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Habib feared he would be killed
FREED terror suspect Mamdouh Habib has revealed he made a secret pact with fellow detainee David Hicks while both Australians were in the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Mr Habib has told the 60 Minutes TV program, in a paid interview to be aired tonight, that he made Mr Hicks promise to tell his family if he disappeared that it meant he had been killed. i might just have to watch 60 minutes tonight and laugh at the monkey Mr Habib's lawyer also says he was ferried from Pakistan to Egypt on a US Central Intelligence Agency "torture jet". It is alleged the secret agency shackled and handcuffed terror suspects, often forcibly sedating them, before flying them to countries with lax laws on torture. Mr Habib has accused Australian Government officials of complicity in his abduction to Egypt and brutal detention. He claims his transfer to an Egyptian prison started three years of abuse in three countries, including threats that he would be raped by dogs. Mr Habib said an Australian consular official met him in Islamabad soon after he was arrested as a terrorist suspect in Pakistan in October 2001. He said he pleaded to be returned to Australia but several weeks later US agents whisked him away to Egypt. Mr Habib's lawyer, Stephen Hopper, said he believed his client was ferried around in the CIA's Gulfstream V executive jet. "Habib's movements corresponded with flight logs (of more than 300 flights) obtained by sources in London," Mr Hopper said. Mr Habib claims that after being captured in Pakistan, he was flown to Egypt and tortured, then moved to Afghanistan in early 2002. Mr Habib was reportedly paid $200,000 to appear on 60 Minutes. He says in the interview he and David Hicks who faces terrorist charges were held in cells at Guantanamo Bay near each other for a brief period. The pair were regularly moved around the camp and met at least once. Mr Habib said the men made a pact. He said: "I told him, 'If you go home and you not find me in Australia, that means I get killed.' " He asked Mr Hicks to let his family know what happened to him. "He says, 'No worries, I will.' And that's the last time I saw him." Mr Habib was released last month and returned to Australia, but Prime Minister John Howard has not ruled out his facing charges in Australia. Posted by: God Save The World 2005-02-12 |
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