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Last updated on June 10th, 2017 at 04:25 am
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.
- “Hey, Beazley, is that a backbone you’re growing there? Margo, Paul get over here and talk to this berk!”Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 02 20 at 12:06 PM • permalink
- Mr Hopper is a classic example of why many people consider lawyers to be amoral liars who will say anything in pursuit of a fee from any source.Posted by Pedro the Ignorant on 2005 02 20 at 12:54 PM • permalink
- The best part of the Hopper imbroglio is not captured in the “Insiders’ transcript and that was the comments after Hopper went off camera:
” was that an interview or an interrogation?”
“must have been an interview because he was free to leave at any time, wasn’t he?”plus a few other pungent remarks which I have forgotten. The whole thing was devastating for Hopper and Habib. And it happened on the ABC! Is the pendulum starting a new swing?
- I’d say the only abuse that’s gone on is that Hopper fellow’s tortured response.Posted by Aaron – Freewill on 2005 02 20 at 02:24 PM • permalink
- Truly a bizarre interview.
It’s hard to get the tone of it from the transcript. Hopper was not convincing at all and it was, can’t think of the right word for it.
Well everyone is entitled to legal representation, and Habib has got his.
They comment about “was that an interview…?” was made by Barrie Cassidy. Can’t remember who responded.
Posted by Major Anya on 2005 02 20 at 03:06 PM • permalink
- I don’t give any marks AT ALL to the ABC for this. It was a long time in coming and wasn’t nearly enough to atone for the masses of PR afforded to the likes of Habib and Hicks in the past.
Hopper the Moslem! What a surprise!
He looks like he crawled right out of central casting. Can you imagine finding anyone who could play the sleazy Lawyer any better than this CRETIN!?
Thank God Bolt was there, that’s all I can say!
- Boss Hog and Darlene, you are right, the transcript here does not show the full extent of the interview and the degree to which Hopper shot himself in the foot(oops,only metaphorics here folks).
I expected the Bolta to go for it and he did, though Ms Trioli, usually a bleeding heart,surprisingly, showed her own scorn for the trumpery moonshine being dispensed by Hopper, who came across as being a surly, unpleasant and dishonest advocate.
- Thank God for Andrew Bolt, Mark Steyn, Victor Davis Hansen- is the world waking up and wising up?
Habib has 2 almost adult sons- will they be entering papa’s proposed ‘cleaning’ operations with Momma as press secretary. Little sisters willl be married of to start new breding programme as soon as puberty commences- Oh what a feeling!!!!!!!!!
Surprise surprise, Hopper a convert to Islam and no recanting allowed- so it looks as though his career depends totally on the Habibs and ‘Hicks’, of this world-who else would trust this cr-p artist—-?
- What I loved was Hopper referring to Bolt as someone who masquarades as a journalist 😀 At least Andrew is professional, unlike Hopper. It is a disgrace when a legal professional becomes so invovled that they lack any objectivity and don’t do their client justice by attacking other indiviudals.
Its funny that Hopper thought he could get away with blaming the MSM in his opening comments on ‘our’ ABC – Was great to see Virigina give him a slap down as well 😀
- Is anyone keeping track of this guy’s stories? At first he was saying that he sold his house to pay for his trip. Then, he said he sold his businesss to pay for his trip. Now apparently he was trying to set up a new business in Pakistan?
Oh well. He _is_ entitled to a lawyer, but I’m glad that this particular lawyer is less of a Johnny Cochrane and more of a Lionel Hutz.
- Jorge — But does he bring a free pizza with every verdict?Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 02 20 at 10:42 PM • permalink
- “Hopper” rhymes with “whopper” and “plopper”. Oddly appropriate in this situation.Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 02 21 at 01:13 AM • permalink
- Cuckoo — actually, his medical condition was that “embarrassing side-effect” the Cialis commercials warn us about. The seductive female torturers were spiking his water with it. And they wouldn’t let him see a doctor about it, even tho the commercial says to.Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 02 21 at 01:15 AM • permalink
- Incidently, who exactly is paying all his legal fees?
I know of a person who should have won a case but the guilty party and troublesome instigator won when the poor woman had lost her home and had nothing left-then our legal eagles suggested she drop it.
How come a natural born Aussie of Irish Anglo Saxon antecedants can not get on going and extensive legal help? Don’t own anything when and if you need to take legal action and make sure it is a green, Sexual Harrasment, racism or aginst someone who has money who too can be fleeced.
- I’m happy to believe that Mamy is super severely depressed because I reckon he knows exactly why the Americans let him go and when his former trainee terrorist mates mates work it out,Mamy’s dead meat.I reckon that as soon he fell into the hands of his Egyptian speaking “interviewers” he was happy to cut any kind of a deal to get out of their persuasive hands and into the Guantanamo holiday camp. That deal would have included giving up every one of the names of his Junior Jihadist associates on the promise of eventual release.I’m not inclined to believe that Mamy is hero material but he certainly looks like the sort of chap who would betray anything or anybody to serve his own ends.
- Habib is obviously keen to get the contract to clean up those Al Qaeda training camps.
I’ve heard they are absolutely filthy. How can those poor Jihadists learn how to kill people in such terrible conditions.Hopper makes me puke everytime i see his ugly mug on TV.
Why the Hell does he get so much oxygen from the MSM?
Guess he had to convert before receiving those subsidy cheques from the Saudis.
THis man is a dangerous fifth columnist posing as a “human rights” lawyer.
He needs to be thoroughly checked out by the Australian security services
- Obviously the US soldiers at Guantanamo Bay need some training from Andrew Bolt. In three years of imprisonment and interrogation they couldn’t pin anything on Habib, yet Bolt was able to stitch him up with a few quick right jabs to the bloke’s past.
Hey Davo, what’s the story about Saudi subsidies for Hopper?
- nwab, Bolt interviewed Hopper, not Habib. And since Hopper wasn’t even in Gitmo, your comment is a couple notches below your usual level.Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 02 21 at 06:10 AM • permalink
- Richard Glover on ABC’s Drive had an interesting experience too, one afternoon.
He had David Hicks’ father Terry on his show, and an apologist companion (or lawyer)whose name I cannot remember. After a bit of a session going over the case, and trying to make out that David Hicks was doing it tough, calls from the public started to come in.
One woman rang in and said that her son had been killed in Bali. She said that he was dead and that David Hicks supported people like those who had killed her son, and that David was still alive, while her son was dead. She felt he was not doing it too tough. Richard was (credit to him) sobered by the experience.
I hope Richard never forgets that afternoon.
He is part of the Arts/Left milieu, and makes mistakes despite his generally good nature. That one really hung him out to dry.
- Hopper has only been admitted to practice law in NSW since 2001. He certainly doesn’t come across as a Johnny Cochrane type veteran. Perhaps he is trying to develop Sydney’s first Muslim extremist practice. His email is shopper@vtown.com.au . Send him a message to encourage his efforts!
- nwab, it is certainly fair to say that Bolt pushed Hopper’s buttons like an expert!Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 02 21 at 11:18 AM • permalink
- Andrew is NOT A WIMP! He has attended Idiotarian peace meetings as a lone voice of reason on the ABC live forums. i remember the invective heaped upon him.
And perhaps, he understands the benefits of the softly softly appraoch in luring the interviewee into a false sense on security so he spill the beans.
Something illustrated to perfection by the grand master, MARCEL OPHULLS in his memorable film about KLAUS BARBIE.
Bolt is an asset to Australian journalism.
