| Cheez, it's all Habib, all the time today. It's like I'm reading CNN :-) |
 AUSTRALIA will offer no apology or compensation to former terror suspect Mamdouh Habib and will keep him under surveillance when he returns home.
| "Nope. Ain't gonna do it. Piss off!" |
The US will release Mr Habib from the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba after holding him for more than three years without charge on suspicion he knew about the September 11 terrorist attacks. The Pentagon still regards Mr Habib as an enemy combatant but says the Australian Government has accepted responsibility for him.
| "He's all yours now! Enjoy! Whyn'tcha put him up with some lefties, since they like him so much?" |
Mr Habib could be flown home within days and is unlikely to face further charges because Australian terror laws are not retrospective. Human rights activists and legal experts accused the Government of abandoning Mr Habib and have called for compensation and an inquiry into claims he was tortured by US agents.
| Surely one of them has a spare room for him? |
But Prime Minister John Howard said the Government would not apologise. "We don't have any apology to offer," Mr Howard said. "We won't be offering compensation."
| "He's lucky he's not warming a bunk at the Alice Springs calaboose. Yet." |
The Government was advised that Mr Habib had been detained lawfully at Guantanamo Bay, although it told US authorities Mr Habib should either be charged or repatriated, Mr Howard said. "I think the process took too long and we have made that known in very plain terms to the US," he said.
| Sorry about that. We were hoping he'd die of old age. |
Details of Mr Habib's return were still being discussed but the Government said he would remain a security interest to federal police and would have to stay in the country.
| "No. You may not go to Bangladesh for the weekend!" |
"There are some ongoing inquiries and because of this interest relevant agencies will undertake appropriate measures," Attorney-General Philip Ruddock told radio station 2UE. "He won't face charges in relation to what we know at the moment but if further evidence came to light I wouldn't preclude it." NSW Premier Bob Carr said Mr Habib was likely to return to his south-western Sydney home. "We will cooperate with the federal police in surveillance of any person of interest," he said. "The security of the Australian people demands nothing less than that."
| "We don't want any cars exploding around here, either..." |
Terrorism analyst and former SAS officer Justin Needham, now with the Melbourne-based Aurora Intelligence Group, said Mr Habib could face more questioning and would probably be monitored. "I think that, regardless of identifying the government organisations involved — whether it's ASIO, ASIS or the federal police — it would be far from over for him once he arrives back," Mr Needham said.
| Well, at least his value as a sleeper's ruined... |
Mr Habib's lawyer Stephen Hopper described the imprisonment as the most disgraceful episode in Australian history.
| ... though not nearly as interesting as Ned Kelly, and certainly not as heroic as Gallipoli... |
He said the family could seek compensation and vowed to bring to justice those responsible for Mr Habib's detention and torture of the "most hideous, vile and medieval kind".
| Since he's responsible for his own actions, that would kinda sorta boil down to him... |
Maha Habib, Mr Habib's wife, branded the Government a disgrace. "To apologise or not, is not going to make any difference," she said. "The glass has been broken, they have breached our human rights and they are the criminals."
| "Not my old man! That evidence was planted! And besides, the witnesses are all dead!" |
Labor meanwhile called on the Government to come clean on the reasons for Mr Habib's release, saying it came just a week after allegations an Australian consular official was present while Mr Habib was tortured. The Australian Greens joined Amnesty International in the circus demanding an independent inquiry into the Government's actions to assist Mr Habib, saying it failed to come to the aid of a citizen. The Australian Democrats backed Mr Hopper's call for compensation, while the Law Council of Australia said Mr Habib had every right to feel abandoned by the government and appalled by his treatment. A mental health expert warned Mr Habib would face a long road to recovery when he returned. "He's lost all opportunities for normal socialisation for about three years now," Australian Psychological Society president Amanda Gordon said.
| Maybe he should spend a couple weeks at the beach before going back to work? |
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