SUB-HEADING: "The children were wrongly deemed to be adults by federal police and Australian courts, who were relying on a wildly inaccurate technique."
PHOTO CAPTION: "Indonesians Maikel Husa, Usman Ari, Vandi, Rudi Usman, Hamzah Gogo and Muhammad Maleng were all detained as children, then spent an average of 864 days in Australian jails.
GIST: "Up to 220 Indonesians could receive compensation after they were wrongfully prosecuted and detained as adult people smugglers in Australia despite being children at the time.
Earlier this year, the federal government agreed to settle a significant class action brought by a group of Indonesian children who were falsely prosecuted as adult people smugglers between 2010 and 2012.
The children were wrongly deemed to be adults by federal police and Australian courts, who were relying on a wildly inaccurate technique using interpretations of wrist X-rays to determine age.
The prosecutions, launched in the highly charged political climate around border protection, led to children as young as 12 being jailed in maximum security adult prisons in Western Australia.
A Guardian Australia investigation last year revealed that police relied on the technique despite being aware of information casting serious doubt on its reliability and accuracy.
Many of the convictions have since been overturned and lawyers acting for the Indonesians, Ken Cush and Associates, are now suing the commonwealth in the federal court.
The parties reached an agreement to settle for $27.5m, plus legal costs, in October. That settlement is now awaiting approval by the federal court.
In the meantime, the parties are continuing to search for additional Indonesians who were prosecuted or detained using the wrist X-rays.
The case began with 122 class action members.
Guardian Australia understands that up to 220 individuals have now been identified who could be compensated as a result of the settlement.
The case is led by plaintiff Ali Yasmin, who was detained in December 2009, despite telling authorities he was 14. Yasmin was prosecuted and jailed in an adult security prison before being released in 2012 and deported.
Yasmin’s conviction was the first to be overturned in 2022. Last year, another six Indonesians had their convictions overturned.
Guardian Australia’s investigation into the case revealed that, despite concerns about the technique, police relied on it to alter the dates of birth given to them by the Indonesian children – changing the year of birth, but keeping the month and date – to turn them into adults and make their age fit the X-ray interpretations.
Australian federal police policy dictated that children found on people smuggling boats – many of whom were tricked and coerced into crewing the vessels – were to be sent home to their families. Adults were to be prosecuted.
The altered dates were used on sworn legal documents, including prosecution notices and indictments.""
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.
Lawyer Radha Natarajan;
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.
