The Judge RANTS!
Date: 07/07/06
Something Good
In terms of its tone, this certainly doesn't belong here, but it's
a follow-up to Rants on 08/06/06 and 20/06/06, so I should be consistent.
Over a month after he had his door smashed down and he was hauled
off to a maximum-security prison by the Home Office's thugs, Sakchai
Makao today won
his appeal against deportation. The hearing followed a month of
concerted action by the people of Shetland against the state's clear
abuse of power, and a campaign which has been supported not only
throughout those isles, but also in the rest of Scotland and beyond.
This isn't quite the end, however: it's still perfectly
possible that Home Secretary John Reid (who, like his
equally-lamentable predecessors, never seems to find a hole deep enough
to persuade him to stop digging) will appeal. However, given the fact
that his party has taken an enormous kicking over this, and that there
are elections to the Scottish Parliament coming up next Spring, he
might use what little political nous he has and admit defeat (although
he will never do so gracefully, you may be sure of that).
So, Sakchai Makao has been saved from injustice. Now, let us turn
to other such outrages against justice by this regime, such as the case
of Ernesto
Leal, a refugee from Pinochet's murderous regime, who faces the
same fate.
