MAXINE McKEW: There are currently more than 150 Australians in overseas jails, the majority of them charged with possessing or couriering drugs. Some cases, as we've seen recently, have generated big headlines. But the plight of Sydneysider Talaal Adree, who was arrested on terrorism charges early this year in Kuwait, has largely slipped under the radar. At one stage he was facing the prospect of execution, but today he escaped with the relatively minor sentence of four years' jail. But uncertainty still surrounds his future, as well as the substance of some of his claims. Talaal Adree's case was first brought to public attention by the 7.30 Report, in particular, claims that he had been tortured and not given proper consular assistance. Today, the Federal Government says there is no evidence of torture and, despite some misgivings about the Kuwaiti judicial process, says the court decision must be accepted. Jonathan Harley reports.

JONATHAN HARLEY: The case of 30-year-old Sydney man Talaal Adree is different, both in style and substance from the stream of high-profile Australians who've faced international courts this year. From Indonesia to Hong Kong, Singapore to Cambodia. Yet Talaal Adree's case is entwined in the defining issue of our times, the so-called war on terrorism.

BRUCE BILSON, PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS: It is a serious conviction. They're terrorist-related charges.

KAY DANES, FOREIGN PRISON SUPPORT SERVICES: I have concerns about issues when Australians are automatically being labelled as terrorists before they've even had a fair trial.

JONATHAN HARLEY: In January this year, Kuwaiti security forces waged pitched battles with Islamic militants on the streets of Kuwait City. In a security sweep two weeks later, the Kuwaiti authorities caught Talaal Adree in their dragnet. As such, he's been linked to to a militant group with connections to al-Qaeda, the self-styled the Peninsular Lions Brigade, and now he has been sentenced to four years in prison for the possession of weapons.

BRUCE BILSON: Mr Adree has been recognised as not being directly involved in the attacks on Kuwaiti security and police services, but a supplier of weapons used for that purpose.

JONATHAN HARLEY: It could've been much worse. Six of Talaal Adree's co-accused have been sentenced to death, but that's cold comfort to his brother, Fahad al-Saad. From the family home in the western Sydney suburb of Berala, Fahad al-Saad has been sending money to help pay for his brother's mounting legal fees.

FAHAD AL-SAAD, BROTHER: It affects us deeply, we're deeply sad, emotionally, financially - I have borrowed $50,000 from others to send to the lawyer and our family in Kuwait. We are all very tired psychologically.

JONATHAN HARLEY: And Fahad al-Saad maintains there's a legitimate explanation for his brother trading in weapons.

FAHAD AL-SAAD: My brother went to Kuwait to help my old mother - he was a businessman. He travelled to Iraq. He owned a weapon to protect himself on the road. In the Arab world it's something natural to own a weapon. Then he sold the weapon.

JONATHAN HARLEY: But what has happened after Talaal Adree was arrested for selling those weapons has become as important as the details of the case itself. In May this year, the 7.30 Report revealed that Talaal Adree had been detained, that he'd not received consular visits, as well as airing claims that Talaal Adree had been tortured. Today, his Australian lawyer, Steven Kenny, interspersed his summer holiday with calls for proper investigations into the torture claims.

STEPHEN KENNY, LAWYER: We still haven't been able to ascertain exactly what information was used against Talaal and exactly who it came from, but certainly, there were clear claims of torture and I understand defendants stood up in court and showed the bruising and injuries that they had on them to the judge in court.

JONATHAN HARLEY: The Federal Government maintains the torture claims have been settled by the Kuwaiti courts even though investigations were conducted six months after the torture allegedly took place.

BRUCE BILSON: What we sought and what we obtained was an investigation of those allegation, the medical report's conclusion was quite clear. Our consular officials visited Mr Adree quite regularly and there was no physical signs of him being tortured.

JONATHAN HARLEY: Until the war on terrorism erupted on our screens, how to respond to the alleged torture of Australian citizens had been a largely uncharted area. But with the cases of David Hicks, Mamdouh Habib and now Talaal Adree, wider questions are being raised about what Canberra can and should do.

SENATOR NATASHA STOTT-DESPOJA, DEMOCRATS: What protocol is in place, particularly when it comes to Australian citizens who are detained overseas, who complain of torture or inhumane treatment? What happens? Does our government ensure there is an immediate complaint, an immediate investigation, and what standards do we expect those investigations to meet?

JONATHAN HARLEY: Of course, that depends on getting access to prisoners. And it was not until after the 7.30 Report story was broadcast in May that Talaal Adree received a consular visit, some three months since being first detained. Speaking from Kuwait today, his lawyer, Mohammad Almonawir, was scathing of the embassy assistance his client received.

MOHAMMAD ALMONAWIR, TALAAL ADREE'S LAWYEER: ell, frankly, they did nothing.

JONATHAN HARLEY: The Federal Government blames Kuwait.

BRUCE BILSON: We were canvassing all possible avenues to gain access to him. They were very vigourous in our representation, our consular staff were contacting all of the local authorities saying this man is an Australian, notwithstanding the serious charges that he faces he is entitled to consular access and we were pressing to make sure he got that access.

KAY DANES: We would actually like to see a full investigation or evidence of a full investigation by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs. This is just a fundamental thing that needs to be done.

JONATHAN HARLEY: Kay Danes knows from personal experience the pressure of being imprisoned overseas. She and her husband, Kerry, were unlawfully detained in Communist Laos for nearly a year in 2000-2001. Now as an advocate with Foreign Prisoner Support Service she has taken up Talaal Adree's case but says that even with consular visits a detainee can't always speak freely.

KAY DANES: We were detain and later taken to meet with the Australian Ambassador. We were asked "Is everything OK, have you been ill treated?" Of course we were conditioned on what we could say and threatened if we did expose what had happened to us, then future consular access would be denied and there would be nothing the Australian Government to do.

JONATHAN HARLEY: Talaal Adree's case may have passed largely unnoticed but what happens to him touches on the much wider issues of what happens to any Australian who's detained overseas. Especially when there are allegations of involvement in terrorism.

Click here for the Tallaal Adrey Case File

Reporter: Lisa Millar

TONY EASTLEY: An Australian man has escaped the death penalty and been jailed for four years on terrorism charges in Kuwait.

Talal Adrey, from Western Sydney, was one of more than 20 accused militants found guilty in what was billed as Kuwait's biggest terrorist trial.

While Adrey received what was considered to be a lenient jail sentence, six of his co-accused were sentenced to death.

Adrey's legal team is considering an appeal, and remains unhappy at the lack of action over his claims that he was tortured when first arrested.

Lisa Millar reports.

LISA MILLAR: The 30-year-old Sydney man was arrested in February, Kuwaiti officials linking him to the Peninsula Lions Brigade – a militant group with al-Qaeda connections.

More than 30 members were charged after violent clashes with police that left several dead.

There were fears of planned suicide attacks and a possible coup in Kuwait.

Six of the group were sentenced to death – a penalty Talal Adrey was also initially facing before his charges were reduced.

Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Bruce Billson.

BRUCE BILLSON: He's been found guilty of two charges: one relating to the possession of weapons and ammunition, and the second charge which relates to acquiring and trading in those weapons and ammunition for the purposes of facilitating intent to carry out murder.

LISA MILLAR: Talal Adrey became an Australian citizen five years ago, arriving here as a refugee.

When he was arrested Australian embassy staff were initially denied access to him in prison, Kuwaiti officials believed he was one of their citizens. Now the court's ordered he be deported at the end of his four-year sentence.

BRUCE BILLSON: We're not in a position to deny access to people who are lawfully Australian citizens. There are some constraints on movement that might be attached to their return. These are things that would need to be examined closely by our own authorities in light of whatever the final conclusion is through the Kuwaiti judicial process.

LISA MILLAR: What kind of constraints?

BRUCE BILLSON: Well clearly if anybody who's been charged with a serious offence is of interest to our own law enforcement authorities. Naturally there'd be some interest in Mr Adrey in that light.

LISA MILLAR: He's expected to appeal the decision. His lawyers say the charges were based on information extracted by force.

Talal Adrey claimed he'd been tortured, his fingernails ripped out. Bruce Billson says there was no evidence of that.

BRUCE BILLSON: Those issues have been thoroughly investigated, he's just confirmed to us moments ago that he's in good health, he's physically well, the medical panel found no evidence of torture.

LISA MILLAR: But his lawyer Stephen Kenny says the allegations weren't checked soon enough.

STEPHEN KENNY: The real problem with that investigation I think was that it didn't occur at the time the allegations were made, and didn’t occur until well after any injuries would have healed, and it would have been very difficult to have evidence of ill treatment. So I think that's what the real problem is, and I don't think the Australian Government can stand up and say that those investigations were fully investigated, because they simply weren't at the time.

TONY EASTLEY: Talal Adrey's lawyer Stephen Kenny.

Lawyers for Adrey say evidence in the case was gained through torture. [File photo] (ABC TV)

Tallaal Adrey, who has been an Australian citizen for five years, has been found guilty of being involved with a group that planned to attack Western targets in Kuwait and send fighters into Iraq.

He has been sentenced to four years in jail.

Adrey's lawyer, Stephen Kenny, says the information used to convict his client was extracted by torture, a claim the Federal Government denies.

But Democrats Senator Natasha Stott Despoja says she is not convinced the allegations have been fully investigated.

"The main thrust was that Mr Adrey had complained of torture, that there was some evidence to suggest that his fingernails had been pulled out," she said.

"There were the other issues, such as he was in a prison where an inmate died in custody, that he had people in his cell or had shared a cell at times with people infected with HIV, indeed hepatitis was another fear.

"There were a catalogue of concerns that could have and, I believe should have, been resolved by the Australian consular officials of the Australian Government ensuring that he had access to a doctor."

Processes questioned

Senator Stott Despoja says the case raises questions about the processes followed by Australian officials.

"There are questions surrounding his treatment and certainly there is a question regarding what kind of protocol Australian Government officials have when dealing with Australian citizens who are detained abroad," she said.

"Particularly those who may be facing a death sentence and in particular those who have complaints of torture or maltreatment."

The Senator says the Federal Government should formalise a process for dealing with torture claims.

"The broader issue when we're talking about Australian citizens, regardless of what crimes they're charged with, that we have to ensure that when they're imprisoned ... that they are imprisoned in a way that certain conditions are respected and met.

"I do think that there's room for the Government to outline a protocol for future reference in the case of torture claims."

The parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, Bruce Billson, says that all allegations of torture were thoroughly investigated.

Mr Billson also says officials have spoken with Adrey today and he is quite well.

Click here for the Tallaal Adrey Case File