I am conflicted about Joel Davis being granted bail yesterday. On the plus side he is out, he will be free from the horrendous treatment he was subjected to in prison. 133 days in solitary confinement is over. He has abiity again, to get sunshine on his face, have a shower every day. Read books. All things that were denied him. He gets to see his baby son for the first time since he was born and his partner and mother of his child.
On the negative side of the equation are the bail conditions imposed upon him and the fact that to refuse to accept those bail conditions would have meant rotting in that jail cell until the end of 2027, which is how long it is estimated it will take before all of his charges make it to trial.
From The Noticer:
“Justice Adams imposed almost 20 bail conditions, including that Mr Davis not be in possession of a smart phone, not use social media or encrypted devices or apps, report to police three times a week, and not contact or approach Ms Spender or NSW Liberal leader Kellie Sloane, who the court heard he had also posted about on his Telegram channel.
“Mr Davis is also banned from entering the MPs’ electorates of Wentworth and Vaucluse in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, and from going within 100 metres of their offices, and must take part in a program run by the NSW Chaplains’ Association.
He will be required to reside with his mother in Sydney’s west, and Justice Adams told the court she would not have released him to his previous residence in Bondi, in part due to alleged online comments about the Jewish community.”
The only bail condition that was appropriate was that of not contacting or posting about Ms Spender. This is the alleged victim of the alleged offence and is the only person who should be taken into consideration by the court.
Everything else that the court has imposed is nothing less than an actual rape (not a “rhetorical” one) of the British based justice system for the purpose of deliberately silencing an opponent of the government for an extended period of time.
This is the same thing that was done to me last year. Another charge and a trial date dragged out for months on end with bail conditions that would have silenced me whilst I waited for the system to get around to holding it.
Sign the bail conditions, or rot in jail with your presumption of innocence made into a sick farce.
I chose to rot. 110 days before the charges were dropped. Joel has already spent 133 days in jail before he even was given the option to take or refuse bail.
What would you do?
I expected that if the prosecution in my own case would have carried their nonsense to trial I would have had to wait about seven months in jail. In the worst case scenario a year. Joel’s trial is estimated to take nearly two years for the court and the prosecution to get off their corrupt and disfunctional backsides and do their jobs.
It’s a disgrace. It’s an outrage. It’s a dysfunctional system that is less fit for purpose than the cesspool of a medieval prison that Joel was left to rot in. There can be no justice if an accused has to wait months or years in prison before he can receive it.
This situation is systemic for every accused person in the justice system, not just political prisoners like Joel or myself. On my last day in prison I shared a cell with a man who had been waiting 5 years in remand prison to go to trial on a murder charge.
Ask yourself, what if he’s innocent?
In political cases the prosecution knows it can make up any charge it likes and silence or jail the accused with impunity. The verdict of the trial is irrelevant. The maximum jail sentence for the offense Joel is charged with is two years in jail. The maximum jail sentence for loitering for me was three months jail and for “displaying a symbol associated with Nazi ideology”, one year jail. I spent nearly four months in maximum security prison.
My 15 co-accused were silenced for the same amount of time, before the publicity around our cases became too politically damaging to continue the charade, and all charges were just dropped.
There has been no apology. No compensation. Just continued injustice.
I spent 4 months in jail without trial, but it could have been a year. Joel could have also faced just as much time in jail waiting for his trial as the maximum penalty for being convicted of the charge.
So what would you do if something like this happened to you? I ask you again.
Would you walk back on the things you’ve said to try and get out of jail as soon as possible, as Brandan Koschel did? Would you not compromise on your political beliefs but accept bail conditions that will silence you for months or years anyway, like Joel has done? Or would you sacrifice your freedom and rot in jail for as long as it took, like I did?
My personal circumstances were much easier than those of Joel or Brandan. My children are grown up. If you believe you would follow my path, just know that when my wife begged me to take the bail conditions and come home, I nearly broke. As far as I know, neither Joel or Brandan held my views about defiance regardless of the cost, before they were jailed, either. Many people, including some friends with my political views just think I was nuts. So think twice before saying you would choose my path (even though I believe in it).
The Government’s new “hate speech” and “hate group” laws have penalties of up to 15 years in jail. No different to the charges against Joel, Brandan, Tom Sewell, Jacob Hersant, Jim Roberts, myself or any other political dissident jailed for their views in this country over the last 5 years.
What is the best way to deal with the injustice?
Some argue that to get out of jail at any cost is the best way to respond. That coerced confessions and retractions are meaningless and that it’s tactically better to just lie and tell our enemies what they want to hear. Get out of jail. Go home. See your loved ones again. You achieve nothing behind bars.
I argue for absolute sacrifice and defiance regardless of the cost. The smaller the thing the enemy wants from me and the greater the punishment for defying them, the more defiant I want to become. Easy to say. Potentially soul crushing to follow through with.
Others argue somewhere in between. A balance between pragmatism and idealism. Weigh up the pros and cons in each situation and then decide.
Whatever path you think you will choose, dont judge others for their choice. Until you are sitting in a cell yourself with your loved ones outside, you just dont know how it will affect you. Evaluate your choices now though, before you are arrested for something you might say one day. Because more and more people are going to be arrested in the years to come and the penalties are only going to get harsher. Best to at least try and decide how you want to respond beforehand.
You can find Stephen Wells at Telegram and purchase his books here.
