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January 10, 2004
Asylum seekers' allegations that the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) seamen used cattle prods when boarding refugee boats have surfaced again surfaced. The Wellington (NZ) Dominion Post quoted an Iranian man, Khalil Alibrahimy, as saying that asylum seekers were treated like criminals, physically abused by Australian guards and kept in line with electric cattle prods when the Olong (SIEV-4) was intercepted by HMAS Adelaide in 2001.
This is just another case of an accusation being resurrected for a political agenda (or 'repeat a lie often enough and it will become the truth'). In April 2002, Commander Norman Banks (the captain of HMAS Adelaide) appeared before an Australian Senate committee looking into that "Certain Maritime Incident" and stated that his boarding parties were never equipped with cattle prods. The sailors had pepper spray, batons and metal detectors. - Adam Geibel
'Certain Maritime Incident' testimony online (see page 35) at:
http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/commttee/s5439.pdf.
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