Government must answer for torture of Mamdouh Habib

July 8, 2004

"The Howard government must reveal its role in torture of the illegally detained Australian citizen Mamdouh Habib in Egypt and in Guantanamo Bay," said Mr Raul Basi, the Socialist Alliance candidate for the western Sydney seat of Blaxland today.

"Attorney-General Philip Ruddock was forced to admit on last night’s SBS Dateline program that Australian Federal Police had interrogated Mr Habib in Pakistan after he was detained in October 2001 for being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"The Howard government is complicit in this torture", said Mr Bassi. "Stephen Hopper, Mr Habib’s lawyer, revealed that his client was sent to Egypt from Pakistan. There he was given electric shocks, beaten and interrogated at gunpoint."

Mr Bassi, who has experienced life as a political dissident under the dictatorship in Argentina, said that this case was part of a dangerous attack on civil rights. Mr Bassi has been active in the campaign to free Mamdouh Habib and David Hicks, the other Australian illegally detained by the US in Guantanamo Bay.

"Recently the Labor ‘opposition’ helped the Howard government pass more ‘anti-terrorism’ laws, and now federal police commissioner Mick Keelty is demanding more reductions in our civil rights.

"Now the US says that it is going to try Mr Habib by a military court which can accept ‘evidence’ extracted by torture and hearsay. Where does it stop?"

"If we let them get away with what they are doing to Mamdouh Habib then it may become ‘normal’ to send so-called ‘terrorism suspects’ for offshore torture."

Mr Bassi said that the Australian government should demand the immediate release of Mr Habib and Mr Hicks. He also called on the ALP to take up the call for a full public inquiry into Australia’s involvement with the illegal detention and torture of Mr Habib.

For further information: Mr Bassi can be reached 0403 037 376.

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