Terry Irving

The universal deceleration of human rights is a known and recognized worldwide. The general public sees it as a vital aspect of the legal system. Yet despite this, we still have various amounts of conflict, dehumanizing acts and large scale crime. This has confused mass amount of people, but the solution is simple, the articles listed within the declaration are not regarded highly and aren’t protected and utilised by the law. A particularly good example is article 11: innocent until proven guilty, as there are multiple incidents, both internationally and domestically that prove how little regard is given to upholding this human rights.

David Hicks is an Australian journalist who travelled to Albania to study Islam in 1999. After some time,

In March of 1993, a string of armed robberies had occurred. One of these was one that occurred at the Portsman branch of the ANZ in which a man threatened three bank tellers while armed and escaped in a getaway vehicle with over $6000 (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-31/indigenous-man-gets-clearance-to-sue/2863462). Detectives, upon investigation, questioned Irving for the crime. The reasoning for the questioning was that the getaway vehicle was Irving’s, which had been loaned to an acquaintance he knew at a local pub. The spectator description of the robber was early 20s with dark hair and more than 5′-11″ (180cm) tall, completely contradictory to Irving who was 37 with brown hair and 5′-7″ (172cm) tall. Despite this, three bank tellers identified Irving and was arrested, despite the description. Irving’s trial lasted less than a day due to his barrister failing to show up and lawyer leaving two weeks prior for vacation. Due to the teller’s identification, Irving was found guilty and sentenced to seven years and half years in prison. Irving the attempted a pro se appeal to the Queensland Court of Appeal in April of 1994. This was denied. He then requested legal aid for his application for leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia. This was once again denied. Following six more applications for legal aid and being forced to pay compensation to the three previously mentioned bank tellers, Irving was able to obtain solid evidence through Freedom of Information requests that was oblivious to him at the time of his prosecution. This included a photograph of the robber which showcased how little resemblance he shared with Irving, as well as two statements from employees at a neighbouring post office that saw the robber undisguised previous to the robbery and directly stating that Irving was not the perpetrator. On December 8, 1997, after receiving documentation, the High Court shockingly