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| Down Under |
| Interrogators said they'd killed his family |
| 2005-01-26 |
| AUSTRALIAN Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib was tied to the ground while a prostitute menstruated on him after he failed to co-operate with interrogators, his lawyer said today. Interrogators also told the Sydney man they had killed his family and superimposed animals' heads on photos of his wife and children, Mr Habib's lawyer Steven Hopper said today. The federal Government said it was aware of similar allegations of torture made by former British detainees at Guantanamo Bay but it was the first time the government had heard the claims involving Mr Habib. Mr Habib is due back in Sydney within a fortnight after the US said it would release him without charge despite holding him for more than three years on suspicion he knew about the September 11 attacks and trained with al-Qaeda. Mr Hopper today detailed for the first time the "atrocities" his client endured while in detention at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. "The Americans used prostitutes as tools in their interrogations," he said in Sydney. "They'd say to detainees 'If you co-operate with us, we'll let you at this woman for the night'. And if they wouldn't agree they'd use them in other ways." He said detainees held at the base with Mr Habib reported that a prostitute was told to stand over him and menstruate on him. "(We believe) one of the prostitutes stood over him naked while he was strapped to the floor and menstruated on him," Mr Hopper said. Officials at the base also defaced photos of Mr Habib's wife Maha and their four children, he said. "The Americans in their wisdom have taken the heads off the pictures, enlarged them and superimposed them with the heads of animals and then strung them up all over the walls of the interrogation room. "As they sat there talking to Mamdouh asking him about his terrorist activities, they held up a picture of Maha and said 'It's a shame we had to kill your family, it's a shame you will never see these people again'." He said Mr Habib also said he was subjected to interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay like those used on prisoners at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. "Make no doubt about it, Guantanamo Bay wasn't a prisoner-of-war camp," Mr Hopper said. "It was a facility designed to interrogate people. It was nothing more than a vulgar concentration camp and it has marked a new high in the rise of American fascism." Mr Habib was detained in Afghanistan in late 2001 and sent to Egypt before being flown to Guantanamo Bay in 2002. Mr Hopper also detailed abuses against Mr Habib while in Egypt, saying he was strapped to the ceiling with only an electrified barrel to stand on. "He would stand and get a shock or hang painfully by his arms until he'd collapse," he said. He was blindfolded and locked in rooms which were flooded with water and charged with electricity, Mr Hopper said. "On other occasions they used German shepherd guard dogs and (interrogators) told him they train dogs to sexually assault people," the lawyer said. "Mamdouh has said he wasn't sexually assaulted by these dogs but really we don't know. "Who would admit to it, particularly an Arab Muslim male?" Mr Hopper detailed the alleged abuse at an Australia Day forum, focussing on Australia's political relationship with the US. The federal Government said it was aware of similar allegations of torture made by former British detainees at Guantanamo Bay. But a spokesman for Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said tonight it was the first time the Government had heard the claims involving Mr Habib. "We haven't heard those sorts of allegations from Mr Habib but we're aware that allegations of that nature were made by other detainees released last year," Mr Ruddock's spokesman said. "But if he's got any evidence to support those sorts of claims we'd pass them on." |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #18 I loved the "superimposed animals’ heads on photos of his wife and children" bit. Oh horror of horrors! Hmm... Anyone know if Fark has been contacted by the military? |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-01-26 10:27:17 PM |
| #17 "The Americans used prostitutes as tools in their interrogations," "The prostitutes used tools in their interrogations," This shit just writes itself... |
| Posted by: Raj 2005-01-26 10:22:58 PM |
| #16 Did he include the part about the pigskin sleeping bag? |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-01-26 6:47:38 PM |
| #15 What that jerk is saying is not for westerners' consumption. It is for Muslims’ and they will believe every bit of it. |
| Posted by: TMH 2005-01-26 6:24:04 PM |
| #14 Three years inside, he had to have given up lots of people. Why else would they let you out, right, Mamdouh? Could you blame some of your "old friends" for thinking like that, Mamdouh? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2005-01-26 6:23:13 PM |
| #13 Isn't he the guy that told us where to find Hambali? (wink wink nod nod) |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-01-26 6:05:46 PM |
| #12 Want some cheese with that whine, Mamdouh? |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-01-26 3:57:16 PM |
| #11 As he skips out the door, make the suggestion to Mr. Habib that he grow eyes in the back of his head. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2005-01-26 3:36:44 PM |
| #10 This story is one for the psychologists out there. Sounds like he is projecting his own subconcious fantasies. One thing I found interesting: as far as telling him that his family was executed.... I don't think that is torture, per se. Mock executions of the prisoner, yes; but I don't see how what he is saying goes over whatever line you have drawn regarding torture. (Aren't we allowed to lie to them? The police do it all the time in interrogations in the US) |
| Posted by: Mark E. 2005-01-26 3:25:23 PM |
| #9 then they turned me into a Newt! I got better |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-01-26 2:04:06 PM |
| #8 Now THAT's some useful psyops. Nothing could have been more horrifying to this guy-how wonderful! I get a soundtrack of Margaret Hamilton running through my head when I try to visualize this: I'm melting, meeehhhhlting! Oh, cruel world! |
| Posted by: Jules 187 2005-01-26 2:03:49 PM |
| #7 I loved the "superimposed animals’ heads on photos of his wife and children" bit. Oh horror of horrors! |
| Posted by: Tom 2005-01-26 2:02:35 PM |
| #6 Clearly this person is not familiar with menstruating females. Which makes his claim even more laughably pathetic. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-01-26 1:55:39 PM |
| #5 Torture! TORTURE!!! aaa!!!!!!! |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-01-26 10:46:33 AM |
| #4 "Make no doubt about it, Guantanamo Bay wasn’t a prisoner-of-war camp," Mr Hopper said. right, & it shouldn't be because you're not a prisoner of war assclown. "It was a facility designed to interrogate people. It was nothing more than a vulgar concentration camp and it has marked a new high in the rise of American fascism." -God, if only that were true, then I'd be truly proud. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2005-01-26 10:24:34 AM |
| #3 Bullshit meter tilts. Bullshit meter EXPLODES. Note the one-upmanship going on. Jihadi #1 says he was forced to watch a prostitute masturbate. Jihadi #2 says he was forced to have sex with a prostitute. Jihadi #3 says ditto, plus the prostitute had her period! |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-01-26 10:16:24 AM |
| #2 It was nothing more than a vulgar concentration camp and it has marked a new high in the rise of American fascism." I see he has a fine communist lawyer. "We haven’t heard those sorts of allegations from Mr Habib but we’re aware that allegations of that nature were made by other detainees released last year," They were total bullocks then and they are now. He should have added. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2005-01-26 9:05:29 AM |
| #1 Bullshit meter tilts. |
| Posted by: John Q. Citizen 2005-01-26 9:02:56 AM |