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Australia: Rethink urged on Kurds PKK
party ban
2.5.2006
By Nassim Khadem, Canberra
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Outlawing the Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) as a terrorist organisation
under the Federal Government's counter-terrorism
laws is under fire from a Government-dominated
parliamentary committee.
The PKK was proscribed as a terrorist group in
December, meaning a person found to have links with
the party or its 16 related entities can face a jail
term of up to 25 years.
The report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on
Intelligence and Security calls on the Government to
consider revising the ban by listing only the PKK's
military wing, the Kurdistan Freedom Brigade. It
also urges the Government to "take into account the
number of Australians of Kurdish origin who may
support the broad aims of the PKK without endorsing
or supporting its engagement in terrorist acts".
Of the 15,000 Australian Kurds, about 5000 originate
from Turkey. Though the report found the PKK had no
direct links with Australia, it said most Australian
Kurds supported its struggle for self-determination.
A separate minority report by Labor MPs Duncan Kerr
and John Faulkner, both members of the committee,
said the listing needed revision because it did not
meet the Government's own criteria about
organisations that can be proscribed.
Theage com.au
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