A Great Day for Freedom

Very interesting day today in the global war on freedom and liberty.

First of all British citizen Mobeen Muneef is sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in Iraq for a visa violation. The sentence came after Mobeen was held for almost 18 months in US custody (including a few months in Abu Ghraib) without charge and without a visit from any of his family. Obviously suspected of aiding the mujaahideen but as is usually the case, no evidence. By the Justice Ministry's own statement, this is supposed to serve as "a harsh message to would-be jihadis from abroad that if you are caught in terrorist activity you will get no leniency.” Yet, no charges of supporting terrorism were ever brought - only passport violations. So the punishment for being illegal in Iraq is not deportation as would be expected but 15 years imprisonment.

Lets see what the Foreign Office does for a British citizen given a blatantly disproportionate sentence for a visa violation. Will it act as it did to protect the British nurses given the death penalty in Saudi? Don't hold your breath - Mobeen is a certain type of British citizen; a British Muslim.

Next, President Bush's crusade to boost democracy receives a huge boost as that great liberal democrat and defender of human rights, Hu Jintao, the President of China, visits the White House. When a fellow Chinese journalist, Wang Wenyi of The Epoch Times, decided she could not hack such hypocracy any longer, she heckled calling on him to end China's persecution of the Falun Gong movement. Ms Wenyi is now facing federal charges of "willing intimidation or disruption of a foreign official" - the incriminating statement: "evil people die young and you will die young".

Another great day for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.