[Thinkpad] Rendition...

    Australian's Long Path in U.S. Antiterrorism Maze

*By RAYMOND BONNER *

Published: January 29, 2005

SYDNEY, Australia, Jan. 28 - For more than three years, Mamdouh Habib,
an Egyptian-born Australian with a volatile temper and an intense
devotion to radical Islam, was in American custody, transported from
Pakistan to Afghanistan to Egypt to the prison at Guantánamo Bay.

The Americans designated him an "enemy combatant," saying he had
admitted to having prior knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks and to having
trained some of the hijackers. He said he confessed while in Egypt only
to stop the waves of torture.

        
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But Mr. Habib's journey came to an unexpected end on Friday afternoon at
Sydney's international airport when he stepped off a white executive jet
and was set free.

His release was accompanied by little public explanation. But behind the
turn of events, according to interviews here and the United States, were
high-level negotiations between allies.

Australian officials say Mr. Habib, who is in his late 40's and the
father of four, attended a Qaeda camp in Afghanistan; he was apprehended
in Pakistan shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. As he was held, like
hundreds of other terror suspects, without a formal hearing, the
Australians pressed American officials to charge him with a crime or
release him.

In June, Australian officials said, President Bush assured Prime
Minister John Howard that Mr. Habib would be formally charged. Then,
earlier this month, after Mr. Habib had spent 40 months in prison, word
came that there would be no charges. "They weren't confident the charges
would stick," said an Australian official involved in the negotiations.

Even then, the Australian officials said, the Americans did not want to
release Mr. Habib, knowing that without criminal charges, he would be a
free man in Australia. But an announcement that four Britons were being
released from Guantánamo set off a flurry of diplomatic activity, said
another Australian official involved in the case.

"They had no option," the official said. "They couldn't do what they had
done with the Brits and not do the same for us."

The United States has returned dozens of Guantánamo detainees to their
home countries. But what distinguishes Mr. Habib's case are the severity
of the accusations on both sides - the Americans' allegations of his
connection to Sept. 11, and his charges, in legal papers made public
earlier this month, that he was subjected to a process called
"rendition," under which the United States sent him to Egypt. There, he
says, he was tortured with beatings and electric shocks, and hung from
the walls by hooks.

In a statement, the Department of Defense said, "There is no evidence
that any Australian detainee in D.o.D. custody was tortured or abused."
United States officials have acknowledged using renditions but say they
do not condone torture.

Australian officials confirmed that Mr. Habib was indeed taken to Egypt,
and added that when they interviewed him at Guantánamo, he told them of
being beaten and given electric shocks in Egypt.

In separate interviews, three senior Australian officials agreed to
discuss the case on condition of anonymity, in part because they were
discussing intelligence material and sensitive diplomatic negotiations.
Moreover, some of what they said went beyond what has been asserted
publicly.

For instance, the Australians said there was no evidence that Mr. Habib
trained any of the hijackers or even that he was an enemy combatant,
since he was not in Afghanistan when American troops arrived. In
addition, the government said, Mr. Habib's activities did not break any
Australian laws in effect before Sept. 11. (Antiterror laws were
toughened after the attacks.)

Another Australian, David Hicks, captured in Afghanistan in late 2001,
remains at Guantánamo, and has been charged.

Mr. Habib immigrated to Australia from Egypt in 1982, and became a
citizen a few years later. He married a Lebanese woman, Maha, and they
started a family, according to friends. "He was very successful, very
happy with his family, they had a nice house," said a sister, Sally. "I
don't know what happened.
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Received on Sat Jan 29 15:36:24 2005