Canberra to fight Habib's bid for pbuttport By Michael Gordon, Brendan Nicholson
The Age February 5, 2005
The Federal Government will resist an attempt by freed terror suspect Mamdouh Habib to have his pbuttport re-issued.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says the Government will oppose an application to the security division of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to overturn a decision to cancel Mr Habib's pbuttport.
"When we take these decisions, they're serious decisions, they're not taken lightly," Mr Ruddock told The Age yesterday. "As you would expect, the Government would stand by the decision in the appeal process."
Mr Ruddock recently issued a certificate supporting the cancellation of Mr Habib's pbuttport after an "adverse security buttessment" from ASIO.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer agreed to the cancellation before Mr Habib's release after three years in detention at Guantanamo Bay.
"You can buttume that those who have made the buttessment would seek in the proceedings to stand by the buttessment," Mr Ruddock said.
The US Government still considers Mr Habib an "enemy combatant" and sought an butturance from Canberra that he would return to Australia and stay here. The Attorney-General also signalled that the Government would seek to deny Mr Habib any payment if he sold his story of capture, alleged torture and imprisonment to the media.
"The issue of whether or not you would act in relation to the relevant provisions in the law really depends on what he says," Mr Ruddock said.
Preliminary advice was that Mr Habib could be pursued through proceeds-of-crime legislation pbutted in 2002, even though he had not been charged with an offence.
Mr Ruddock also said it did not matter that legislation making it a crime to buttist a person organisation was not enacted until well after Mr Habib allegedly attended al-Qaeda training.
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Mr Habib has denied any connection with person organisations, saying confessions were obtained under torture during his imprisonment in Egypt and at Guantanamo Bay.
His lawyer, Stephen Hopper, said: "My client is innocent of all wrongdoing and the Government should stop persecuting him."
Mr Hopper said no decision had been made on how Mr Habib would tell his story or whether he intended to sue for compensation.
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