Barbara Dowling is being charged under the Census Act, accused of not filling in her census form properly. At an intermediate diet held at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Monday her trial, scheduled for Tuesday 15 May, was re-scheduled for 25 September.
May 092012
2pm Monday 14 May, Glasgow Sheriff Court (intermediate diet)
10am Tuesday 15 May, Glasgow Sheriff Court (trial diet)
Barbara Dowling is being charged under the Census Act, accused of not filling in her census form properly.
Press Release from Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC
The Crown Office says that it has brought proceedings against just 5 people for not complying with Scotland’s 2011 census. One person, whose identity is unknown, has been convicted. One case has ended without a conviction. Three cases are still going through the courts. One of them involves Barbara Dowling, of Glasgow and one involves Mary Reid, of Falkirk. A third person, whose identity is unknown, is being prosecuted in Greenock.
Jan 272012
Surprise legal development could undermine census trials throughout the UK
- Barbara Dowling’s trial adjourned
Update 6 Feb 2012: The Advocate General’s office says the Akram case has not been referred by the Advocate General to the Supreme Court, and that “we understand that the case has been referred back to the Sheriff at Glasgow so that it might be re-argued.”
So it seems the PF was mistaken – and perhaps over-anxious to delay Barbara’s case.
Barbara Dowling is being charged under the Census Act, accused of not filling in her census form properly. Her intermediate diet was held on Tue 10 January and her case is going ahead to trial. Barbara will be defending herself.
The trial will be at 10am in Court 16, Glasgow Sheriff Court Thursday 26 January
Countless Scots have either failed to fill in their census forms or returned them partially completed or improved by critical comments, but have not been prosecuted. Barbara’s victimisation is inexplicable. Please make a date in your diary to come along and support her. And please tell your friends.
Barbara will also be in court on 25 Jan over non-payment of a fine incurred for blockading Faslane nuclear submarine base. Barbara is refusing to pay the fine and risks a jail sentence:
10am 25th January, Dumbarton Sheriff Court – support in court welcome
Source CCR Press Release
December 20, 2011, New York – Last night, attorneys for Iraqi torture victims abused in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison and other detention centers in Iraq challenged two private military contractors’ claims to immunity from being sued on the grounds that their alleged torture occurred during wartime. Today, a coalition of groups, including retired military officers and human rights NGO’s and experts, supported their claims by filing amicus briefs that argue that for-profit corporations cannot be considered equivalent to U.S. soldiers and should face justice under traditional legal principles governing any illegal conduct.
IF YOU ARE BEING PROSECUTED FOR RESISTING SCOTLAND’S CENSUS, PLEASE LET US KNOW
Contact EthicalCensus
Scottish Census contractor and human rights abuser CACI has won its battle for immunity from US law. On 21 September 2011 a US Federal Appeals Court in Virginia dismissed the case brought against CACI by 4 former Abu Ghraib prisoners (“Al Shimari v CACI International”). They did so not because they rejected the evidence against CACI, but because they believed CACI’s integration into the US military renders it immune to this sort of lawsuit. The ruling follows the pattern set by a US Supreme Court ruling in June.
In response to a freedom of information request, the National Records Office of Scotland says that the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) does not not have a view on whether sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, intimidation by dogs and the enforcement of stress positions are human rights abuses.
GROS obviously doesn’t know right from wrong. Continue reading »
On Friday 15 April a delegation from Scotland Against Criminalising Communities handed in a warning letter to Scotland’s Registrar General asking him to make clear that he is opposed to torture and to cruel or degrading treatment and that he recognises the abusive nature of the Abu Ghraib prison regime in which census contractor CACI was involved. Continue reading »
Apr 072011
The Register Office (GROS) has sent warning letters to a number of people. The letters are addressed to named individuals and say “you have indicated that you are unwilling to fill in your Census questionnaire.” Some of the people who have received these letters have not in fact indicated any such thing and have not been visited by census enumerators. The use of these warning letters appears to be a departure from GROS’s normal follow-up process. Continue reading »
