1. Mamdouh Habib was born on 3 June 1955 and is an Egyptian and Australian citizen with dual nationality, best known for having been held for more than three years by the United States as an enemy combatant, by both the Central Intelligence Agency and military authorities.
Mamdouh Habib was sent by extraordinary rendition from Pakistan to Egypt after his arrest.
Mamdouh Habib was held the longest at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp as an enemy combatant.
Finally released without charges in January 2005, Habib struggled to have his account of his experiences believed, as he alleged he had been tortured by the CIA, Egyptians, and US military, at times with Australian intelligence officers present.
In 2002 Mamdouh Habib was transferred to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
Mamdouh Habib continued to be held without charges and suffered coercive interrogation.
The United States accused Mamdouh Habib of having had knowledge of the 11 September 2001 attacks, training the hijackers, staying at an al-Qaeda safe house in Afghanistan, conducting surveillance, helping to transfer chemical weapons, and planning to hijack the aircraft used in the 11 September attacks.
Mamdouh Habib confessed to many acts under torture, but there was no evidence to support these claims.
Mamdouh Habib filed suit against the Australian government for cooperating with the United States in his detention and coercive interrogations.
In November 2008, Mamdouh Habib published a memoir co-written with Julia Collingwood, My Story: The Tale of a Terrorist Who Wasn't, detailing his experiences.
Mamdouh Habib was born on 3 June 1955 in Alexandria, Egypt, where he grew up in a Muslim family.
Mamdouh Habib moved at the age of 24 to Australia in 1980, to join his older brother and sister, who had settled there and urged him to come.
Mamdouh Habib lived and worked in Sydney and became a citizen.
Mamdouh Habib worked running a coffee shop and taught classes and students in Islam.
Mamdouh Habib is a dual citizen of Egypt and Australia.
Mamdouh Habib was held for what was a total of more than three years.
Mamdouh Habib told his account numerous times to media: he said that he had been interrogated about supposed terrorist activities while under torture in Pakistan, taken to Egypt and interrogated under torture there, transferred to United States military custody in Afghanistan, and transported to Guantanamo Bay detention camp, where he suffered extended solitary confinement, more interrogation and torture.
Mamdouh Habib said that Australian officers had been present at some of these occasions.
Mamdouh Habib filed suit against the Australian government for cooperating in his detention and treatment.
Mamdouh Habib ran as an independent political candidate in the 2007 New South Wales state election.
When Mamdouh Habib's case was being heard by the US Supreme Court, in 2004 the ABC current affairs program, Four Corners, featured him as the subject of a program.
DHA claimed that Mamdouh Habib had made a threatening phone call following the cancellation of a contract with the organisation.
Mamdouh Habib says this was nothing more than an argument over a contract.
In court his psychiatrist had testified that Mamdouh Habib was suffering from major depression at the time and was being treated with Prozac, but that he was not prone to violence.
Mamdouh Habib was arrested in Pakistan in October 2001 while traveling by bus to Karachi, Pakistan.
Australian government authorities alleged that while Mamdouh Habib had been in Afghanistan, he took an advanced al-Qaeda training course in a camp near Kabul.
Australian authorities say that several other men who took part in the course identified Mamdouh Habib as having been there.
The Australian Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock announced that Mamdouh Habib would be repatriated within days.
Mamdouh Habib alleged that an Australian official was present at some of these interrogations, but the Australian Government denied this.
Mamdouh Habib alleged that at Guantanamo, he suffered both mental and physical abuse: for instance, interrogators told him that his family had been killed, and he was tied to the ground while a prostitute threw menstrual blood on him.
Australian officials revoked Mamdouh Habib's passport, saying he remained under suspicion.
The Australian government said it wanted to prevent Mamdouh Habib from being paid by the media for interviews or "making profits from committing a crime," but he had not been charged or convicted of a crime in any country.
Mamdouh Habib told his family everything that had happened after he left Sydney in July 2001.
Mamdouh Habib has struggled to get back to his normal life.
Mamdouh Habib told police that he was followed by a car that cut its headlights as he and his wife, Maha, went for a walk just after midnight, and that as the men ran away, the person holding the knife had yelled "something like 'this should keep you quiet"'.
On 7 March 2008, Mamdouh Habib lost his defamation case against Nationwide News, publisher of The Daily Telegraph.
Justice Peter McClellan found Mamdouh Habib was "prone to exaggerate", "evasive" and had made claims about mistreatment in Pakistan and Egypt which could not be sustained.
On 1 May 2009, Mamdouh Habib lost an appeal in the Full Federal Court against a 2007 Administrative Appeals Tribunal decision that affirmed the former Foreign Affairs minister's decision in 2006 to refuse him an Australian passport.
In February 2010, Habib was scheduled to appear in his ten-minute play, Waiting For Mamdouh, a monologue about his time in detention, at the Short+Sweet theatrical festival in Sydney.
In December 2010, Mamdouh Habib reached an out-of-court, confidential settlement with the Australian government.
Mamdouh Habib received a secret sum in exchange for absolving the government of liability in his treatment during his detention by the United States.
At the time, Mamdouh Habib has said that he plans to use the money to begin an international lawsuit against the Egyptian and United States governments over his treatment.
Mamdouh Habib said that he had fresh evidence, including film footage.
Mamdouh Habib campaigned for the removal of the Federal Government's anti-terror laws, stating "The terror laws are if you have terrorists, but we don't have terrorists".