Sunday, February 20, 2005
AUSTRALIA, HOME OF THE HOPPER
Stephen Hopper, lawyer to tortured depressive Islamic entrepreneur Mamdouh Habib, continues his charm offensive with the Australian media:
ANDREW BOLT: Mr Hopper, Andrew Bolt from the Herald Sun. Before I get to my question can I just ask you, just in passing, I saw a newspaper reference that you’d been - you’re a convert to Islam, is that true?
STEPHEN HOPPER: Oh look people are trying to turn a lot of things around on to me privately. My private life is really no-one’s business.
ANDREW BOLT: I ask only because you seem to be, you represent quite a number of Islamist extremists, it seems to me. And it also seems to me that you take, you seem to take their case very personally and make quite wild accusations against the government. I’m just wondering what the personal agenda behind this is, are you a convert to Islam or not?
STEPHEN HOPPER: Look, mind your own business Andrew. That’s my answer to you.
ANDREW BOLT: Mr Hopper if he’s going around the world chasing lucrative deals, sealing deals and negotiating, what’s he doing on a disability pension?
STEPHEN HOPPER: Well, he was on a disability pension because he had severe depression.
ANDREW BOLT: Not to do depressed to go around sealing international deals?
STEPHEN HOPPER: Well, you know people who have depression try and escape from their situation. It’s a very complex condition.
BARRIE CASSIDY: What was the nature of that business deal, without going into detail?
STEPHEN HOPPER: It involved a cleaning business.
Habib’s To-Your-Door Purification Service. Let the cleansing begin! Meanwhile, Labor leader Kim Beazley is unconvinced by Habib’s story:
Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley says if Mamdouh Habib is entitled to any compensation for his detention and alleged torture it cannot come from the Australian Government.
Mr Beazley says he did not have much sympathy for the former Guantanamo Bay detainee, who ASIO continues to label a security risk.