Habib stars in play about Gitmo ordeal
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Mr Habib says it is not easy reliving his experiences on stage. (AFP: Anoek De Groot)
Mamdouh Habib is taking to the stage to relive his three-year ordeal at Guantanamo Bay because he says the media is uninterested in his story.
Waiting For Mamdouh, starring Mr Habib as himself, opened Tuesday night at the NIDA Theatre in Sydney.
Mr 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 to the US military camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and spent more than three years in custody without being charged.
Mr Habib says it is 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."
Mr Habib says it is important for him to "present his case" to the Australian public.
"It's a story that should be out. I don't know if it's racism or if it's pressure from the Government, but the media don't want to hear my story," he said.
The play's writer and director Kuranda Seyit says not enough is known about how Mr Habib was treated at Guantanamo Bay.
"Mamdouh's story had to be dramatised so the Australian public could understand the full extent of his ordeal," Mr Seyit said.
He says the play will be confronting for audiences.
"We blind them with light and blast them with sound, just like they did in Guantanamo Bay," he said.
He says the play covers Mr Habib's capture and his wife's struggle to bring her husband home.
Mr Habib's wife Maha and daughter Hajer make cameo appearances in the play.
- AAP
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