"I had to stand for hours and hours on my toes, trying not to drown: Mamdouh Habib with his family in a Bankstown cafe, yesterday. From his left are his children Ahmed, Maryam, Moustafa and Hajer, and his wife Maha.
A MAN described as an ASIO agent stood by as a naked US marine wearing a condom threatened Mamdouh Habib with rape, the former Guantanamo Bay prisoner alleges.
In a book to be published next week, Mr Habib says he saw the words "Allah Akbar"' [God is great] written on the condom to compound his humiliation.
The book includes Mr Habib's first explanation of why he was in Afghanistan before the September 11 [false flag] attacks.
Australian intelligence agencies have long accused Mr Habib of training with al-Qaeda [US Demon] during that period but Mr Habib says he fled to Afghanistan some weeks before the [false flag] attacks after Pakistani police had abducted him and shot one of his companions while they were on a business trip.
Mr Habib recounts in excruciating detail the torture he says he was subjected to by Pakistani and Egyptian security agencies after his arrest in early October 2001, and describes the grim reality of life in Guantanamo Bay, where he was subsequently imprisoned.
The book rejects the repeated assurances the Howard government gave that Mr Habib was well treated during his years in the US prison.
Mr Habib says he was treated as a worst category "level 4 minus" inmate at Guantanamo. He says he was denied clothes except for a pair of shorts, and allowed only one blanket. He says he was given an orange uniform only when taken for interrogation, during which he would be shackled to the floor. He was held in a cage-like cell and forced to drink "yellow water" from a tap in the cell.
He writes he was "heavily drugged, deprived of sleep for weeks, beaten, given electric shocks, repeatedly injected with a needle in the same place so that it became terribly painful, left naked in freezing rooms for hours on end in isolation and threatened with rape."
He claims US guards raped detainees and were sexually active with each other.
Mr Habib was never charged during his incarceration and denies training with [US Demon] al-Qaeda. He is suing the Federal Government for compensation, saying it turned a blind eye to his treatment.
One of his lawyers, Clive Evatt, said yesterday the book "should be of interest to most Australians" and that Guantanamo was a "terrible blot on the people of the US".
Mr Habib says he was intercepted by Pakistani security forces, and some weeks later flown covertly to Egypt as part of the CIA's top-secret "renditions" program, which took [people] to countries where they could be tortured during interrogation.
Mr Habib repeats earlier claims that an Australian diplomatic official saw him in Pakistan prior to his rendition and did nothing to prevent it.
The Australian Government has always denied this although the former ASIO head Dennis Richardson told a Senate committee in 2005 that an ASIO officer had seen Mr Habib in Pakistan on three occasions in October 2001 after his arrest.
In June this year the current ASIO head, Paul O'Sullivan, revealed for the first time that US officials had sought Australia's views on Mr Habib's "transfer to Egypt" shortly after his arrest but that Mr Richardson had said Canberra could not support it. However, Howard ministers had previously denied official knowledge of how Mr Habib got to Egypt.
In Egypt, Habib alleges he was subjected to excruciating torture, including electric shocks to his testicles and being made to stand in a room which was slowly flooded up to the level of his nose.
"I had to stand for hours and hours on my toes, trying not to drown," he writes.
Related:
Habib fined $400 for swearing at officer
Mamdouh Habib has accused the Federal Government of targeting him after he was today fined $400 for swearing at police.
Habib mistreated but not in Aussie embassy
There was little doubt that Mamdouh Habib was badly mistreated after he was detained by Pakistani and US authorities in the wake of the September 11 attacks and no doubt whatsoever that he was taken to Egypt against his will, a Federal Court judge has found.
UN Torture Committee Blasts Australia
The Committee against Torture expressed concern about Australia's counter-terrorism laws. The Committee was also concerned that Australians knew about what was happening in Abu Ghraib, but did not act to stop the mistreatment. In a thinly disguised reference to the cases of Mamdouh Habib and David Hicks, the Committee expressed concern that Australia has failed to investigate claims of torture.
Australia to sign up to anti-torture treaty
Australian complicity in War Crimes in the Middle East, Torture, Rendition. In Australia Draconian Laws, Indefinite Solitary Confinement of prisoners at places like the HRMU at Goulburn Correctional Centre.
Terror suspects held in 'repressive' conditions: lawyer
Lawyer Rob Stary who represented five of the men convicted of terrorism related offences said the conditions they were held in were 'repressive. He said the Government should review the anti-terror laws.
Key witness terrorism trial previously jailed
Outside the court, defence lawyer Rob Stary criticised Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland for comments made while the trial was still underway.
'Traumatic, stressful' terrorism trial - lawyer
A lawyer for one of the men found not guilty in Australia's largest [scapegoat] terrorism trial has spoken about the effect of the long-running trial on his client and on his own life.
Benbrika guilty on terrorism charges
A Victorian Supreme Court jury has found Abdul Nacer Benbrika guilty [Draconian Laws] of leading a terrorist group.
Jury discharged in terrorism book trial
Khazaal's barrister said his client wrote just two paragraphs in the book, with most of it written by other people.
Jury finds man guilty of terrorist book charge
A Supreme Court jury has found a man guilty of one terrorism-related offence and is still considering its verdict on a second terrorism-related charge.
Judge attacks disparity in laws
Justice Kirby was at the University of NSW last night to accept an honorary Doctorate of Laws for his ''eminent service to the community''.
Suspended sentence in winery terrorist plot
A Victorian grape grower who planned to blow up a rival winery in the state's north-east has been given a suspended sentence.
High Court rejects appeal against Thomas retrial
The High Court has rejected an application for an appeal by Melbourne man Jack Thomas against his retrial on terrorism-related charges.
Bill: Independent reviewer for terrorism laws
Two Liberal Senators have introduced a private member's bill calling for an independent reviewer of terrorism laws.
Push for overhaul of laws on terrorism
In a paper in Judicial Review he said that the National Security Information Act "gives the appearance of having been drafted by persons who have little knowledge of the function and processes of a criminal trial".
Court denies Lodhi leave to appeal
Lodhi claimed the trial did not establish that he had actually decided to carry out a terrorist attack.
Thomas to appeal retrial order
Lawyers for Victorian man Jack Thomas will appeal to the High Court against a decision to retry him on terrorism related charges.
Court orders retrial for Jack Thomas
The Court of Appeal has ordered that Victorian man Jack Thomas must be retried on terrorism-related charges.
Push for overhaul of laws on terrorism
In a paper in Judicial Review he said that the National Security Information Act "gives the appearance of having been drafted by persons who have little knowledge of the function and processes of a criminal trial".
Court denies Lodhi leave to appeal
Lodhi claimed the trial did not establish that he had actually decided to carry out a terrorist attack.
Hicks media gag order ends
As part of the deal, he was also banned from speaking to the media after his release in December 2007.
Terror trial halted over prison conditions
A Supreme Court judge has put a Melbourne terrorism trial on hold and ordered Corrections Victoria to change prison conditions of the 12 accused men
Faheem Lodhi - another non-terrorist jailed under Australia's 'anti-terror' laws? Jack Thomas, a non-terrorist, has been jailed under Australia's anti-terror laws. Now Faheem Lodhi has been convicted under the terror laws on flimsy, circumstantial evidence. It is likely he is another non-terrorist jailed for political purposes under the terror laws.
Solitary Confinement: Mental illness in prisons
It is well established that sensory deprivation can produce major psychological effects on humans including perceptual distortions, visual, auditory, and olfactory illusions, vivid fantasies often accompanied by striking hallucinations, derealization experiences, and hyper- responsivity to external stimuli.
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