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January 29, 2005
Mamdouh Habib is faced with the problem of being a Muslim in a conflict wher ethe enemy is defined as Muslim fundamentalism. Though Habib was an Australian citizen he was abandoned by the Australian state when he was detained by the US at Guantanamo Bay, as an enemy combatant.He was detained for three years without Australians being able to know whether in fact he'd committed any crime.
The significance of this is that Canberra has effectively subordinated citizen's rights to the 'war on terror'.The two Australians (Habib and Hicks) have been deprived of legal rights within Australia, (not entitled to the presumption of innocence for instance); whilst in Guantanamo Bay they are non-citizens.
Is this not a clear case of Australia's subordinated relationship to empire? The concerns of empire are dominate ans Australian citnzenship counts for naught.
Though the Americans, despite their best efforts, could not charge, let alone convict Habib of any terrorist-related crime, the Howard Government is suggesting if he dares to make a dollar out of his story, it might launch civil action over proceeds him. What would be their case under the profits-from-crime legislation?
The incoming president of the Council of Australia, John North, says that the Government's action
"....appears to be a blatant attempt to curb someone's right of free speech. The profits-from-crime legislation in this context was designed to stop convicted terrorists benefiting from their evil acts. Mr Habib has endured over three years of appalling deprivation while the most powerful nation in the world endeavoured to build a terrorist case against him. They failed. If we allow our Government to pursue individuals in this way, then the time will come when everybody's freedom could be compromised."
This is a situation where a citizen has been deprived of their legal rights within Australia.
As Binoy Kampmark points out:
"...it is one thing to assume that Hicks and Habib have been in dereliction of their duties to the state; they owed, at least officially as Australian citizens, none to the United States. This gives further credence to the redundancy of Australian (non-American) citizenship: the sin was against the Empire and the dominion duly forfeited its subjects for their treachery. The Australian who fights against the Coalition in overseas theatres is firstly and foremost, an enemy of the United States. He cannot be an enemy of Australia (he is not allowed to be); his criminality is conferred through the injury he has caused to the United States."
SoHabib becomes a non-Australian, a non-citizen.
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