Former Gitmo inmate to stand for election

Tee Kay

Tee Kay

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Source: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=224871

Habib to stand in NSW election
Thursday Feb 1 12:17 AEDT
Former Guantanamo Bay inmate Mamdouh Habib is to stand in next month's NSW election for the seat of Auburn.

Mr Habib will run as an independent, supported by the Auburn Human Rights Group (AHRG).

In a statement Mr Habib said he would be campaigning for "the right of freedom of expression and in opposition to the anti-terrorist laws, state and federal".

"The right to fight racism, the end of scapegoating of Aborigines, Muslims and migrants," Mr Habib said.

"The right to oppose Australia's involvement in Iraq."

He said he was also standing on education, housing, health and environment issues.

AHRG member and campaign manager Raul Bassi said the group would support Mr Habib because the traditional parties were offering nothing new.

"All they have to offer is more privatisation, less money for people's needs and lots of empty promises with hidden agendas," Mr Bassi said.

"The aim of the campaign is to reclaim our diminishing human rights, negated every day by the state and federal governments, and to organise people who are prepared to fight for them."

Mr Habib was held in Guantanamo Bay without charge for three years before being released in January 2005.

He was arrested in Pakistan one month after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States and accused of training with al-Qaeda.

He alleges he was tortured in Islamabad and again in Egypt before being transferred to Cuba.

Labor MP Barbara Perry holds Auburn by a comfortable 26.5 per cent.

Labor and the Liberals have both ruled out doing preference deals with Mr Habib in Auburn.

"Mr Habib is preaching the politics of division - something the ALP will always fight," a Labor Party spokesman said.

"He will not get our preferences, nor would we want him to preference us."

NSW Liberal director Graham Jaeschke said his party had no intention of preferencing Mr Habib or any candidates backed by controversial Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali.

"We're not going to preference him (Mr Habib)," Mr Jaeschke said.

The Labor spokesman called on Opposition Leader Peter Debnam to reveal what links Tom Zreika, a Liberal Party member and president of the Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA), had to Mr Habib's candidature.

Mr Jaeschke said Mr Zreika had made it clear the LMA would not back political candidates.
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Ah! This looks interesting...

Your thoughts?
 
Looking at the thread title, I thought it was in the United States.
 
rmsharpe said:
I never thought I'd see myself rooting for the Labor Party.


Good for the guy that was training to kill Americans? Are you mad?
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YOu know why he was released...

Cause he was innocent
 
YOu know why he was released...

Cause he was innocent
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but attitudes like this really annoy me.

None of us here know enough about his particular case to declare him either 'innocent' or 'guilty', and it's unlikely that we ever will.
 
VX250 said:
I'm sorry but attitudes like this really annoy me.

None of us here know enough about his particular case to declare him either 'innocent' or 'guilty', and it's unlikely that we ever will.
Click to expand...

Sir, have you ever heard of this rightfully overriding phrase in modern fair justice: innocent until proven guilty?
 
Kraznaya said:
Sir, have you ever heard of this rightfully overriding phrase in modern fair justice: innocent until proven guilty?
Click to expand...
Quoted for truth

And why would the US government release a "dangerous terrorist" unless they were fully aware of his innocence
 
VX250 said:
I'm sorry but attitudes like this really annoy me.

None of us here know enough about his particular case to declare him either 'innocent' or 'guilty', and it's unlikely that we ever will.
Click to expand...


Mr Habib was held in Guantanamo Bay without charge for three years before being released in January 2005.

He was arrested in Pakistan one month after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States and accused of training with al-Qaeda.

He alleges he was tortured in Islamabad and again in Egypt before being transferred to Cuba.
Click to expand...

Yeah...rar
 
I don't know whats the bigger story, that the guy got out of Gitmo or that he will be assassinated soon.

So since he got out does that mean we made a mistake? :eek:
 
VX250 said:
I'm sorry but attitudes like this really annoy me.

None of us here know enough about his particular case to declare him either 'innocent' or 'guilty', and it's unlikely that we ever will.
Click to expand...

But everyone in there was supposed to be soo guilty that we allegedly were justified in doing whatever we want with them. Yet he's out quicker then a drug dealer. Oh something is fishy about that, but your right we probably won't ever find out.
 
The only reason we put people in Gitmo in the first place is because we have no f'in clue what to charge them with.

We pay Iraqis and Afghanis 1000s of dollars to "turn in" suspects - they end up using that system to screw old enemies or just make a quick buck. We pick up loads of people in PR-oriented street-sweeps in Baghdad and Kabul.

The vast majority of Gitmo detainees are only still in Gitmo because if we released them, the USA would lose face: it would have to admit that it incarcerated all these people for nothing.

Until Mr. Habib is charged with a crime, I fully support him running because of the attention it will attract to the festering issue of Gitmo & outsourced torture. I'd have to learn more about his stances on healthcare and education before I could root for him to win. :)
 
He has experience! He can handle adversity!

That could actually turn out to be a big selling point...
 
VX250 said:
I'm sorry but attitudes like this really annoy me.

None of us here know enough about his particular case to declare him either 'innocent' or 'guilty', and it's unlikely that we ever will.
Click to expand...

Obviously the US government has quite a track record of releasing criminals who were in fact guilty.
 
VX250 said:
I'm sorry but attitudes like this really annoy me.

None of us here know enough about his particular case to declare him either 'innocent' or 'guilty', and it's unlikely that we ever will.
Click to expand...
None of us here know enough to declare whether you are 'innocent' or 'guilty' of crimes against the U.S. and it is unlikely we ever will.
 
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