No apology, no compensation for Habib: PM (John Howard)

[rooboy]

Australia will not apologise to nor compensate Sydney man Mamdouh Habib, Prime Minister John Howard said today.

Mr Habib is to be released after spending more than three years in a US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

But Mr Howard said he had also told the United States "in very plain terms" that the process took too long.

US authorities have decided not to charge Mr Habib, who was captured in Pakistan in October 2001 on suspicion he had prior knowledge of the September 11 attacks in the US and had trained with al-Qaeda.

The father of four is expected to be flown home within days and is unlikely to face further charges because Australian terror laws are not retrospective.

Mr Howard said Australia would not apologise.

"We don't have any apology to offer," Mr Howard told reporters. "We won't be offering compensation."

Mr Habib's lawyer Stephen Hopper described the imprisonment as the most disgraceful episode in Australian history.

Mr Hopper vowed to bring to justice those responsible for Mr Habib's detention and torture of the "most hideous, vile and medieval kind", indicating the family might seek compensation from Australia and the US.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Global-Terrorism/No-apology-no-compensation-for-Habib-PM/2005/01/12/1105423533372.html

[theresistance]

1. Disgusting attitude on Howard's part

He's done nothing for the Australians the US kidnapped. Even Tony Blair made an effort on the part of the Britain's held.

[NYC]

2. No apology, no compensation --

no matter how deserved.

I think if he offered an apology, he would be admitting responsibility which would aid Habib in a lawsuit for compensation.

Habib just spent 3 years in Guantanamo, and was released without being convicted of anything. That merits more than an apology.

[Andrushka]

3. What a disgrace

"We don't have any apology to offer"

The sheer arrogance of the little shit...

Good luck, Stephen Hopper.

[Supersedeas]

4. Three years of Detention and No Charges -- the 'Merican Way???

Not the U.S. that I know....knew.