SYDNEY, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Facebook users calling for the torture of a man suspected of starting a deadly Australian bush fire could find themselves in legal trouble, an expert says.
Australian courts have banned the publication of photos of 39-year-old Brendan Sokaluk, who has been charged with arson in causing the deaths of 11 people in the Churchill-Jerralang fires in Gippsland, Victoria. But creators and users of the Internet networking Web site Facebook have done just that, posting Sokaluk's image along with comments calling for him to be "burned at the stake," the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Monday.
Terry O'Gorman, president of the Australian Council of Civil Liberties, said creators and members of the Facebook groups, some of which have more than 2,000 members, could face contempt-of-court charges and even succeed in preventing a trial for Sokaluk.
"They should be immediately be ordered by the court and immediately told by the police to take the photographs down," O'Gorman said told the ABC. "If they continue to publish the photograph in contravention of a court suppression order when they know such a suppression order is in place, they could well face contempt charges."
