Fed: Rudd says govt must re-state position on abuse claims

AAP General News (Australia)
08-05-2004
Fed: Rudd says govt must re-state position on abuse claims

Labor says the government must make it clear whether it still believes there's been
no human rights abuses against two Australian detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

A statement from former detainees at the US military base in Cuba indicates Australian
terrorist suspects DAVID HICKS and MAMDOUH HABIB have been abused.

Former British prisoners RHUHEL AHMED, SHAFIQ RASUL and ASIF IQBAL detail what they
say was their own abuse at Guantanamo.

The Sydney Morning Herald says the Britons have also recounted their conversations
with HICKS and HABIB.

They say HABIB was in catastrophic mental and physical shape after he was tortured
in Egypt following his arrest -- believed to have been in Pakistan -- but was denied medical
help.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman KEVIN RUDD says that on May the 13th this year,
Foreign Minister ALEXANDER DOWNER said there'd been no human rights abuses concerning
HICKS and HABIB.

Meanwhile, Liberal MP PETER KING says the government should either involve an Australian
military officer in a US-led inquiry, or launch one of its own.

AAP RTV db/sb/mj/jot

KEYWORD: GUANTANAMO AUST RUDD (CANBERRA)

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