SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Friday refused to apologise to the family of a dual national held for years in Guantanamo Bay despite a report finding they were not kept properly informed.
Egyptian-born Mamdouh Ahmed Habib was detained in Pakistan in the weeks after the September 11, 2001 assault on the United States on suspicion that he may have had prior knowledge of the terror attacks.
He was transferred around November 2011 to Egypt, where he has claimed he was tortured, beaten and shackled to the floor, before being sent to US military prisons in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. He was released in 2005.
A report by the independent Inspector-General released Friday found that while no Australians were involved or complicit in any alleged mistreatment or relocation of Habib, the government failed in its reporting to his family.
"Communication to the Habib family in respect of Mr Habib's welfare was not adequate," the report said in recommending that an apology be made.
"The failure to provide Mrs (Maha) Habib with any information in the period May 2002 to November 2003 is of particular concern."
The report also found there was no apparent basis for the advice the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade gave to Habib's wife that her husband was "well and being treated well" in February 2002 when he was detained in Egypt.
Gillard said there would be no apology.
"We are satisfied that Australian agencies and officials performed their duties faithfully in the difficult and unprecedented environment in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks," she said.
"We note also that there were considerable constraints on access to detainees, including Mr Habib, in Guantanamo Bay."
But Gillard said she agreed with other elements of the report ordered in the wake of Habib settling his case against the Australian government over their treatment of him during detention for an undisclosed sum in 2010.
New policies to monitor an individual's ability to communicate with Australian officials or legal representatives and to provide guidelines to mitigate the risk of inhumane or cruel treatment would be introduced, she said.
Habib, a father-of-four, has worked as a taxi driver, cleaner and cafe owner since coming to Australia in 1980 and insists he was visiting Pakistan at the time of his arrest for valid business reasons.
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