Letters received last week by the families of two Australian citizens currently jailed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, further expose the inhumane and illegal nature of their arrest and detention. Written by 26-year-old David Hicks and 43-year-old Mamdouh Habib, the letters provide further evidence that U.S. military authorities have contravened basic legal conventions and human rights since the two men were captured last year.
Hicks, from Adelaide in South Australia, was seized by Northern Alliance forces in Afghanistan last December and handed over to the U.S. military. He was grilled for weeks and then flown, bound, blindfolded and gagged to Camp X-Ray in Cuba.
Habib, a former contract cleaner from Sydney and the father of four children, was arrested in Pakistan in October and transported to Egypt where he was held incommunicado and interrogated for five months. He was shifted to a U.S. military prison in Afghanistan in April and then relocated to Camp X-Ray in early May.
Like the other 363 prisoners from 34 different countries jailed in Guantanamo Bay, the men have not been charged with any offence.
Hicks, from Adelaide in South Australia, was seized by Northern Alliance forces in Afghanistan last December and handed over to the U.S. military. He was grilled for weeks and then flown, bound, blindfolded and gagged to Camp X-Ray in Cuba.
Habib, a former contract cleaner from Sydney and the father of four children, was arrested in Pakistan in October and transported to Egypt where he was held incommunicado and interrogated for five months. He was shifted to a U.S. military prison in Afghanistan in April and then relocated to Camp X-Ray in early May.
Like the other 363 prisoners from 34 different countries jailed in Guantanamo Bay, the men have not been charged with any offence.