Habib's call renews welfare concerns

*Habib's call renews welfare concerns*

Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib's first phone call to his family in two-and-a-half years has renewed concerns for his welfare.

Mr Habib has been allowed a monitored conversation with his wife, Maha, and has also been able to speak to his son, Ahmed.

Ahmed says he just wanted to know that his father is alive, and is thinking about the family.

"Now I spoke to him, I just feel like saying this: I just think we should do something right away before it is too late," he said.

"Because he told me that he has given up and that's not my dad. He doesn't give up."

During the call, Mr Habib told his wife that he has been treated poorly by Australian diplomatic officials and not to rely on Government authorities for help.

"And he also mentioned, actually, about how the Australian consulars, they treated him so bad," Mrs Habib said.

"They have been bad with him, they have treated him very badly.

"He said that ASIO also, they have given him a hard time."

The phone call from Guantanamo Bay was monitored and briefly stopped when Mr Habib compared his living conditions to a film called Lock Up, staring Sylvester Stallone.

The film features scenes of psychological torture.

"The conversation cut out - was cut off - and the gentleman asked me can I please speak to the attendance officer," Mrs Habib said.

"She came in and she explained to me: Do not speak in Arabic and do not talk about the security issues."

Mr Habib also told his wife not to send photographs.

"When we went to London they told me that they were cutting off the head of the photo of the children and putting it on top of the animal body and use it in the interrogation room," Mrs Habib said.

Lawyer Stephen Hopper says the information gleaned from the phone call backs up earlier claims that his client has been treated badly.

"It certainly is not inconsistent and corroborates earlier statements by other released detainees and other information we've gathered about Mamdouh's initial detention, his rendering to Egypt to be tortured, the Australian Government's complicity in crimes against humanity and the continued slipshod treatment by the Australian Government of an Australian citizen," he said.

Wary beginning

At the start of the call, it took some time to convince Mr Habib he was speaking to his family.

"He said, 'Are you still in Australia?'" Mrs Habib said.

"And I said, 'Yes, we are still in Australia.'

"He said, 'Are you sure?'

"I said, 'Yes we are, we are still in the same house you left us in and I am not going to move until you come back and we will move together.'"
 

"Taunted and Tortured"
Four Walls: Terrorist - or Taunted by the Australian Defence Force who sacked him as a cleaning contractor? Who is Mamdouh Habib? And why was he harassed by the Australian Federal Police? Then tagged and labelled as a spy? Why was he vilified by the community? When he fled to Pakistan how did he end up being tortured in Egypt? And how did he end up at Guantanamo prison camp reserved for the men America calls "the worst of the worst:

This article is not by Sally Neighbour the "Worst of the Worst Reporters".

Last night on Four Walls, the most revealing and comprehensive account so far about Egyptian-born Habib, and what he did before he was detained at Guantanamo Bay and deprived of his legal rights.

"A taunted man", "a great guy", "a self opinionated", "sharp and agitated", "a great family man" - these are just some of the descriptions of father-of-four Mamdouh Habib before he blundered into the arms of Pakistani police and was dispatched to Egypt for alleged torture, then incarcerated at Guantanamo.

As Four walls reports, Habib, the former contract cleaner with the ADF Australian Defence force turned Sydney coffee shop proprietor, had developed a knack for being alert and alarmed at what was happening to Muslims.

Reporter Sally Neighbour pieces together the Habib story from his migration to Australia 20 years ago, his growing devotion to Islam and his radicalisation by the US murder trial of an Islamic man.

Habib campaigned for the men convicted of the first World Trade centre bombing. But just because they're convicted doesn't mean they did it. It just means they were convicted.

Habib came to ASIO's notice when he fell out with the ADF obviously someone had it in for Mamdouh and the ADF tipped off ASIO and the AFP to taunt him. By the sounds of it he was declared a wog. That's Aussie slang for get the bastard he's not one of ours and we can discriminate against him he is an easy target. Aussie race hate!

Well they got back at him alright " kicked his arse round the face of the earth and labelled him the worst of the worst.

He began attending lectures by an Islamic preacher in Sydney by this time probably feeling picked on and out of place and seeking friendship any way he could with people who could understand how he was being treated.

But he was under growing personal pressure. A government contract fell through?

You mean he fell through the government contract? Or someone hit him over the head with it instead? Taunted!

His business collapsed. Taunted! He felt cheated because "he was Muslim and Egyptian", according to an old friend. Taunted!

Habib's associates portray a man who was becoming increasingly angry, argumentative and paranoid. Taunted! Witnesses tell Four Walls that he began trawling the prayer rooms of western Sydney trying to sign up recruits for jihad. Taunted!

"I really want to live with bin Laden," he said, according to one associate. Again Taunted!

Mamdouh Habib took off to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Taunted! Where he is alleged to have trained with the now-banned terrorist group Lashkar e-Toiba???????????

On his return, however, he was seen more as a troublemaker "Taunted" than as a hero in Lakemba's Muslim community. Taunted!

"Habib was "now" being watched by Australian authorities?"

Not true! Australian authorities set out to taunt him and they knew exactly what they were doing from the outset when he lost his cleaning contract to date.

Rumours that he was a spy swirled through Lakemba. Habib began accusing fellow Muslims of assaulting and threatening him.

By 2001 Habib was a man on the edge because he was taunted!

He headed to Pakistan, telling friends that he was checking out schools for his children. Authorities say he was training with Al Qaeda. This time he did not return. He has not spoken to his family since September 2001.

Through exclusive pre-emptive strikes with his former associates and contacts, Sally Neighbour tells the story of the troubled and hapless Mamdouh Habib, and asks if he is indeed among "the worst of the worst".

"When in fact he is the worst of the worst taunted" No question about it today on Four Walls and repeated at your leisure.

SO PUT YOUR LEFT FOOT FORWARD "WITHOUT FEAR" THIS FEDERAL ELECTION AND VOTE 1 THE GREENS.

TO LIVE WITH THE FEAR OF BEING TAUNTED IS A LIFE NOT LIVED?

 

See also David Hicks