An Australian citizen detained without charge in northern Iraq for the past 18 months claims he has been tortured, the government said yesterday after gaining consular access to him for the first time last month.
Ahmed Jamal, 23, had been detained by members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the two political parties that control the region, since September 2004 for unexplained security reasons, the Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade said.
Australia has made "extensive senior level representations" to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and the Iraqi government to find out the legal basis for his detention, a spokeswoman said.
"Mr Jamal told us that he had been tortured immediately following his arrest," the spokeswoman said on the condition of anonymity, following its standard policy. "This is a matter of serious concern to us."
The government did not outline what kind of torture Jamal claims he was subjected to.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said his government was doing everything it could to help Jamal, who is from Sydney.
But Jamal's lawyer Stephen Kenny insisted the government had not done enough.
"The government has only just been to visit him," Kenny said.
"I appreciate it is a dangerous situation in Iraq ... but the government has an obligation to look after the human rights of Australian citizens," he said.
He added that his client had been on a pilgrimage to Mecca and had telephoned his father to say he was staying in the region to look for a Muslim bride.
"I do not know what the allegations against him are at all," Kenny said, who insisted Jamal must either be charged and tried in court or freed and allowed to return to Australia.
The PUK, the party of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, could not immediately be contacted for comment.
It is the second largest party in Iraq's northern Kurdish region.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese