Young Australian sues over drug arrest
Sigh. I wonder why we tolerate these lunatics…
The controversial 2006 recipient of the Young Australian of the Year award for NSW, Iktimal Hage-Ali, is suing the state of NSW for damages for false arrest and false imprisonment by police.
Ms Hage-Ali was a high profile Muslim leader, who advised the former Prime Minister John Howard, when she was arrested and questioned on drug use in 2006.
Ms Hage-Ali, 24 - who has admitted to possession of cocaine exclusively for her personal use and was released without charge after questioning on November 22, 2006 - went on to collect her award, but left Australia the following month.
She is now suing for unspecified damages for false arrest and false imprisonment by police from the Middle Eastern crime squad because she says they did not have a warrant.
In the District Court today, Ms Hage-Ali told of threats to her and her family.
Ms Hage-Ali told judge Michael Elkaim in the court’s civil jurisdiction that information she gave police after her arrest was going to be used in the prosecution of her supplier, Bruce Fahdi, who has since been convicted and imprisoned.
She said that a few days after her arrest she had learned from her brother Rabi that threats had been made against her and her family, and that youth advocate Fadi Abdul-Rahman had also told her that he had been warned about threats towards her.
Ms Hage-Ali collected her award on November 30, 2006, because she had not been charged and she believed eight years of positive contribution to the community should be taken into account, she told the court.
But following publicity of her arrest in a newspaper on December 13, 2006, and news reports that she was giving evidence against Fahdi, she became very concerned.
She met senior police, who assured her that all the protection that she needed would be provided.
But she believed that some statements she had made to the police had been leaked to the media.
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