Monday, August 22, 2005

The Price of Freedom

Today, there is an article in The Australian newspaper about the fate of Cheikh Kone, a refugee from Ivory Coast in West Africa, who has been finally allowed to stay in Australia after 32 months in Port Hedland detention centre.

But his freedom comes at a hefty price. Nine months after his release, he has been hit with a bill for $89,260 from the Australian federal government for the cost of his imprisonment.

You may think it could only happen in Australia. But there are historical precedents.

Come to think of it, the first time in recent memory that the innocents had to pay for their own incarceration was in post-revolutionary France under Robespierre. And the second was under the Nazi regime in Germany.

History has a funny way of repeating itself!


www.theaustralian.com.au

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Given the way things are going in Europe, I would not be surprised if sooner than later we will start hearing about similar cases.

If it was not so terrible, it could be a decent joke!