Australian human rights lawyer and WikiLeaks supporter Jennifer Robinson appears to have been placed on a travel watch list and was prevented from leaving the UK this morning until approval was secured from the Australian High Commission.
Robinson was returning to Australia to speak at the same conference as Attorney-General Nicola Roxon tomorrow — the Commonwealth Lawyers’ Association’s Regional Law Conference — on the apt subject of “Lawyers in the firing lineâ€. Roxon is giving an address on human rights.
Robinson was stopped when checking in at Heathrow early this morning Australian time and told she was an “inhibited person†and that approval from the Australian High Commission would be needed before she was allowed to proceed. She tweeted
Security guard: “you must have done something controversial†because we have to phone the embassy. “Certain government agencies†list.
Intriguingly, however, no Australian agency uses the term “inhibited personâ€. A DIAC spokesman told Crikey “the only mechanism that would restrict uplift of a person to Australia is the Movement Alert List (MAL).â€
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