SIS bill another piece of the Police State

9 December

"We should not be surprised that the National government wants to ram through a new SIS bill. John Key and the National party are an incredibly dangerous and deceitful bunch who are intent on removing fundamental freedoms and destroying long-standing rights.

This is just another piece of the puzzle that fits in with the vast expansion of powers under the Search and Surveillance Bill and the elimination of judicial rights under the Criminal Procedures Bill. Key dresses up his totalitarian agenda under the cloak of rugby and security. It is utter rubbish,' said Lee Warren, member of the Campaign to stop the Search and Surveillance Bill.

'The SIS does not need more powers and its current powers are already too great. It operates under a total cloak of secrecy with a huge budget and almost zero oversight. We have little idea what they are doing, but what we do know isn't good.

For example, they were solely responsible for the imprisonment in solitary confinement of Ahmed Zaoui for two years without charges and without a trial based on secret 'evidence' provided by overseas spooks. In the end, none of their accusations proved valid; however meanwhile this man was subjected to horrendous violations of his human rights: the right to know the evidence against him, the right to a fair and speedy trial and the right to be charged or released.'

'The Campaign to Stop the Search and Surveillance Bill says that the SIS does not need the 'same powers as police;' in fact, we say that the police and customs and all the rest of these state forces don't need these powers. In the name of 'fighting terrorism' they are removing our freedoms so rapidly that we are all going to wake up next year to greet the 2011 Rugby World Cup in a very different country, if we don't stop the spread of the police state now.'

'The cross-party support for the SIS Bill and the Search and Surveillance Bill is clear evidence that parliament cannot be trusted. The Labour Party is supporting the expanded police state as much as National does. We must make the decisions that affect our community security and well-being, and we must act to stop the further destruction of our freedom.'

ENDS

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