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Prison Officer Wins Bin Laden Joke Case
Sanity rears itâs ugly head:A British prison officer, fired for cracking a joke about Osama bin Laden, has won a claim for unfair dismissal after a tribunal ruled the jail governorâs decision was "reprehensible," British newspapers said on Friday. Colin Rose, who had 21 years experience within the prison service, was fired after being reported making an "insensitive" comment two months after the September 11, 2001 attacks on Washington and New York blamed on bin Ladenâs al Qaeda group. When a colleague had asked him why he had used so much force to throw some keys down a metal chute at the jail in Lowestoft, eastern England, Rose had quipped: "Thereâs a photo of Osama bin Laden there." He said the remark was "barrack-room humor" but his superiors said a group of Asians visiting the jail might have been offended, newspapers reported. However the tribunal ruled that Rose, a former soldier with Britainâs Coldstream Guards, had effectively been accused of a "thought crime" as the visitors did not hear what he had said. Ruling in Roseâs favor, the tribunal criticized governor Jerry Knightâs decision to sack him saying: "Conduct by the governor was reprehensible, totally unjustified. We wondered whether the governor lived in the real world." Amen. Posted by: Steve 2004-01-16 |
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