Maha Habib, Mamdouh’s wife, last week received three letters, two dated April 23 and written from a US military prison in Afghanistan, and another from Cuba. It was the first contact from her husband since he left Australia in late July, almost 10 months ago. The April 23 letters, which were sent through the International Red Cross, confirm that, contrary to government claims, Australian officials visited Habib after his arrest by Pakistani authorities in October but took no action to prevent his illegal transfer to an Egyptian prison. They also contradict official statements that he had both Australian and Egyptian citizenship.

Protesting his innocence, Habib told his wife in faltering English that he was captured by Pakistani authorities on his way to Karachi airport and did not know why he had been “kidnapped”. In one of the April 23 letters Habib asked his wife to get a lawyer and explained that Egyptian officials attempted to pressure him into becoming an Egyptian citizen:

“[T]hey take me to Egypt and try to make me change citizenship to Egyptian [and]... tried to force me to bring you and the kids to Egypt and I refused. ... And I was suffering to no[t] let these people bring you in Egypt, and I hope you are still in Australia,” he wrote.