Interview with Maha Habib

Maha Habib was born in Lebanon. She immigrated to Australia with her family as a young girl in the mid-1970s during the Lebanese civil war. She married Mamdouh Habib, who had immigrated to Australia in 1980, and the couple had four children—Ahmed (19-years-old), Mustafa (16), Maryam (11) and Hager (nearly 4). A devoted family man and well-known local businessman, Mamdouh ran a coffee shop in the Sydney suburb of Lakemba and later established a contract cleaning firm and a security company. He left Sydney in late July with the aim of finding an Islamic school in Pakistan for his children, when he was detained and imprisoned on October 5 by Pakistani security forces. He was then transferred to Egypt and Afghanistan before being flown to his final destination in Guantanamo where he continues to languish and be subjected to physical and psychological abuse to this day.

CAGEPRISONERS: What took your husband to Pakistan in 2001?

MAHA HABIB: He went searching for opportunities to set up business to support the family and a suitable school to teach our children. We wanted to leave Australia for a while because ASIO had stirred up trouble in the local Islamic community that resulted in a group beating Mamdouh. Because of this trouble we felt we had to leave for a while. He went on a visa for three months and the ticket was valid for three months. He left on the 29th July and he should have been back by the 29th October. He said he was going to catch the plane on the 4th October back to Australia. Then, he said he was being held by the Pakistani authorities. He was blindfolded, held with two others who were German nationals. One of them was named Ibrahim. Ibrahim spoke to my lawyer for about 30 minutes and explained to him what had happened: they were travelling together, and then they were picked up by the Pakistani authorities and detained for a couple of weeks.

CP: How did you feel when you received the news he was detained in US custody?

MH: I was shocked. The Foreign Office told me that my husband was being detained, but not charged with any offence. It was a big shock because he called me after September 11th. Agents [from the Australian Secret Intelligent Organisation] came to our house, raided our house, looked into our private things, turned the house upside down. They found nothing, but they took different things and then returned them two or three months later. When my husband rang me, and I told him about it, he said "Why are you worried about it? We haven’t done anything wrong. We have nothing to hide". It made me feel a bit better. We've done nothing. But going into our personal things, having our human rights breached, it's disgusting.

CP: On many previous occasions you have asserted that you hold the ASIO [Australian Intelligence Security Organisation] responsible for your husband’s arrest - could you elaborate?

MH: Yes. Before he [Mamdouh] left, he was offered a job by the ASIO and he refused to be a spy for them. I can’t see any reason why the Australian government don’t do anything to bring him back, like the British government have, or other countries have. Are they teaching him a lesson? God knows, I can’t find any explanation to why they are doing nothing. I have so many questions I have put to the government and I haven’t had any answers. But when we travelled to London, and spoke to two of the detainees, they told me things that really upset me. Up until now they [the prisoners] are being tortured and he [Mamdouh] was taken to Egypt - we don’t know why Egypt - he was tortured there. He was electrocuted, he was drugged, and humiliated. What the same authority is doing in Iraq, they are doing to the people in Guantanamo Bay. We have our evidence. [Prime Minister] Howard has now gone to America and spoken to Bush. He said David Hicks should be tried in a military court sometime in August but nothing has been done about Mamdouh Habib. He said he too should be brought before a military court. But how can someone who wasn’t a war combatant (he was detained even before the war had started in Afghanistan) go to a military court? On what charges? Don’t you have to be a war combatant to go to a military court? It doesn’t make sense why they are doing this. While Howard was in America, someone from the authorities had visited my husband, he admitted that when they saw him last October, he [Mamdouh] had complained and said he was tortured by the Egyptians and in Cuba. It's been ignored and put on the file and that’s it.

CP: You have had to endure harassment from the ASIO and your husband’s detention alone. What has been the affect of this ordeal on you and your children?

MH: You can imagine how difficult it has been. It’s cutting me inside. It’s so difficult. I know it is a big test - alhamdulillah [all praise is due to Allah], Allah is testing us. What really keeps me going is to look at other people's problems. Many people are so much worse off than we are. The kids are growing up. For the youngest, she is very demanding for her father. She is almost four. She sees him on TV - masha'Allah she is quite bright - and understands what is going on.

CP: Do you think this ordeal has strengthened your faith?

MH: Oh yes, Insha'Allah. I know it’s a big test. You have to put it in your mind that Allah will never give a person more than they can take. If Allah did not see that I can cope with what He has given us, then He would not have tested me this way. Sayyidina Yusuf went to prison for how long, and he was a Prophet. Can we compare ourselves to him?

CP: What about Mamdouh’s family? Are you in contact with them? How have this affected them?

MH: His mother has heart problems and his father is very ill. He can hardly move from his house. I talk to them from time to time. Several days ago, I rang her and told her I had been to London and I told her that Mamdouh was suffering. She started crying, so I couldn’t tell her much. I have to keep her aware of what is happening, but I didn’t tell her everything I heard from the British detainees.

CP: An article on the World Socialist Website in April 2002 claimed that "Howard government has not taken any action to secure Habib’s release or uphold his basic legal rights"- has anything changed in the past two years?

MH: Nothing has changed. The government has done nothing. We are just waiting for the American courts to put their decision in about the appeal.

CP: How do you feel about the continual denial from your government that Mamdouh has been mistreated?

MH: They have always said untrue things. [Prime Minister] Howard, especially, denies that he had heard anything. But now someone from the authorities admitted my husband had complained and said that he was tortured in Egypt and that he was being tortured now. How long can they deny the truth? Everything has an end, God knows when. What goes around comes around.

CP: What is your response to the accounts from the released detainees, in particular the revelations made by Tarek Derghoul?

MH: When I was listening to the detainees speak, the things that I heard, I felt I couldn’t take any more. But at the same time, I don’t want to hear any more lies, so I wanted to hear what’s happening, But I was scared to find out more. Alhamdulillah, Allah gave me the strength, and I listened as much as I could. I walked away once, when we had a public meeting, Steve told them the whole story. It made me feel more frustrated and angry towards the government not doing anything. And what I heard from a Senator who was at the public meeting was that the government are trying to get a new legislation put in so when they [Mamdouh Habib and David Hicks] come back, insha'Allah, they won’t be allowed to tell their story.

CP: Tell us about Mamdouh - what sort of man was he, what qualities made him special?

MH: He is a beautiful man. I’m lucky to have him as a husband. He’s a beautiful father too. He always cared for his family a lot. He has always been around for his family. Every weekend, he used to take the kids fishing, on long trips, and participated in sports with them in order to encourage them. He’s always been around for them, so I can understand how they feel now. I see it in them everyday, the changes in them. They are not as patient as they used to be, they lose their temper very easily. My younger son lost interest in his school work. Alhamdulillah after I returned from London, he found out what’s happening, he changed again and is concentrating more on his year 11 exams now. He’s becoming more aware and responsible. The older one, since the beginning, has taken on more responsibility. I admire my husband for doing an excellent job with his children.

CP: How much communication have you had with him since his imprisonment? What does he say in his letters?

MH: I received a few letters from the Red Cross. In one of them, the first, he mentions that he was kidnapped. He didn’t know why. He was blindfolded for 8 months, and he said, "All I see is you and the kids". He said he had been forced to change his citizenship to Egyptian and he said in his letter, “They told me that they are going to bring you and the kids here, I hope this will not happen.” At the end, he said, "I hope you are still in Australia". When he went to Cuba, the torture continued and it’s still continuing. It got to a stage where, when the authorities gave him a letter from me, he didn't believe it is really from me.

CP: Have you had any significant dreams about him?

MH: I’ve always had the same dream. In the dream, he wouldn’t talk to me. God knows what it means, Allahu A’lam.

CP: What has been the response of the Muslim Community in Australia to your situation? Do you feel their assistance has been sufficient?

MH: Unfortunately, I have no assistance from the Muslims here. The help has always been from Stephen Hopper, from the beginning up until now. Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) never leaves us. He gives a test and patience at the same time.

CP: Have you any message for our readers? What can they do to help?

MH: Allah has given us a big test - for me, my husband and the people who know our situation. There are a lot of people who have had almost the same experience but it has not been publicised. Alhamdulillah, Allah has made a lot of people aware of that through my situation. It is a test for everyone, for the people who are doing wrong to wake up to themselves, wake up before its too late. Please make dua for him and our children, that He gives them patience, and unite us all together in Dunya [this life] and Jannah [Paradise].

CP: Mrs Habib, thank you for speaking to us.

RELATED: Maha's Story, Her ordeal narrated in her own words.