Australia: Second Al-Qaeda Man in Custody

"He's committed no crime" ... Mamdouh Habib, Maha Habib and their children in a family photograph. In Sydney, he was regarded as a bit of a crank, but 46-year-old Mamdouh Habib has hit the Islamic fundamentalist big time. He is in United States military custody in Afghanistan, and is believed to have trained as a terrorist with al-Qaeda, Sydney Morning Herald reports. The announcement that Mr Habib - once an outspoken advocate of Islamic causes in Sydney's Muslim community - is being detained is deeply embarrassing to Canberra. The Federal Government is understood to be disappointed that it was not until Tuesday that Washington informed it that Mr Habib had been handed over to the American military. The Australian citizen was arrested in Pakistan on October 5, then transferred to the custody of Egyptian police, who flew him to Cairo without advising Canberra or seeking its advice.

Henry L. Marconi PRAVDA.Ru Sydney, NSW