On his return to Australia, Habib was placed under surveillance and his passport confiscated. Article 14 of CAT commits Australia to ensure the victim of an act of torture obtains redress and has an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation. This Article was flouted, compensation was rejected. Habib has been pursuing the matter since 2005, with the case continually obstructed by the Howard government and its successor, the Rudd government. A flicker of progress was achieved a few weeks ago, according to a single report in a socialist blog, though I cannot find a mention elsewhere. The slumbering proceedings evoke the aura of a secret trial.
What is the Government hiding? The awful truth, perhaps. That some authorities have aided and abetted multiple acts of torture and kidnap of an Australian citizen. In January 2006, the Sydney Morning Herald obtained documents confirming that the Howard government and its intelligence agencies were “deeply implicated in the illegal rendition and imprisonment” of Habib. Following the recent US torture scandals, President Obama wants the investigation to focus on the lawyers, which is also a pretty good place to start in Australia.
Former Prime Minister John Howard is a lawyer, as is the former Attorney General Philip Ruddock. The former head of Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, will need to face scrutiny, as well as legal officers, public servants and others who violated local and international laws. It has emerged that the US Government told ASIO heads it planned to send Habib to Egypt for “questioning” several weeks before his illegal rendition. Other agencies are tainted. Last December, Natalie O'Brien of The Australian reported that the Defence Department holds over 85,000 pages of documents relating to the rendition of Habib to Egypt, “despite having assured federal parliament it had no involvement in the matter”. it is Australia’s rock solid obligation under Article 5 of CAT to make torture offences “punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature”. While the official hand of the Australia Government signed and ratified CAT, its covert hand fed human flesh to the torturers. Prime Minster Rudd has no other choice but to set up a Royal Commission with sweeping powers.
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Post Script: The endemic infliction of torture and abuse on prisoners by coalition forces has long been documented by bloggers and independent journalists. In 2005, this account of the CIA's World Torture Tour was widely circulated on the web. It took another four years for the New York Times to wake up.
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