VOA标准英语2010年-Allegations of Brutality Dramatized in

Australian Mamdouh Habib is starring in a play about the years he spent imprisoned¹ at Guantanamo Bay, under suspicion of training militants² and having prior knowledge of the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Waiting for Mamdouh details his allegations of rendition and torture.

Mamdouh Habib says he was chained and brutalized after being arrested in Pakistan a month after the attacks on September 11th, 2001.
 
He says he was looking at schools for his children after becoming disillusioned³ with life in Australia.
 
A new play details his allegations of mistreatment while in custody⁴ in Egypt, which he says was ordered by U.S. authorities.
 
Excerpt⁵ from the play:  "They try to keep their hands clean but they sent me to Egypt for torture. I have been beaten, electric shock. I hear people suffering, screaming in the other cells. They bring someone from the different cell, they put him in electric shocks [gave him electric shocks]. They killed him in front of my own eyes."
 
The former detainee, a dual⁶ Australian-Egyptian national, was sent from Egypt to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the U.S. government has a military prison camp. He was released five years ago without charge and returned to Australia.
 
Habib says U.S. President Obama should close the prison camp at Guantanamo and reveal the truth about the rendition - the transfer of prisoners to other countries where they were abused. The Obama administration has plans to close the facility.
 
Habib remains⁷ a vocal⁸ critic of the Australian government, which he says is part of a global conspiracy⁹ to erode¹⁰ the rights of individuals.
 
"I can say Australian government [is] hiding a lot of truths," Habib said. "The public in Australia they [are] very naive¹¹ people. People doesn't believe what is going on. They don't understand. We talk about democracy, we're talking about freedom, we're talking about human rights - we don't have that." 
 
The theater production is highly critical of former Prime Minister John Howard for allowing Australian citizens to be held without charge at Guantanamo.
 
"Waiting for Mamdouh" also tells of the trouble his wife Maha experienced in Australia during his incarceration¹².
 
Actor: "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for hearing me today. I don't want to take too much of your time. But Mr Howard is acting¹³ like a war criminal by allowing Australians to be locked up in Guantanamo Bay and he and the government must protect their citizens. My husband has been in Guantanamo Bay for four years and nobody cares and nobody is saying anything. Are we too afraid? He is not a dog that we just lock up in a cage and leave to die. I urge the Australian government to help my husband and to bring him home and to say enough is enough. He is in hell and he does not deserve this."
 
Habib was one of two Australians held at Guantanamo. The other was David Hicks, a former kangaroo hunter, who spent more than five years imprisoned without a trial before admitting to charges of providing material support to the al-Qaida terrorist network. After serving a sentence in Australia, Hicks is now free.
 
Kuranda Seyit, co-author of Waiting for Mamdouh, says the play shows how the innocent are at risk.  "What I believe is a play like this can really highlight and raise awareness¹⁴ about the types of abuses that we can all fall in to," Seyit said. "Who is going to be the next Mamdouh Habib, the next David Hicks, the next person who is in the wrong place at the wrong time?"
 
The Australian government has investigated Habib's treatment but found no evidence to substantiate¹⁵ his allegations of torture.
 
Although former President George W. Bush, who opened the Guantanamo prison, has denied his administration used torture, he and officials in his administration have said sometimes harsh treatment was needed to combat terrorism.

A former cabinet minister, Fran Bailey, thinks that in Habib's case, the correct procedures were followed.  "Any minister making a decision, no matter what the matter is, whether it is repatriating¹⁶ someone back to a country who is held by another country on foreign territory, you really can only act on the best advice that you are getting from your department. There were apparently¹⁷ very good reasons why my government of the day did not repatriate¹⁸ him back to Australia sooner," Bailey said.
 
Although Australian authorities never charged him with any crimes, Habib's passport was taken away. News media reports after his return home said he was still considered a security risk, in part because of contacts with suspected terrorists. Australian authorities will not comment on whether he remains under investigation¹⁹. Habib says he is trying to get a new passport.

Bailey thinks Australian society remains ambivalent²⁰ toward Habib, who unsuccessfully ran for office in local elections in Sydney three years ago. Some remain suspicious of him and his reasons for being in Pakistan in late 2001, while others are sympathetic to him.

 

1 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

2 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

3 disillusioned   

a.不再抱幻想的，大失所望的，幻想破灭的

参考例句：

• I soon became disillusioned with the job. 我不久便对这个工作不再抱幻想了。
• Many people who are disillusioned in reality assimilate life to a dream. 许多对现实失望的人把人生比作一场梦。

4 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

5 excerpt   

n.摘录，选录，节录

参考例句：

• This is an excerpt from a novel.这是一部小说的摘录。
• Can you excerpt something from the newspaper? 你能从报纸上选录些东西吗？

6 dual   

adj.双的；二重的，二元的

参考例句：

• The people's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。
• He has dual role as composer and conductor.他兼作曲家及指挥的双重身分。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

9 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

10 erode   

v.侵蚀，腐蚀，使...减少、减弱或消失

参考例句：

• Once exposed,soil is quickly eroded by wind and rain.一旦暴露在外，土壤很快就会被风雨侵蚀。
• Competition in the financial marketplace has eroded profits.金融市场的竞争降低了利润。

11 naive   

adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的

参考例句：

• It's naive of you to believe he'll do what he says.相信他会言行一致，你未免太单纯了。
• Don't be naive.The matter is not so simple.你别傻乎乎的。事情没有那么简单。

12 incarceration   

n.监禁，禁闭；钳闭

参考例句：

• He hadn't changed much in his nearly three years of incarceration. 在将近三年的监狱生活中，他变化不大。 来自辞典例句
• Please, please set it free before it bursts from its long incarceration! 请你，请你将这颗心释放出来吧！否则它会因长期的禁闭而爆裂。 来自辞典例句

13 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

14 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

15 substantiate   

v.证实；证明...有根据

参考例句：

• There is little scientific evidence to substantiate the claims.这些主张几乎找不到科学依据来证实。
• These theories are used to substantiate the relationship between the phenomenons of the universe.这些学说是用来证实宇宙现象之间的关系。

16 repatriating   

v.把（某人）遣送回国，遣返( repatriate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Since banks are reducing overall lending, that means repatriating cash. 由于银行总的借贷额在下降，这就意味着资金必然国内回流。 来自互联网
• US immigration officials have again delayed moves start repatriating six-year-old Cuban shipwreck survivor Elian Gonzalez. 六岁的古巴海难幸存儿童埃利安非常幸运，美国移民局官员已将原本要遣返他的时间再次拖延。 来自互联网

17 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

18 repatriate   

v.遣返；返回；n.被遣返回国者

参考例句：

• The government safely repatriates victims.政府安全遣返了受害者。
• In this part,you need to formulate in detail repatriate the plan.在这一部分，你需要制定详细的归国计划。

19 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

20 ambivalent   

adj.含糊不定的；(态度等)矛盾的

参考例句：

• She remained ambivalent about her marriage.她对于自己的婚事仍然拿不定主意。
• Although she professed fear of the Russians,she seemed to have ambivalent feelings toward Philby himself.虽然她承认害怕俄国人，然而她似乎对菲尔比本人有一种矛盾的感情。