Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib sought refuge for himself and his family in Libya and Iraq, writing to the nations' then-leaders and begging them to finance his travel.
Mr Habib's letters to former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, penned in the late 1990s, were released today for the first time in the NSW Supreme Court.
The Egyptian-born Habib, who was arrested in Pakistan on terrorism-related suspicions, told Saddam and Gaddafi he had been living too long in a nation of infidels.
"We see no other solution than sending letters to all the Muslim leaders who fear the almighty and ask them to help us on our ... religious ordeal," Mr Habib writes.
Mr Habib told the leaders Australian people began hating Muslims at the outbreak of the 1991 Gulf War.
At the time, Mr Habib owned a cleaning business which had a contract cleaning Australian Defence Forces homes, and he was confronted by soldiers whose "hatred began to come out of their mouths and they were no longer able to hide it in their chests".
A soldier had confronted him one day when he was praying in a house he was cleaning and asked him whether he was a Muslim and whether he was from Iraq.
"Just for this and without any reason they asked me to cancel the contract," Mr Habib said.
"They also refused to pay me the fees for the work I done that far, which amounted to about $20,000.
"One of the reasons for their action was that they were afraid of me and my wife because Islam means terrorism.
"They said that 65,000 Australian soldiers are afraid of me."
Forced to sell his house to meet $100,000 in legal costs, Mr Habib said he decided to leave Australia "but, unfortunately, we did not find a single Muslim Arabic country to live in and practice (sic) what God has asked of us".
Egypt was owned by Jews and Christians and controlled by Americans, while Dubai was under the control of the United Kingdom, he said.
"And now, thank God, we have found a country that is preaching Islam and welcoming Muslim people, but we need financial help because we need to buy the air tickets and a sum of money to start a business together," he said.
"If you accept my family in your country then God will reward you, because we love you in God."
"Please accept us. May the peace and mercy of Allah be upon you."
The letters were today tendered by Nationwide News as part of their defence in a second-stage defamation hearing in the NSW Supreme Court.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/habibs-letter-to-saddam/2007/11/28/1196036976398.html
Topic: You got to be kidding Me! Habib's letters to Saddam, Gaddafi (Read 828 times)