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Source: Reuters
Mamdouh Habib says he will feel the stress when he relives his
Guantanamo Bay ordeal on stage for a new play opening in
Sydney.
Waiting for Mamdouh, starring Habib as himself, opens at the NIDA
Theatre in Sydney.
Habib was captured in Pakistan in the immediate aftermath of the
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.
He was transferred to Egypt and then the US military camp at
Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Habib was released after five years in custody but was never
charged with an offence.
He said it was tough for him to relive his experiences on
stage.
"It's not easy. I'm not going to say it's easy," he said.
"Yesterday, on the stage in front of all the people, I feel the
stress and I felt like I was going to cry ... but I put up with
it."
Habib said it was important for him to present his case to the
Australian public.
"It's a story that should be out," he said.
"I don't know if it's racism or if its pressure from the government
but the media don't want to hear my story."
The play's writer and director Kuranda Seyit said not enough was
known about how Habib was treated at Guantanamo Bay.
"Mamdouh's story had to be dramatised so that the Australian public
could understand the full extent of his ordeal," Seyit said.
He said the play would be confronting for audiences.
"We `pepper spray' the audience, we blind them with light and blast
them with sound," he said.
"Just like they did in Guantanamo Bay."
He said the play would cover Habib's capture and his wife's
struggle to bring her husband home.
Habib's wife Maha and daughter Hajer make cameo appearances in the
play.
