In the Name of Allah, The Gracious, The Merciful

Sydney, Australia, 2nd September 2008 - It was been recently revealed that Australian troops in Afghanistan mistreated Muslim prisoners in Afghanistan arrested in April 2008 by locking them up in dog pens overnight. The details of the mistreatment of the 'suspected' Taliban prisoners have been disputed, yet the Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has been quick to throw every possible excuse on the table in defence of the troops. Denial on the one hand and a plethora of excuses on the other is the sort of confused mess to be expected from the federal government - Labor or Liberal - given its record on such matters related to Muslims.

Uthman Badar, media representative of Hizb-ut-Tahrir Australia, says,

"What is lost in the accusations, denials and commentary on incidents like these - which have become commonplace in the so-called 'War on Terror' - is they are mere symptoms of an original injustice. The real issue is invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. The American led imperial invasion of Afghanistan, and on whose bandwagon the Howard government was quick to jump, and the Rudd government quick to increase troop numbers, is the unjustified and immoral cause with gives birth to further injustices like this."

"This latest incident should not be made the focus of attention in a de-contextualised manner. It must be seen in the right context - the horrors of invasion faced by the Afghani people on a daily basis, of innocent people being bombed to bits from the air, of entire villages being turned upside down, of families being torn apart, of people being presumed guilty and subjected to inhumane acts of depravation and torture at places like Bagram. The assistance of Australian troops in an invasion defined by this context is indeed a sad state of affairs which history will surely not forget."

"It is well-known that Afghanistan has been the target of many a failed invasion in the past. So much so that the harsh terrains of Afghanistan are famously known to become the graveyard of those who seek its invasion. Such a wasteful sacrifice of human life is completely unjustified. The people of Australia must hold the Government to account and take a stand against their fathers and sons being used for such ulterior and unacceptable objectives by the likes of the United States."

Ends.

For further information, questions or comments, please contact Uthman Badar, Media Representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia, on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 0438 000 465. Alternatively, further information is available on our website: www.hizb-australia.org.

Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia

2nd September 2008

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