Adam Houda

Often characterised as a “high-profile Muslim lawyer”, Adam Houda was the subject of a recent 7:30 Report story.[i] Houda’s profile is mostly due to representing terrorist suspects, sporting identities such as Anthony Mundine or this year [ii] the prison psychologist referred to the ICAC regarding a relationship with an offender imprisoned for the 2000 Sydney gang rapes.

Not simply for his work Houda is known. Arrested in August 2000 for allegedly assaulting a police officer at Burwood Local Court, ultimately Houda succeeded in malicious prosecution, wrongful arrest and false imprisonment actions and received $145,000 damages. The Supreme Court found the arresting officer knew the charge to be false but acted “solely out of spite or ill will” because Houda stood up to the officer's “unjustified, menacing and rude conduct.”[iii] Potentially the aberration of an individual officer, as this rare article [iv] on the matter suggests, how then to explain both Houda’s involvement in five further incidents with police and the lack of media attention?

Arguably the aforementioned gang rapes by Lebanese-Australian youths intensified the preoccupation of NSW media and politics with ‘ethnic crime’ and ‘youth gangs’. ‘Children overboard’, 'September 11' and the ‘Bali bombing’ followed over the next two years. These events alloyed an Arab and Muslim ‘other’ as an ‘enemy’, “pathologically evil, inhuman, violent and criminal”.[v] A consequence of this ‘othering’ was keenly felt by the Lebanese community of Sydney through differential policing. Otherness, like any marginalisation, becomes associated with dangerousness. Translated through a police perspective, identifiable members of such a group present a risk justifying specific policing practices.[vi]

In a story largely covered by the press through ‘wires’,[vii] Houda’s next significant issue with police involved he and rugby league player Hazem El-Masri refusing to identify themselves when detained by numerous officers in 2007. Notably then Acting Assistant Police Commissioner Mennilli justified the right to request identification and rejected Houda’s allegations they were questioned due to their Middle Eastern appearance. When the pair’s complaint of rudeness and acting unreasonably in demanding identification was partially upheld [viii] by internal police processes, it was unclear (and the press does not appear to have inquired further) which allegations had been dismissed nor why.

Houda alleges the events of his 16 September 2010 arrest for refusing a search and resisting arrest thus: [ix]

Again minimally reported, a notable exception is an article [x] by Joel Gibson, who would write two further stories. Firstly [xi] he cited allegations contained in a complaint to the NSW Ombudsman, the aforementioned Mennilli told a television reporter favourable coverage of this incident with Houda would be rewarded by future ‘scoops’. Secondly [xii] Gibson alleged Mennilli sought positive coverage through a similar offer on an unrelated matter the year before. Both Gibson and Minnilli continue their employment, the former promoted, while the story appears to have ‘died’.

Prior to 7:30 and albeit a month after the hearing, veteran journalist Neil Mercer was almost alone in reporting [xiii] the judgment dismissing all charges relating to Houda’s 16 September arrest and the criticisms of police conduct this involved. Similarly unusual his reporting [xiv] of Houda’s related multi-millon dollar civil action against police and defamation action against Minnilli. As in his 'tweeting' in early October 2011, [xv] Christopher Murphy recently repeated the observation:

The paucity of reporting on these issues renders the question of specific flagrant and corrupt instances of ‘taming the system’[xvi] uncertain, generally however it appears negative stories about police targeting of Houda have been smothered. Whether a personal beef between individual high profile police and lawyers, police targeting of a unpopular lawyer or six coincidents of differential policing, the public interest requires more prominent reporting.

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[i] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-01/solicitor-takes-on-police-over-racial-profiling/4048312 - unfortunately video appears to be currently offline.

[ii] Bashan, Y. ‘Skaf rapist's jail tryst with prison psychologist’, Sunday Telegraph, 19 February 2012, http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/skaf-rapists-jail-tryst-with-prison-psychologist/story-e6freuy9-1226274698664

[iii] Houda v The State of New South Wales [2005] NSWSC 1053, [297]-[298] (Cooper AJ).

[iv] Wallace, N. (2005) ‘Payout for lawyer dragged from court’, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 October 2005, http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/payout-for-lawyer-dragged-from-court/2005/10/25/1130239521799.html

[v] Collins, J. (2009) ‘Sydney’s Cronulla riots: the context and implications’ in Noble, G. (ed) Lines in the sand: The Cronulla riots, multiculturalism and national belonging, 29-37.

[vi] White, R. (2009) ‘Ethnic Diversity and Differential Policing in Australia: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly’  Journal of International Migration and Integration 10(4), 362, 366.

[vii] ‘El Masri lodges police complaint’ (2007), Age, 16 April 2007, http://www.theage.com.au/news/SPORT/El-Masri-lodges-police-complaint/2007/04/16/1176696746445.html

[viii] ‘Houda, El-Masri complaint partly upheld’ (2007), Sydney Morning Herald, 14 June 2007, http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Houda-ElMasri-complaint-partly-upheld/2007/06/14/1181414458305.html; Reported almost identically by News, http://www.news.com.au/top-stories/nrl-stars-police-id-check-complaints-upheld/story-e6frfkp9-1111113750577

[ix] www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_OVYByljvg

[x] Gibson, J. (2010), ‘Muslim lawyer alleges police brutality’, Sydney Morning Herald, 18 September 2010, http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/muslim-lawyer-alleges-police-brutality-20100917-15gc2.html

[xi] Gibson, J. (2010), ‘Police officer accused of trying to bribe Channel Seven, Sydney Morning Herald, 21 September 2010, http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/police-officer-accused-of-trying-to-bribe-channel-seven-20100920-15ju0.html

[xii] Gibson, J. (2010), ‘More claims stack up against police chief, Sydney Morning Herald, 24 September 2010, http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/more-claims-stack-up-against-police-chief-20100923-15ovl.html

[xiii] Mercer, N. (2011) ‘Suing police again, the lawyer of Middle Eastern appearance, Sydney Morning Herald, 13 November 2011, http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/suing-police-again-the-lawyer-of-middle-eastern-appearance-20111112-1ncvd.html

[xiv] Mercer, N. (2012) 'Lawyer to sue NSW Police for $5m', Sydney Morning Herald, 18 March 2012, http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/lawyer-to-sue-nsw-police-for-5m-20120317-1vc1p.html

[xv] Seems impossible to search twitter that far back, this blog was also following the story: http://cdulawonline.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/colourful-lawyers-police-and-the-media/

[xvi] McGovern, A. and Lee, M. ‘Cop[ying] it Sweet’: Police Media Units and the Making of News’, The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology 43(3), 453-454.

Originally published 8 June 2012.