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| Down Under |
| Ozzie citizen |
| 2006-01-27 |
| A Turkish-born Australian citizen has been sentenced in the Northern Territory Supreme Court to five-and-a-half years' jail for people trafficking. Mehmet Seriban, 39, pleaded guilty to the charges. Seriban arrived in Australia illegally in 1995, was granted a temporary protection visa and then Australian citizenship in 1998. Between November 1998 and February 2000 Seriban helped move 30 people, including four family members, from Turkey to Indonesia and onward to Ashmore Reef. He was responsible for organising and paying for their transport, accommodation and food. In sentencing today, Justice David Angel said the passengers had to endure rotten food, hunger and engine fumes, and fresh water ran out within days. He sentenced Seriban to a non-parole period of two years and nine months in prison, backdated to March 2004. Justice Angel said he doubted Seriban would re-offend when released from prison. Seriban's defence lawyer says the asylum seekers his client brought to Australia were not "queue-jumpers". Jon Tippett, QC, says the people Seriban helped were genuine asylum seekers. "The whole idea that these people are coming to Australia on boats and they're queue-jumping as genuine refugees is a lie," he said. "And it ought to be treated by the Australian community as a lie and the Government should not be believed when it puts to the Australian community a refugee policy that is based on untruths." Besoeker post. |
| Posted by:Creck Ulagum6581 |
| #2 create = creative |
| Posted by: ed 2006-01-27 17:41 |
| #1 Sweet! Enter Australia illegally and get citzenship in three years. Gotta give Mehmet credit for his create "friends and family" reunification plan. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-01-27 17:36 |