Slashdot Mirror
'G20 Geek' Byron Sonne Cleared of Explosives Charges
New submitter davegravy writes "Byron Sonne, the Toronto-based security consultant, chemistry hobbyist, and geek who was arrested leading up to the Toronto G-20 for alleged plans to bomb the event, has been found not guilty of all charges. Sonne was held in prison for 11 months without receiving bail, and the ruling comes two years after his arrest. Sonne is considered by many in the Toronto security community as a champion of civil rights and a sharp critic of security theatre."
Why should anyone in Gitmo get a trial? I never understood where that was coming from. POWs don't get trials, because they're not charged with any crime. Treaty law from time immemorial though the Geneva convention holds that capured bandits (the tradition term for "unlawful combatants") have no rights at all - shoot them out of hand, torture them for your amusement, whatever. Governments the world over all agree that only governments have the right to field armies, and take a very low view of anyone who takes up military arms without a uniform and reporting structure tied to civilian authority.
IMO, the legitimate complaint about Gitmo is that we need some more formal process for releasing captured unlawful combatants over time. As there's no structured war here the end of which would mark the time to release POWs, we need to do something as time drags on.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Unlawful combatants don't get rights, because unlawful combatants according to the rules of war have no rights. It's not exactly rocket surgery. And it hasn't been rocket surgery for the last 350 years that we've been using it either.
Om, nomnomnom...