Bring Hicks and Habib home now! Put Howard on trial for war crimes!

August 5, 2004

"More reports of prisoner abuse at the hands of the US military make it imperative that John Howard must bring David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib back to Australia now", said Socialist Alliance spokesperson Lisa Macdonald.

Socialist Alliance has been calling for the two Australians to be returned here for more than two years. But the recent witness reports from two former British prisoners that the two Australians have been tortured in custody at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay add a new urgency to this matter.

"According to the two Britons, Mr Habib is in a ‘catastrophic’ mental and physical shape after he was tortured in Egypt following his arrest in Pakistan. He had also been denied medical attention", said Ms Macdonald who is standing for the federal seat of Reid.

"David Hicks, who the Britons described as ‘a tiny, white guy’ was also beaten. He too was denied medical attention for a hernia unless he cooperated with the US authorities, and the Britons say that he was treated worse than other detainees, was constantly moved, kept in isolation and forced to make admissions."

According to Raul Bassi, who is standing for the Alliance in the federal seat of Blaxland, "the fact that the Howard government has done nothing to help these two Australians makes it a criminal accomplice in war crimes".

Mr Bassi is active in the Free Hicks and Habib campaign which was initiated in Sydney by the Canterbury-Bankstown Peace Group.

"For some time Stephen Kenny (Hicks’ lawyer) and Stephen Hopper (Habib’s lawyer) have been calling for their clients to be bought home. We agree that the military tribunals, set up by the US, won’t bring justice. They should be brought home to face the law.

"It’s clear that PM Howard values the US alliance more than it does its own citizens", Mr Bassi continued. "He goes on about the ‘national interest’, but what he really care about are his interests and those of his mates. His government has slavishly copied Washington’s lies on Iraq and the ‘war on terror’, even after they have been found to be blatantly false.

"The mistreatment of David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib is another example of this government’s anti-social attitude", concluded Mr Bassi, adding that "the Alliance will do as much as we can to get these two – who were in the wrong place at the wrong time – home."

Lisa Macdonald is available 0413 031 108.

Raul Bassi is available on 0403 037 037.