[2-12]Allegations of Brutality Dramatized in Australian Guantanamo Bay Play

Australian Mamdouh Habib is starring in a play about the years he spent imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, under suspicion of training militants and having prior knowledge of the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Waiting for Mamdouh details his allegations of rendition and torture.

Mamdouh Habib says he was chained and brutalized after being arrested in Pakistan a month after the attacks on September 11th, 2001.
 
He says he was looking at schools for his children after becoming disillusioned with life in Australia.
 
A new play details his allegations of mistreatment while in custody in Egypt, which he says was ordered by U.S. authorities.
 
Excerpt from the play:  "They try to keep their hands clean but they sent me to Egypt for torture. I have been beaten, electric shock. I hear people suffering, screaming in the other cells. They bring someone from the different cell, they put him in electric shocks [gave him electric shocks]. They killed him in front of my own eyes."
 
The former detainee, a dual Australian-Egyptian national, was sent from Egypt to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the U.S. government has a military prison camp. He was released five years ago without charge and returned to Australia.
 
Habib says U.S. President Obama should close the prison camp at Guantanamo and reveal the truth about the rendition - the transfer of prisoners to other countries where they were abused. The Obama administration has plans to close the facility.
 
Habib remains a vocal critic of the Australian government, which he says is part of a global conspiracy to erode the rights of individuals.
 
"I can say Australian government [is] hiding a lot of truths," Habib said. "The public in Australia they [are] very naive people. People doesn't believe what is going on. They don't understand. We talk about democracy, we're talking about freedom, we're talking about human rights - we don't have that."  
 
The theater production is highly critical of former Prime Minister John Howard for allowing Australian citizens to be held without charge at Guantanamo.
 
"Waiting for Mamdouh" also tells of the trouble his wife Maha experienced in Australia during his incarceration.
 
Actor: "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for hearing me today. I don't want to take too much of your time. But Mr Howard is acting like a war criminal by allowing Australians to be locked up in Guantanamo Bay and he and the government must protect their citizens. My husband has been in Guantanamo Bay for four years and nobody cares and nobody is saying anything. Are we too afraid? He is not a dog that we just lock up in a cage and leave to die. I urge the Australian government to help my husband and to bring him home and to say enough is enough. He is in hell and he does not deserve this."
 
Habib was one of two Australians held at Guantanamo. The other was David Hicks, a former kangaroo hunter, who spent more than five years imprisoned without a trial before admitting to charges of providing material support to the al-Qaida terrorist network. After serving a sentence in Australia, Hicks is now free.
 
Kuranda Seyit, co-author of Waiting for Mamdouh, says the play shows how the innocent are at risk.  "What I believe is a play like this can really highlight and raise awareness about the types of abuses that we can all fall in to," Seyit said. "Who is going to be the next Mamdouh Habib, the next David Hicks, the next person who is in the wrong place at the wrong time?"
 
The Australian government has investigated Habib's treatment but found no evidence to substantiate his allegations of torture.
 
Although former President George W. Bush, who opened the Guantanamo prison, has denied his administration used torture, he and officials in his administration have said sometimes harsh treatment was needed to combat terrorism.

A former cabinet minister, Fran Bailey, thinks that in Habib's case, the correct procedures were followed.  "Any minister making a decision, no matter what the matter is, whether it is repatriating someone back to a country who is held by another country on foreign territory, you really can only act on the best advice that you are getting from your department. There were apparently very good reasons why my government of the day did not repatriate him back to Australia sooner," Bailey said.
 
Although Australian authorities never charged him with any crimes, Habib's passport was taken away. News media reports after his return home said he was still considered a security risk, in part because of contacts with suspected terrorists. Australian authorities will not comment on whether he remains under investigation. Habib says he is trying to get a new passport.

Bailey thinks Australian society remains ambivalent toward Habib, who unsuccessfully ran for office in local elections in Sydney three years ago. Some remain suspicious of him and his reasons for being in Pakistan in late 2001, while others are sympathetic to him.

默塞尔|悉尼
2010年2月11日

澳大利亚马姆杜哈比是主演了一个关于年起，他花了关押在关塔那摩湾，在培训武装人员的怀疑，并具有2001年美国遭受恐怖袭击事先并不知情。等待马姆杜详情移交他的指控和酷刑。

马姆杜哈比比说，他是被链接后在巴基斯坦被捕后，于9月11日的袭击，2001年1月摧残。
 
他说，他是在为孩子寻找学校后，在澳大利亚的生活越来越失望。
 
一出新戏的细节，而他的指控虐待在埃及，他说这是由美国当局下令拘留。
 
摘自发挥：“他们试图保持双手清洁，但他们送往埃及折磨我。我被殴打，电击。我听到人民的痛苦，在其他细胞尖叫。他们带来了不同细胞的人，他们把电击他[给他电击]。他们杀死在我面前他自己的眼睛。“
 
前者被拘留者，双澳大利亚，埃及国民，被送往从埃及到古巴关塔那摩湾，那里的美国政府有一个军事监狱。他被释放5年前不收费，返回澳大利亚。
 
哈比卜说，美国总统奥巴马应该关闭关塔那摩监狱，揭示了有关移交的真相 - 移交囚犯的地方被虐待的其他国家。奥巴马政府已计划关闭该设施。
 
哈比仍然是澳大利亚政府，他说是一个全球性的阴谋削弱个人的权利的一部分直言不讳的批评。
 
“我可以说，澳大利亚政府[是]隐藏的真理很多，”哈比卜说。 “在澳大利亚公共他们[是]非常天真的人。人们不相信是怎么回事。他们不明白。我们谈论民主，我们谈论的自由，我们对人权的讨论 - 我们没有这样的。“
 
战区生产严厉批评前总理约翰霍华德让澳大利亚公民不被指控在关塔那摩举行。
 
“为马姆杜等待”也告诉了他妻子的麻烦诗在澳大利亚经历了他的监禁。
 
演员：“女士们，先生们，感谢你们今天听我的。我不想以你太多的时间了。但是，霍华德就像是让澳大利亚人被关在关塔那摩湾和战争罪犯的行动，他和政府必须保护其公民。我的丈夫在关塔那摩湾了4年，没有人关心，没有人说什么。难道我们也害怕吗？他不是狗，我们只是锁在一个笼子里，离开死。我促请澳大利亚政府帮助我的丈夫，并带他回家，说够了。他是在地狱，他不值得的。“
 
哈比被关押在关塔那摩的两名澳大利亚人之一。另一个是大卫希克斯，前袋鼠猎人，谁花了五年多前承认没有向提供物质支持基地恐怖网络的审判，罪名被监禁。服刑后，在澳大利亚服刑，希克斯现在是免费的。
 
库兰达塞伊特，合作，为马姆杜等待作者说，发挥显示了无辜的危险之中。 “我相信是这样才能真正发挥突出和提高对虐待的类型认识到，我们都可以下降的，”塞伊特说。 “谁会成为下一个马姆杜哈比卜，下一个大卫希克斯，下一个人谁在错误的位置是在错误的时间？”
  
澳大利亚政府已调查了哈比卜的治疗，但没有发现任何证据证明他关于酷刑的指控。
 
虽然前总统布什，谁打开了关塔那摩监狱，否认他的政府使用酷刑，他和他的政府官员也表示，有时需要苛刻的待遇，以打击恐怖主义。

一名前内阁部长，弗兰贝利认为，在哈比卜的情况下，遵循正确的程序。 “任何部长作出决定时，无论什么事，无论是遣返有人回谁是另一国在外国领土上举行的国家，你们真的只能采取行动，你最好的建议是从你的部门获得。显然有很好的理由，我当时的政府并没有遣返他回澳大利亚更快，“贝利说。
 
虽然澳大利亚当局从未被控任何罪行，哈比的护照被带走了。新闻媒体他回国后的报告说，他仍然被认为安全风险，因为它与恐怖分子嫌疑人接触的一部分。澳大利亚当局不会评论正在调查他是否仍然存在。哈比卜说，他正在试图获得新的护照。

贝利认为，澳大利亚社会仍然对哈比，谁失败，却偏偏在悉尼地方选举办公室三年前矛盾。仍然存在着一些怀疑他和巴基斯坦在2001年底被他的理由，而另一些同情他。