Monica Smit<\/p>\n
Anti-lockdown campaigner Monica Smit is currently a political prisoner in the People\u2019s Republic of DanAndrewstan, otherwise known as Victoria, Australia.<\/p>\n
Earlier today, I spoke with both Ms Smit\u2019s partner and also her lawyer who informed me of this news.<\/p>\n
She has been charged with a claim of \u201cincitement\u201d and allegedly breaching the CHO directives for posting remarks online in that were in opposition to the Victorian Labor Government\u2019s lockdown regime.<\/p>\n
In order to secure bail, the authorities demanded that she not only shut down her political organisation Reignite Democracy Australia and all of its associated websites and social media accounts but they also demanded that she not continue to \u201cincite\u201d opposition to the Victorian Labor Government\u2019s lockdown regime which would likely mean she is not able to express her opposition to the Andrews\u2019 lockdown regime publicly.<\/p>\n
It should be noted that Reignite Democracy Australia has an application before the electoral commission to become a political party.<\/p>\n
So to be clear, Ms Smit will only be allowed out of jail if she shuts down a fledgling political party and that fledgling political party\u2019s means of communications, and if she refrains from any discussion around the political issue of lockdowns in Victoria.<\/p>\n
Ms Smit\u2019s imprisonment and her bail conditions are a clear breach of the implied constitutional freedom of political communication.<\/p>\n
And just as this freedom is being undermined in Victoria, so too is the public trust and respect for the police when VicPol is arresting and prosecuting political campaigners like Ms Smit.<\/p>\n
I call on Ms Smit to be released from jail without these outrageous limitations on her political rights and for the police to withdraw the politically-motivated charges against her and to refrain from further political arrests and prosecutions.<\/p>\n