bali for smuggling heroin in 2005.
Three of the Bali nine — Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran and Scott Rush — were subsequently sentenced to death in Indonesian courts.
The committee also heard concerns Australia may be inadvertently helping corrupt police, in countries such as Burma, who are known to have ties to the drug trade.
AFP Assistant Commissioner Peter Drennan said he was happy the level of cooperation between Australian and Burmese police was not a risk and built confidence in the two-way relationship.
Mr Drennan said there was now a high level of cooperation among police across the region, for intelligence sharing and joint-training to tackle terrorism, narcotics trafficking and other types of cross-border crime. "Go back a few years and this would not have occurred. Countries tend to treat their information — and guard it — quite jealously," he said.
A spokesman for Mr McClelland last night said the review of police-to-police assistance in death penalty cases was ongoing and no decisions had yet been made.
Source: WAToday, Oct. 2, 2008
Attorney-General Robert McClelland has directed the overhaul to ensure guidelines for regional police cooperation match Labor Government policy.
The issue is a delicate one for Mr McClelland after he was slapped down last year by then opposition leader Kevin Rudd for pledging Labor would seek to abolish capital punishment in the region — a long-standing Labor goal.
Mr Rudd panned Mr McClelland as "insensitive" for making the pledge in the days leading up the October 12 anniversary of the 2002 Bali bombings, and said Labor's opposition would not extend to terrorism cases.
Mr Rudd maintained his tough line yesterday after convicted bombers Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra — awaiting execution in Indonesia — this week threatened fresh attacks against Australians.
"They deserve the justice that will be delivered to them," Mr Rudd said. "They are murderers, they are mass murderers and they are also cowards."
Asian countries are said to carry out 80% of executions worldwide, in 14 states with the death penalty on their books.
The review of AFP guidelines was revealed yesterday in Melbourne during a federal parliamentary committee hearing into Australia's relations with South-East Asian nations.
AFP Commander Paul Osborne told the committee it was essential for police to share information quickly with overseas partners and were currently authorised to do so without reference to a minister.
The AFP has been criticised for helping Indonesian police investigations that led to the arrest of nine Australians in Bali for smuggling heroin in 2005.
Three of the Bali nine — Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran and Scott Rush — were subsequently sentenced to death in Indonesian courts.
The committee also heard concerns Australia may be inadvertently helping corrupt police, in countries such as Burma, who are known to have ties to the drug trade.
AFP Assistant Commissioner Peter Drennan said he was happy the level of cooperation between Australian and Burmese police was not a risk and built confidence in the two-way relationship.
Mr Drennan said there was now a high level of cooperation among police across the region, for intelligence sharing and joint-training to tackle terrorism, narcotics trafficking and other types of cross-border crime. "Go back a few years and this would not have occurred. Countries tend to treat their information — and guard it — quite jealously," he said.
A spokesman for Mr McClelland last night said the review of police-to-police assistance in death penalty cases was ongoing and no decisions had yet been made.
Source: WAToday, Oct. 2, 2008
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