Four Corners defends Captain Emad whistleblower

[mborkp]

yet another The Australian lie.

he ABC's Four Corners has strongly rejected claims made by The Australian newspaper that an informer who assisted the program's investigation into alleged people smuggling kingpin Captain Emad is "unreliable".

Captain Emad, who was living undercover in suburban Canberra after a successful refugee claim, was thrust into the spotlight by the Four Corners program on Monday.

Iraqi refugee Hussain Nasir worked with Four Corners on the expose.

On Saturday The Weekend Australian newspaper claimed "senior government sources" described Mr Nasir as an "unreliable source" who was removed from the AFP's informer list because he "kept getting things wrong".

Sue Spencer, the executive producer of Four Corners, has rejected the allegations.

"The facts of the Four Corners program are not in dispute. To attack a brave whistleblower, one of the very few people prepared to stand up to criminal people smugglers and to do so using anonymous, unattributed sources is disgraceful," she said in a statement.

Mr Nasir told ABC News Online he was saddened that The Australian never offered him a chance to respond to the allegations.

"I want the people who write these things about me to provide evidence," he said.

"There's a lot of shame when someone says these things without evidence.

"And I should have been able to respond because it's my name, my reputation."

Spencer has also rejected the paper’s allegations that the ABC had been warned not to use Mr Nasir as a guide in the past.

"It is completely false to assert, as the article does, that the ABC was warned off working with Hussain," she said.

Spencer says the ABC went to great lengths to check Mr Nasir's background, in particular his previous work with the US Special Forces following the US invasion of Iraq.

"The US Special Forces told Four Corners the members of the unit trusted Hussain with their lives," she said.

"Four Corners' experience of Hussain mirrors that of the US Special Forces and is sharply at odds with the slurs contained in The Weekend Australian article."

Spencer says while he worked as an AFP informer, Mr Nasir helped with the apprehension of one smuggler and was never told his information was unreliable.

A spokeswoman for the AFP told ABC News Online the agency "does not confirm or deny who their informants are, and it would not be appropriate to comment further".

Mr Nasir says while he had a "very good relationship" with the AFP, he turned to Four Corners because they can do "in a few weeks" what takes the agency years.

"Is exposing criminals in Australia the wrong thing? Why were they just focusing on me?" he said.

"Maybe it is because my hair is not yellow and my eyes not blue?

"This is not justice. I did a great thing. I will continue to expose the criminals that work within this country, clean this country from criminals.

"We have lists. The plan with Four Corners is to expose these criminals one by one."

Reporter Sarah Ferguson has also stood by Mr Nasir.

"Before publication of his article, The Australian's Dennis Shanahan told me that the allegations about Hussain Nasir were part of 'a government campaign to besmirch his reputation'," she said in a statement.

"The quality and reliability of Hussain's work is abundantly evident in our programs. I am proud to work with him."

The Weekend Australian article also alleged that Ferguson, and Lateline host Tony Jones, extensively lobbied government ministers to get Mr Nasir residency in Australia.

Spencer says the ABC took what measures it could to protect his safety, after his life was threatened by smugglers in the wake of a 2010 Four Corners report.

"Hussain and his family had refugee status; earlier that year their case had been sent with 500 others to Australia by the UNHCR for re-settlement in Australia," she said.

"Following advice from UN officials, with his life in immediate danger, the ABC asked for Hussain to be moved to a third country while his case was considered.

"In the months that followed, Four Corners continued to provide information on the extent of Hussain's record and background to the Australian authorities who were considering his case. After a thorough vetting process, he and his family were settled in Australia."

Monday night's Four Corners program revealed that Captain Emad, also known as Abu Khalid, captained an asylum boat from Indonesia in 2010, but then acted like an ordinary passenger when Australian authorities arrived.

Australian Federal Police announced on Thursday that he had fled the country on Tuesday night, a day after the program aired.

The revelations sparked a political spat over how much Labor, and the AFP, had known about Captain Emad.

A spokesman for the Immigration Department says it views any allegations of people smuggling seriously, but as the investigation into Captain Emad is ongoing it would not be appropriate to comment further.

[admin]

Yet another boring post.

[hca]

He will be a "dead man walking" now anyway.

[mborkp]

Yet another boring post.

inSane borring for some.

[weirdo]

yet another The Australian lie.

It's funny how you find this to be 'yet another The Australian lie' but are completely comfortable with a Prime minister's promise NOT to introduce a carbon tax, only to then turn around and do the exact opposite.

[eaglem]

How can we soar like eagles when we're surrounded by turkeys???????????

He's totally rusted on to the Labor Wagon weirdo and refuses to open his eyes.

[mborkp]

It's funny how you find this to be 'yet another The Australian lie' but are completely comfortable with a Prime minister's promise NOT to introduce a carbon tax, only to then turn around and do the exact opposite.

that's where the real fun starts... ... she did not. She introduced Carbon Pricing

BTW, I got scared that you and Sanity (maybe enf?) decided not to participate in my post anymore, but thanks God, I, as usual misunderstand you. Or, maybe it works something like this? :

From: George Lewis
Date: Friday 3 September 2010 7.04pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: tarded

Ive deleted you from my facebook and reported you. i hope you die of aids fag. Dont bothering emailing me again becasue I wont read it.
From: David Thorne
Date: Friday 3 September 2010 7.12pm
To: George Lewis
Subject: dneck

Yes you will.
From: George Lewis
Date: Friday 3 September 2010 7.16pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: dneck

No I ####ing wont fag

[mborkp]

How can we soar like eagles when we're surrounded by turkeys???????????

He's totally rusted on to the Labor Wagon weirdo and refuses to open his eyes.

damn, you exposed my secret, highly paid, non taxable, classified work for Julia.
I'm fvcked now. You are brilliant... Oh, turkeys make nice meal, the eagle in the sky is of no use..

[enf]

?

[mborkp]

?

SANITY:
He sits at his keyboard full of grog posting waffle. You can put any amount of proven fact in front of him and he wont accept it, so there isnt really much point in replying to anything he says.

enf:
I'll bow to superior judgement....

[admin]

SANITY:
He sits at his keyboard full of grog posting waffle. You can put any amount of proven fact in front of him and he wont accept it, so there isnt really much point in replying to anything he says.

enf:
I'll bow to superior judgement....

You have admitted on more than one occasion thats exactly what you do.

I would suggest you take note of the site rules in regards to "political discussion is not encouraged". While its not encouraged, we have shown discretion towards intelligent discussion on political matter. What you have been posting isnt intelligent discussion. Its constant pro labor,anti liberal, anti murdoch socialist propaganda. Its boring and the fact that you wont accept anything anyone else says (even with facts) just makes more it annoying to others. You might also want to take note of this section from the rules in regards to political discussion :

Try and be objective and listen to both sides of a debate , otherwise discussions do become one sided , pointless and likely to be closed. Individual members can and will be removed from any discussion should they continually ignore moderators directives.

Apart from the endless propaganda, its obviously trolling designed to elicit a response. I am sick of receiving emails from members asking me to delete your threads as trolling, this is exactly a reason why political discussion has been banned in the past.

So do we have to knock all political discussion on the head because one individual wants to ruin things for everyone or do we just delete your threads from now on ? I know which one will likely happen, so I would suggest putting some thought in to any further threads.

[mborkp]

Is it a joke?

[mborkp]

mate, the nagging you members have their brain and can respond. I won't really browse trought all your posts here to dig out the epiteths you and your's followers are using here towards supporters of opposite views. Is it it not long ago when you wish Australian PM to die? If YOU follow the rules, you should ban yourself stright away.

I love this one:

"What you have been posting isnt intelligent discussion. Its constant pro labor,anti liberal, anti murdoch socialist propaganda."

So, because I post in that direction isn't inteligent? You know what? change the worlds labour to liberal and vice versa in above sentence and apply it to yourself.

I posted my opinnion that this forum is free speach forum, I will need to re think this now.

What a shame.

[weirdo]

wow, I've just used the ignore feature for the first time. awesome, what a relief

[mborkp]

thanks weirdo, it will bring a relief to both of us, well done

[warbo]

That's odd. The way I read the article is that all of the previous bodies that Mr Nasir has worked with have held him in high esteem.

Some Australian Newspaper journo says that he was dropped off of the AFP informants list for "unreliable info". Yet he doesn't disclose his source.

The AFP "does not confirm or deny who their informants are, and it would not be appropriate to comment further".

Great story lol.

[admin]

I posted my opinnion that this forum is free speach forum, I will need to re think this now.

Try this rule :

14. Austech is not a democracy and never has been. Austech is a privately owned forum started in 1998. We do not hold democratic elections for staff positions because as stated, Austech is not a democracy.

Its obvious you have never bothered to read the sites rules. For that reason, I am resetting your account so that you are obliged to read and agree with them before posting.

Austech's rules are pretty easy for most people, we dont have a lot of them and in general we dont need to hardline enforce them unless someone wants to spoil things for others. I would suggest if you wish to keep pushing your political bandwagon that you post on the Labor/Socialist forums or similar, I am sure they should be easy enough to find with a google search.

BTW, dont bother trying to blame me for what you do. My voting preference has nothing to do with it, in fact you have got away with more because of it. I am closing this thread for the reasons already stated, I have warned you nicely (you have ignored me previously) the rest is up to you.

[enf]

The reason I put the ? as a response was that I couldn't understand what any of the following mashed together english words were about ..... and I still don't!

damn, you exposed my secret, highly paid, non taxable, classified work for Julia.
I'm fvcked now. You are brilliant... Oh, turkeys make nice meal, the eagle in the sky is of no use..