An Australian terrorism suspect soon to be repatriated by US authorities after three years at the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba was the victim of atrocities fit for a concentration camp, his lawyer claimed in reports yesterday.
Stephen Hopper, in comments reported yesterday in the Sydney Morning Herald, alleged that Mamdouh Habib was tied to the ground while a naked prostitute menstruated on him.
Hopper also claimed that interrogators told the Egyptian-born Sydney resident that they had killed his wife and three children.
"The Americans used prostitutes as tools in their interrogations," Hopper said.
Habib was arrested in October 2001 in Pakistan and accused of aiding Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network.
Attorney General Philip Ruddock said earlier this month that Habib would be released by US authorities and would not be charged under Australian law on his return.
He would escape prosecution because anti-terrorism legislation did not come into force until 2002 and could not be applied retrospectively.
"Mr. Habib remains of interest in a security context because of his former associations and activities," Ruddock said.
The release of Habib would leave one Australian at Guantanamo Bay.
David Hicks, 29, is one of only four detainees to be charged and to have faced court. He is on trial before a US military tribunal for terrorism offenses. He will not get a death sentence and would serve his jail term in Australia if found guilty.
Hicks was captured in November 2001 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, fighting with the Taliban and has been inside the Guantanamo Bay prison since then.
DISASTER: The Bangladesh Meteorological Department recorded a magnitude 5.7 and tremors reached as far as Kolkata, India, more than 300km away from the epicenter A powerful earthquake struck Bangladesh yesterday outside the crowded capital, Dhaka, killing at least five people and injuring about a hundred, the government said. The magnitude 5.5 quake struck at 10:38am near Narsingdi, Bangladesh, about 33km from Dhaka, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. The earthquake sparked fear and chaos with many in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people at home on their day off. AFP reporters in Dhaka said they saw people weeping in the streets while others appeared shocked. Bangladesh Interim Leader Muhammad Yunus expressed his “deep shock and sorrow over the news of casualties in various districts.” At least five people,
It is one of the world’s most famous unsolved codes whose answer could sell for a fortune — but two US friends say they have already found the secret hidden by Kryptos. The S-shaped copper sculpture has baffled cryptography enthusiasts since its 1990 installation on the grounds of the CIA headquarters in Virginia, with three of its four messages deciphered so far. Yet K4, the final passage, has kept codebreakers scratching their heads. Sculptor Jim Sanborn, 80, has been so overwhelmed by guesses that he started charging US$50 for each response. Sanborn in August announced he would auction the 97-character solution to K4
SHOW OF FORCE: The US has held nine multilateral drills near Guam in the past four months, which Australia said was important to deter coercion in the region Five Chinese research vessels, including ships used for space and missile tracking and underwater mapping, were active in the northwest Pacific last month, as the US stepped up military exercises, data compiled by a Guam-based group shows. Rapid militarization in the northern Pacific gets insufficient attention, the Pacific Center for Island Security said, adding that it makes island populations a potential target in any great-power conflict. “If you look at the number of US and bilateral and multilateral exercises, there is a lot of activity,” Leland Bettis, the director of the group that seeks to flag regional security risks, said in an
ON THE LAM: The Brazilian Supreme Court said that the former president tried to burn his ankle monitor off as part of an attempt to orchestrate his escape from Brazil Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro — under house arrest while he appeals a conviction for a foiled coup attempt — was taken into custody on Saturday after the Brazilian Supreme Court deemed him a high flight risk. The court said the far-right firebrand — who was sentenced to 27 years in prison over a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 elections — had attempted to disable his ankle monitor to flee. Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes said Bolsonaro’s detention was a preventive measure as final appeals play out. In a video made
RSS