Downer Has Much To Answer On Habib Kevin Rudd - Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Security

Media Statement - 8 July 2004

Mr Downer has much to answer on whether Mr Habib has been subjected to torture, when the Howard Government became aware of these allegations and what it did about them.

Mr Habib’s circumstances are: he was first arrested in Pakistan in late 2001; was then sent to Egypt where he remained until April 2002; he was briefly returned to Bagram airbase in April/May 2002; then sent to Guantanamo Bay in early May 2002 – where he has remained for the past two years.

The Howard Government has claimed its officials, when interviewing Mr Habib in Guantanamo Bay, were not told of any allegations of prisoner abuse or torture concerning Mr Habib.

Attorney General Ruddock said on 16 October 2003 that “I have also seen the reports of Australian officials who have on a number of occasions listed Guantanamo Bay and seen the detainees. There were no reports of any torture.”

Mr Downer said on 13 May 2004 that Ambassador Thawley in Washington had been told by the US administration that there hadn’t been any abuses in relation to Hicks and Habib and that the US administration had “come to the conclusion from the information provided to him that there haven’t been human rights abuses on Hicks and Habib…and wherever there are allegations of abuses we do our best to investigate them…”

And Prime Minister Howard on 20 May stated: “these allegations that Hicks and Habib have been maltreated since stories of American prisoner abuse have surfaced”.

The Howard Government has been loose with the truth yet again because in cross examination in the Senate on 3 June the Department of Foreign Affairs stated: “I think it is important to say that on the first Australian visit to Mr Habib in Guantanamo Bay, which was only 10 days after his transfer there from Egypt, Mr Habib made some serious complaints about his time in Egypt” and that he made a similar complaint in similar language in 2004 during a further visit by Australian officials.

So if Habib had alleged to Australian officials in April 2002 and February 2004 that he had been mistreated in 2001-02, how could Howard, Downer and Ruddock have made such statements?

The story now gets worse for the Howard Government. The key allegation by Habib relates to mistreatment and torture in Egypt. Why was Habib sent from Pakistan to Egypt – despite the fact that he was an Australian citizen?

Last night on SBS Dateline, the Pakistani Interior Minister said Habib was sent to Egypt by the Pakistanis at the request of the US administration. It is alleged that Habib was despatched to Egypt as part of a US program of “rendition” - where suspects are sent to third world countries for the purposes of extracting information from them by employing interrogation techniques unacceptable under the Geneva Conventions.

Mr Downer must now tell us: Did the US request Pakistan to send Habib to Egypt? When Australian officials made aware of this request and/or this action? What did Downer then do in response to this request – particularly in light of the SBS allegations concerning the practice of “rendition”?

Mr Downer has onerous legal responsibilities under the Geneva Conventions and the UN Convention Against Torture to ensure that no Australian citizens abroad are subject to mistreatment.

Today Mr Downer said the question of whether the US had requested Habib’s despatch to Egypt was not important. Wrong. It is important because it goes to the heart of Mr Downer’s discharge of his formal legal obligations.

Given he is in Washington, it is time Mr Downer produced a full chronology of the Habib treatment saga, including Australian official knowledge and engagement.