Mamdouh Habib fury at jubilation as David Hicks and Jack Thomas say good riddance

FORMER Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib said yesterday he was disgusted by the scenes of celebrations in the US in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death.

FORMER Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib said yesterday he was disgusted by the scenes of celebrations in the US in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death, but admits he would rejoice in a similar fashion if Western political leaders were killed.

"I am really angry and upset . . . by the singing, and the making of music. But I will do the same thing if George Bush dies, and Obama dies, and Alexander Downer and John Howard and Philip Ruddock," Mr Habib told The Australian in Sydney yesterday.

"If they have fun, jumping and singing when some person dies, I will do the same thing. These people were involved in my torture."

Mr Habib has long maintained he was tortured while in Egypt, alleging that Australian officials were aware of his mistreatment - a claim long denied by the Australian government.

Mr Habib yesterday insisted there was no evidence bin Laden was involved in the September 11 attacks. "He said he was happy to see that but he never said 'I done it'. No one saw Osama bin Laden do it. He never signed (a confession)."

Mr Habib would not say how he felt about the death of bin Laden. "He doesn't do harm to me. He never admitted he hurt anybody," he said. "I can't say if I'm happy or not. He comes from God and he goes back to him. If he has had a good life, he will be good. If he has had a bad life, he will be punished."

Mr Habib said as far as knew, he had never met bin Laden. "Maybe I was praying one place in Afghanistan and somewhere at some mosque I was next to him and I didn't know it was him," he said.

Ex-Taliban fighter and Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks yesterday welcomed the death of bin Laden saying it was a "victory for the US and President Obama".

"I didn't know the man so I was unconcerned with his fate; however it is a relief that a man who has been responsible for the death of so many people has been put in a position where he can no longer cause any more harm," Mr Hicks said in a statement.

"What interests me, for it is mind boggling, is how he eluded capture for 10 years and when he was found he was living in a mansion in a city in Pakistan."

Melbourne man Jack Thomas, who met the al-Qa'ida leader several times while at an Afghanistan terrorist training camp before the September 11, 2001 attacks, said yesterday he was "celebrating" bin Laden's death. "He was a murderer and he will be judged," Thomas told the Herald Sun. "Americans are right to celebrate . . . he was a murderer. Everyone should feel happy about this.

"But we have to make sure his ideology dies with him. That you would bomb and kill in the name of jihad is f . . kg disgusting.

"Obviously it's good he is dead, but he could be given martyrdom."

Mr Thomas, who was cleared of terrorist-related charges in 2008, went to Afghanistan in 2001, believing he had a religious obligation to fight with the Taliban for an Islamic state.