At a time when the Government’s Anti-Terror legislation is currently being altered following a step down, it’s nice to learn that the innocent here have not be made to suffer because of our zealous defence of basic Human Rights.
I’m certainly not attacking our fundamental respect for Human Rights, but the matter at hand demonstrates just how easily our own decency can be turned against us, it is a weakness in the character of our nation but a very necessary one:
It transpires that the court martial brought against 7 UK soldiers has in fact been founded on a tissue of lies, propagated by bribery and sleaze.
Mrs Rishek, a mother of 11, who does not know her age, told military investigators she was beaten by the soldiers during the attack, the court sitting in Colchester, Essex, heard.
But she has admitted to the court that she lied and never sustained any injuries.
In court on Monday, Neil Ford QC, representing Private Scott Jackson, one of the accused, asked Mrs Rishek whether it was accurate that she had told investigators she received a “dreadful beating” while pregnant.
She replied through an interpreter: “Correct, but I was not hit.” Richard Ferguson QC, representing former Private Roberto Di-Gregorio, asked Mrs Rishek whether her tribe considered it “a matter of shame” to be found telling lies.
She said: “Yes, it is a shame. I am ashamed of it now. I don’t know what I was saying.”
Mr Ferguson then asked her whether she had lied to obtain compensation for someone else or to back up lies told by other members of her community.
She said: “No, by Allah, I did that on my own. No, it was not for that.”
Last week, the court heard Mrs Rishek, along with other witnesses, is being paid 100 dollars a day to give evidence at the trial.
She also admitted that she had only agreed to give evidence after being told she would be paid.
This court martial is taking place right here in Colchester. Colchester is a garrison town and whilst you come to disdain the general activities of squaddies ‘on the piss’, after living here for a protracted period of time you learn that fundamentally, our military is made up of a great many upstanding men and women. Our next-door neigbours are perfect examples of that - I’ve moved home over 10 times and I’ve only known 2 other sets of neighbours who come close to comparing to them in decency, kindness and bravery.
The idea that a collection of our fighting men and women decided to arbitrarily beat up a young pregnant girl is so fundamentally ludicrous that I can’t honestly claim to be surprised at the outcome of this court martial. The charges could only be considered likely (and thus, considered to have sufficient grounds to succeed for the briber) by someone with an intense hatred for the people of our military and who possesses massive ignorance of their conduct and nature.
I can think of persons without and persons within this country who would be sufficiently motivated (and foolish) to bring this farcical perversion of justice about and whoever they are, I hope subsequent proceedings discover their whereabouts and bring them to justice.
The media would have paraded this crap over TV for months (in fact they did so in the lead up to this investigation) had it been shown that there had been misconduct on the part of our soldiers. How long will this scandal, inverted upon the sub-human scum who paid that young girl and then held her bound by her own piety and faith, be played across the airwaves?
Later
John
Posted by John Swaine at November 3, 2005 04:49 PM