The raid occurred September 20 as part of a coordinated wave in the Sydney neighborhoods of Campsie, Lakemba, and Birrong. No one subjected to the arbitrary searches has ever been charged with a crime.

Habib was speaking at a March 17 Militant Labor Forum, which brought together people standing up to government acts of intimidation, harassment, and spying with others fighting for immigrant and refugee rights.

The free-speech meeting also heard from Javid Qasimi, a refugee from Afghanistan and an active participant in refugee and immigrant rights protests; Steve Hopper, the lawyer for the Habib family; and Bob Aiken, a meat worker and member of the Australasian Meat Industry Employees' Union, who spoke for the Communist League.  
 
Held incommunicado
Habib only recently learned that her husband Mamdouh has been held incommunicado in an Egyptian jail for the last five months, since being secretly spirited out of Pakistan as part of the worldwide dragnet of those accused of links with al-Qaeda.

"They were waiting for us when I returned home with one of my children," she said, describing the raid. A warrant was produced, but "I could not understand a word." Habib asked for 10 minutes to explain to her children what was happening but the cops refused. After about an hour the Federal Police were joined by ASIO agents. The Habibs are Australian citizens of Egyptian origin.

In all 16 cops and agents took part in the raid, which lasted nearly seven hours. Family photos, a laptop computer, mobile phones, and passports and documents were taken, according to Habib. Asked to sign a receipt for her confiscated property, Habib refused, saying, "I'm not signing anything--I'm not agreeing for you to take it."  
 
Eight months in detention
Another case is that of Javid Qasimi, who spent eight months in the Curtin detention center, a former military base in a remote part of Western Australia. A Hazara from Mazar-i-Sharif, he left Afghanistan in November 1999 because of the likelihood of being killed in the civil war raging among the various factions. He ultimately gained refugee status here and a three-year "temporary protection visa" that allows him to work.

Qasimi escaped to Pakistan where he spent a month, and then made his way to Indonesia, where he waited for another month for transport to Australia. The sea journey, he was told, would take only two days. After six days and nights in a leaky and overfilled boat, they arrived at the Australian landfall known as Ashmore Reef. They were arrested and kept in the boat for three more days and then sailed for Broome, on the mainland. "In all, we were 11 or 12 days at sea," he said. "But we thought, 'Now we are safe. We've come to a good and safe country where refugee status would afford us respect,'" he explained.

He described the harsh reality of life in the Curtin jail. "In the middle of the night, every night, they would repeatedly shine torches [flashlights] in our faces and ask us, 'What's your number?' They said they had to count us to prevent escapes. But how can you escape? You don't know where you are, there is nowhere to go, and you don't know the language," Qasimi said.  
 
'Put spotlight on ASIO'
Steve Hopper, who is representing a number of those targeted by the police and ASIO raids, noted that there had been two waves of raids in Sydney, one in September 2001 and the other in January 2002. "Not one person has faced a charge" as a result, he said. The common thread is the targets of the raids are all Muslims and have been to Pakistan recently, he explained.

"The best way to fight these abuses is to put the spotlight on ASIO," Hopper explained. "They don't want their actions to be known. They're a fairly unaccountable organization."

Hopper also took up the serious threat if new legislation is passed strengthening the powers of ASIO to detain people without charges for up to 48 hours and for people to be imprisoned for refusing to answer questions.

Bob Aiken condemned extensive factory and workplace immigration raids in Sydney just three days before, on March 14. In all 86 people were reported arrested, including at least four at the Primo meatworks where he is employed. "The goal of the government's immigration and refugee policies is to keep this section of the working class in second-class status. This helps the bosses to keep wages and conditions down for all workers," he explained.

"The struggle of refugees for their rights helps break down the isolation of those working people the government hopes to keep silent. It is crucial for the labor movement," he went on. "And it will strengthen it."

Aiken also condemned Canberra's plans to strengthen ASIO's powers along with those of the Defence Signals Directorate, its top-secret electronic spy agency. He also noted that "there are at least two Australian citizens rotting in prisons overseas and the Australian government is sitting on its hands."

Aiken also pointed to the range of people in the United States who were targeted by the government in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks who are now speaking out. "By putting the spotlight on all these moves and reaching out for solidarity, they can be pushed back," he said.

Doug Cooper is a member of the Maritime Union of Australia in Sydney.  
 
 
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