A former Guantanamo Bay detainee Thursday won the right to sue the Australian government for complicity in interrogations in which he alleged he was tortured, beaten and shackled to the floor.

Egyptian born Mamdouh Habib, a 54 year old father of four, says Australian spies, diplomats and police officers were present during at least 12 of the sessions.
 

The interrogations took place between the time of his arrest in Pakistan, following the 11 September 2001 attacks, and his eventual release from the US "war on terror" prison in January 2005.
 

Habib says he suffered electrocution, burning, sleep deprivation and drug injections while held in Pakistan, Egypt, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, and is seeking compensation from the Australian government.
 

Though Habib does not accuse the Australian officials of taking part in his mistreatment, he argues they indirectly harmed him "by aiding, abetting and counselling his torture and other inhumane treatment by foreign officials".
 

Canberra lodged a counter-suit against Habib in the Federal Court saying it was beyond the powers of an Australian judge to hear a case about the actions of foreign authorities.
 

But a three-judge panel Thursday ruled that argument invalid, clearing the way for Habib to mount a compensation case against the government.
 

Habib, who has lived in Australia since 1980 and insists he was visiting Pakistan for valid business reasons, said he was "really happy" with the ruling and planned to push ahead with his bid for as yet unspecified damages.

Justice sought
"I think we can still get justice," he said. "They have to be punished and everyone has to know what's going on."
 

His lawyers now plan to call on Canberra to produce all official documents relating to Habib, and said they had not ruled out requesting a formal government inquiry into the case.
 

Upholding Habib's right to sue, the judges found torture "offends the ideal of a common humanity" and could "never be justified by official acts or policy".
 

"Parliament has declared it to be a crime wherever outside Australia it is committed," they said.
 

Chief justice Michael Black said the law should be interpreted in accordance with such "universal norms" as outlined in the international convention against torture.

“Allegations”
The judges emphasised that Habib's allegations remained "just that - allegations".
 

"There has been no trial and hence, thus far, no determination of their correctness," they said.
 

Any compensation suit is likely to be protracted, complex and fiercely contested by the Australian government, which has been battling against Habib’s right to sue since 2006.
 

His torture allegations were aired at length in the Supreme Court in 2008, when he lost a highly publicised defamation case against Rupert Murdoch’s Nationwide News over an article that implied he had lied about his treatment.
 

Judge Peter McClellan found Habib gave contradictory evidence and had knowingly made false claims to serve his own cause, describing him as evasive and "prone to exaggerate".
 

"At times the impression he gave was of seeking to avoid the truth,” McClellan said of the plaintiff, a former teacher of Islamic scripture who has been a taxi driver, cleaner and cafe owner.
 

Source: Reuters