Raul Bassi, Sydney
At a press conference on July 9, Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hick's father Terry and former detainee and torture victim Mamdouh Habib met for the first time. Following this emotional meeting, 150 people attended a public forum organised by the Canterbury-Bankstown Peace Group and Justice for Hicks and Habib. The forum was hosted by UTS's Research Initiative on International Activism.
The forum highlighted the situations of David Hicks, who has been imprisoned for more than three years; Ahmed Aziz Rafiq, who was arrested in Iraq; and Talal Adree, who is detained in Kuwait. It also exposed the ongoing harassment of Habib, who was released from the US military prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in January.
Forum organisers condemned the terrorist attacks in London, but emphasised that the terror attacks were not confined to New York, Bali, Madrid or London, but that the worst terrorists — the "coalition of the killing", including PM John Howard, US President George Bush, British PM Tony Blair and Israeli PM Ariel Sharon — have killed many thousands with their huge arsenals of modern weaponry. They also pointed out that people are not born terrorists, but that terrorists are created through injustice, killings, destruction and poverty.
Terry Hicks opened the forum by explaining that the deterioration of his son's mental and physical condition is reaching a critical point. Habib discussed his arrest and the role of the Australian government, his torture in Egypt and Guantanamo Bay, and his constant harassment by ASIO since his return to Australia.
Cameron Murphy from the NSW Council of Civil Liberties explained the effect that the new "anti-terrorist" laws will have on the population. NSW Greens parliamentarian Sylvia Hale discussed the efforts of Greens Senator Kerry Nettle in federal parliament to confirm the situation of Rafiq. She also described the draconian "anti-terror" laws passed by the NSW Labor government, which mirror the federal laws.
Waleed Kadous, from the Australian Muslim Civil Rights Advocacy Network, explained how these laws are affecting the Muslim community in Australia.
The forum unanimously approved a series of motions condemning the complicity of the Australian government in the imprisonment and torture of Hicks and Rafiq; condemning the federal and state "anti-terror" laws, which have undermined civil and human rights; demanding the federal government requests the repatriation of David and Ahmad; demanding the reinstatement of all social services and welfare payments to the Habib family; and demanding that the Australian government award compensation to Habib for his wrongful imprisonment and torture.
[To contact the Canterbury-Bankstown Peace Group, phone Raul on 0403 037 376 or Marlene on 0401 758 871 or email <bankstown@yahoogroups.com>.]
From Green Left Weekly, July 20, 2005.
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