Raul Bassi
The Australian people closely followed the situation of Douglas Wood, the hostage in Iraq who has just been freed. His situation was aggravated by the totally wrong policies of the Australian government.
This government went to war based on lies, against the will of a large majority of Australians, following the orders of its masters in the US. It is participating in the military occupation of a sovereign country, against the will of the Iraqi people.
Instead of withdrawing troops — as more than 17 other countries have done — the Coalition government has increased the numbers of Australian troops serving in Iraq. This not only puts those troops in danger, but it also makes Australians around the world legitimate targets.
Wood's situation raises the issue of three other Australian hostages: David Hicks, Ahmed Aziz Rafiq and Mamdouh Habib, totally forgotten by the Australian corporate press and the government.
Hicks has been held hostage in the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for more than three years. In this case, the hostage-taker is a supposed "democratic country". Hicks is kept together with hundreds of other illegally detained prisoners, tortured and without rights to real legal representation. The charges against Hicks are so dubious that he couldn't even appear before the military kangaroo courts, in which the US government has cancelled basic legal rights.
Rafiq, also held hostage by the US, is 27 years old and was arrested in northern Iraq on February 20, 2004 — two weeks after his wedding — by Kurdish authorities. Rafiq was reportedly handed over to coalition forces for investigation as a terror suspect in May 2004. He was sent to the notorious Abu Ghraib prison before being transferred to Camp Bucca, a military prison in southern Iraq.
Rafiq was born in Iraq and gained entry to Australia as a refugee. He is an Australian citizen and has lived in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne. He has relatives both here and in Iraq.
The federal government, in response to questions asked by Greens Senator Kerry Nettle on February 21, claimed that Rafiq is still being held in Camp Bucca. However, Mamdouh Habib, who was released from Guantanamo Bay without charge in January, claims that Rafiq has, since the beginning of this year, been detained in Guantanamo Bay.
Foreign minister Alexander Downer told ABC's PM on March 18 that Rafiq has "been treated well", but that "American military authorities in Iraq want more information from Mr Rafiq".
According to Rafiq's cousin in Adelaide, Sameer Saaid, in the 12 months that Rafiq has been in prison, coalition forces have not been able to link him to terrorist activity. No charges have been laid against him.
Meanwhile, Habib is being held hostage by our own government — since his return to Australia, his life has been a nightmare and his family has paid a high price.
Habib's passport has been denied to him for no reason. His house has been broken in to on multiple occasions, yet nothing has been taken (raising the possibility that a monitoring device may have been installed). His car has been found open twice, yet nothing went missing.
Habib and his family have endured threats on four occasions in the three months since he arrived home. On one occasion, this abuse came from someone in a car, directed at Habib's wife Maha. The car registration details were passed to the police but no action has been taken. On another occasion an Egyptian man said to Habib, "Do not talk about what you saw in Egypt".
Centrelink has also waged a war against the Habib family. Mamdouh Habib's disability pension was cut, then their family allowance. Maha had her student allowance cut and, since then, two of their sons' youth allowance payments have been cancelled.
This treatment has all been afforded to a person who has not been charged with any offence.
[The Canterbury Bankstown Peace Group and the Free Hicks and Habib Campaign in Sydney are demanding the immediate release of Hicks and Rafiq and an immediate end to the harassment of Habib and his family. A public meeting at the University of Technology, Sydney at 3.30pm on July 9 will discuss the situation of these hostages and the role of the Australian government in their suffering and persecution. Mamdouh Habib will be one of the speakers. For more information, phone Raul on 0403 037 376 or Marlene on 0401 758 871.]
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, June 22, 2005.
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