Posted on 09/15/2005 5:20:09 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
AMERICAN peace activist Scott Parkin arrived back in the US today under guard after Australian authorities detained him in a Melbourne jail for five days for being a "national security risk".
The 36-year-old Texan history teacher was also given a bill for almost $11,700 after his brush with Australian authorities. Mr Parkin said he was made to feel like a terrorist and a criminal and remains baffled as to why six police officers "snatched him off the street" as he left a Melbourne cafe last Saturday.
He said he was interrogated and spent the next five days in solitary confinement in a Melbourne jail.
He was escorted by two Victorian correctional officers on a Qantas passenger plane which left Melbourne yesterday, arriving in Los Angeles this morning.
"I'm just completely baffled by all of this," said Mr Parkin, surrounded by Australian TV cameras and media, soon after his arrival at Los Angeles international airport.
Mr Parkin was in Australia as part of a six-month holiday in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. He arrived on June 1.
An activist for 15 years, he said he gave talks while in Australia about the war in Iraq and helped organise one protest against US energy company Halliburton.
"In the talks I gave I wasn't even openly critical of Australia," Mr Parkin said.
"I was being openly critical of the US occupation (of Iraq) and I was being openly critical of Halliburton."
Mr Parkin said authorities never made it clear why he had been arrested.
"They were very vague," he said. "They said I violated sections of the migration act and they said I was a direct or indirect risk to their national security."
Mr Parkin was housed alone in a jail cell that contained two concrete slabs to sleep on, a TV set and a sink.
"They gave me three couch cushions and three really crummy blankets and fed me three times a day," he said.
Mr Parkin was also handed a bill for almost $11,700. It included $4235.03 for his airfare back to LA and $6675.39 for the return airfares of his two corrective services escorts as well as their accommodation in Los Angeles.
"They're staying in Anaheim on Disneyland Drive I heard," Mr Parkin quipped.
The five-day stay at the Melbourne Assessment Prison will cost him another $777.
"They said if I ever decided to return to Australia I'd have to pay them back," Mr Parkin said.
The activist was also banned from entering Australia for three years. He plans to fight his removal from Australia and is desperate to find out why authorities were concerned about him.
"I'd love to know the assessment in which the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) made of me to lock me up for five days in solitary confinement and then remove me from the country essentially forcibly," Mr Parkin said.
Mr Parkin warned the incident raised great concerns about freedom of speech in Australia and the US.
"I think we are seeing a crisis in freedom of speech and freedom of expression in Australia, the United States and lots of places and people need to be aware," he said.
Ain't Australia a great place???!!!
Bet he'll think twice about running his mouth again...(With great freedom comes great responsibility - or a big bill)
Great job, mates!
""I was being openly critical of the US occupation (of Iraq) and I was being openly critical of Halliburton."
Maybe sounding and acting like a lunatic is not appreciated in the land down under.
Memo to Scott Parkin: other nations are not as tolerant of left-wing troublemakers as the U.S.
A security risk overseas and a private citizen in the U.S. Isn't this country great?
"'They gave me three couch cushions and three really crummy blankets and fed me three times a day,' he said."
Four too many of each.
The key word is "occupation" (of Iraq) and Mr. Parkin will never understand it.
Should've dumped him in the Southern Ocean.
Australia is a sovereign nation, and as such has the right to deport anyone they see as a threat, and to declare them persona non grata.
But why send him here? We sure as hell don't want his kind. They should have sent him to one of the many "Islamic Paradise" countries.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Heh. Your gain is our loss. Another moonbat has flown home to America.
Just don't send us any of your unwanted unwashed Muslims
How many can you take? We're offering discounts if you buy in bulk...
What's he griping about? From what he said, they didn't even do any thing bad to him like putting panties on his head.
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