Australia: Dad jailed over card

Story reported here. Excerpt:

"A MELBOURNE father of three has been jailed for sending a birthday card to his daughter.

The man ``Mick'' -- who cannot be identified for legal reasons -- was locked up in a suburban police station for seven nights and spent another in the tough Melbourne Custody Centre. He says he was surrounded by drug addicts and people charged with violent offences during his ordeal last month.

Mick claims he is a victim of a family law system that is biased against fathers. ``I was jailed for nine days and eight nights for sending my 11-year-old daughter a birthday card,'' he said. ``Apparently I broke an intervention order. It's ludicrous and it breaks your heart.''

The 51-year-old is estranged from his wife and claims she has brought a series of intervention orders against him, banning him from contact with his children, without any evidence. ``Until my wife divorced me I was a legally unimpeachable citizen -- now I'm being treated like a criminal just because I want some contact with my kids,'' Mick said yesterday. ``And that contact was ended arbitrarily without even a hearing or the presentation of evidence."