clipped from www.theaustralian.news.com.au

THE Australian Defence Department has admitted it has more than 85,000 pages of documents regarding the rendition of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib to Egypt despite telling federal parliament it had no involvement in the matter.

The Howard government always maintained that it did not know Mr Habib was going to be sent to Egypt or how he got there.

But the latest admissions by Defence follow revelations earlier this year that the US Government told former ASIO head Dennis Richardson that it wanted to render Mr Habib to Egypt for questioning.

Mr Richardson had never publicly admitted the official approach was made. It only came out after his successor, Paul O'Sullivan, was questioned in parliament.

Mr O'Sullivan revealed that Mr Richardson was told of the rendition plan by a US government official weeks before the Sydney father of four was "kidnapped" and sent to Egypt, where prisoners were known to be tortured.