Dear Minister O’Connor,

We are writing to protest recent actions by Australian Federal Police (AFP) violating international prisoners’ rights conventions and the human rights of labour activist and political prisoner Liliany Obando in Colombia.

Ms Obando was hosted at public forum by a range of solidarity, labour and community organisations, including the Socialist Alliance, when she visited Australia as a representative of Colombia’s largest farmers’ union, FENSUAGRO, in 2005 and 2007. Shortly after her return to Colombia in 2007 she was arrested and imprisoned, and has now spent more than 14 months in jail, most of it without charges even having been laid.

We are reliably informed that on September 2, Ms Obando was visited in prison by a man who identified himself as Juan Carlos Cortes, a member of the Colombian Judicial and Investigative Police, a Colombian woman and another man whom Cortes identified as David Nelson of the AFP.

They attempted to interrogate Obando about organisations and individuals she had met during her visits to Australia. When Ms Obando refused to answer because her lawyer was not present and there was no interrogation order, Cortes claimed her lawyer was waiting outside. Ms Obando continued to insist her rights be respected and chose not to answer, and the interview was terminated.

The following day, when Ms Obando made a complaint, she discovered that Cortes was in fact Oscar Leonel Ochoa, an employee of the Colombian national intelligence agency (DAS). The woman was Diana Marlene Plaza, also from DAS, and the identity of AFP officer David Nelson was confirmed.

We strongly protest the conduct of David Nelson, whose participation in the attempted interrogation of Ms Obando makes the AFP complicit in the activities of a regime that is internationally renowned for human rights abuses, including illegal wiretapping and surveillance of hundreds of human rights defenders, journalists, trade unionists, political opposition and Supreme Court judges in Colombia.

The AFP has no right or reason to cooperate in the harassment and continuing incarceration of Ms Obando, or any other Colombian citizen who dares to denounce human rights abuses in their country.

Furthermore, we are gravely concerned that the AFP/David Nelson’s participation in the attempted interrogation of Ms Obando was an effort to criminalise the international solidarity expressed by Australian trade unionists, and religious and community organisations.

We ask that:

(i) your government and the AFP investigate and take action against alleged agent David Nelson for breaches of international conventions; and

(ii) the AFP be required to explain to the Australian public, through your office, the basis for its cooperation with Colombia’s government and national intelligence agency.

We look forward to receiving your response.

Yours sincerely,

Dick Nichols, Bea Bleile and Margarita Windisch

National Conveners