Jailed Blockaders Call On Amnesty

The Age

Thursday July 16, 1998

CHRIS RYAN

JABIRU

Northern Territory police have admitted holding arrested Jabiluka uranium mine protesters in overcrowded cells, but say the protesters have chosen to stay in those conditions.

On Tuesday, 118 protesters were arrested in the biggest day of action since the mine blockade in the Kakadu National Park began four months ago.

About half the protesters were released that night, but 58 refused bail and were held at the Jabiru police station in cells designed for about 25 people.

The protesters have filed complaints with Amnesty International, saying their treatment is a breach of human rights.

``They had inadequate conditions in terms of space to lie down, there were no blankets and there was one blocked toilet," said a blockade spokeswoman, Ms Kerry Nettle.

``If people are being taken into custody they need to be dealt with in a humane way."

The protesters who refused bail appeared before a magistrate yesterday. Most again opted to decline the $1000 bail. A police spokesman, Superintendent Warren O'Meara, described their actions as ``illogical". ``They're not making any political statement," he said. ``They are not achieving anything.

``If they want to be held in overcrowded conditions - and they are overcrowded, there's no question about that - it's an option that they have voluntarily taken ... we don't want them in custody."

Mr O'Meara said the one toilet at the Jabiru cells had become blocked but had been quickly repaired.

The magistrate, Mr John Lowndes, said yesterday he was keen to transfer the arrested protesters to Berrimah Jail - the NT's biggest prison - because of the crowded conditions at Jabiru. But Mr O'Meara said Berrimah Jail was also ``300per cent overcrowded".

Protesters who chained themselves to machinery belonging to the mining company Energy Resources of Australia have claimed police tipped out their water supplies and denied them medical treatment.

* The senior elder of the Mirrar people, Ms Yvonne Margarula, will appear before the Jabiru Magistrates Court this morning to face a charge of trespassing on her own land.

The charge relates to an incident in May when Ms Margarula, who headed her people's fight to stop the mine, entered the Jabiluka mineral lease.

Under the NT Land Rights Act, Ms Margarula is the traditional owner of the land, but ERA maintains she was required to seek permission before entering the mine site.

Ms Margarula has indicated she will contest the charge. A verdict is expected today.

© 1998 The Age

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