Melbourne Age EDITORIAL
Seeking truth at Guantanamo Bay May 24, 2004
Allegations that Australian detainees have been tortured must be investigated.
Have Australian Guantanamo Bay detainees David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib been abused by their American captors? On May 16, Prime Minister John Howard rejected the abuse allegations. He said Australia's consul-general in Washington, Derek Tucker, had visited the pair and was satisfied that they had not been treated unacceptably. Since then, however, the allegations of mistreatment have intensified.
Late last week the US State Department said its officials were working with the Pentagon to provide a "full and appropriate response" to reports that both men have been beaten since their capture. A witness says he saw Hicks being beaten after his seizure in Afghanistan.
The allegations regarding Habib are more grave. Former British detainee Tarek Degoul claims Habib was beaten, dragged by chains and photographed naked. Habib's lawyer, Steven Watt, said last week he feared for his client's mental state. "In the beginning he was sending numerous letters back to his wife and family and they haven't heard from him in a very, very long time and that in itself suggests something untoward has happened to him."
To satisfy itself that the men are sound in body and mind, the Australian Government should demand that Habib and Hicks undergo a full medical examination. Allegations of torture aside, the men have been held in psychologically and physically trying conditions. During their long detention (Hicks has been held prisoner since December 2001) they have not been charged. As a consequence they do not know when their cases will be heard, let alone what exactly they will be charged with.
Hicks's lawyer, Stephen Kenny, said his client's latest letter confirmed that he was in solitary confinement and receiving only four hours of exercise and sunlight a week. Another lawyer working for Habib, Stephen Hopper, said letters from his client indicate that he had spent five months blindfolded.
Because these men are held on Cuban soil, they are not afforded the protection of the US constitution. As The Age has argued before, the fate of Australian citizens should be decided under Australian law or before a proper international tribunal. By allowing the rights of its own citizens to be eroded, the Australian Government has been complicit in setting a dangerous precedent.
The Pentagon recently sent a letter to the Australian embassy assuring them that Guantanamo detainees are treated humanely and the US "does not permit, tolerate or condone any abuse or torture by its personnel under any circumstances". The Australian Government must do all it can to satisfy itself that the US Government is true to its word. Australia has a responsibility to ensure that the legal purgatory in which these men find themselves has not been made worse by inhumane physical treatment.