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Hicks Won't Test Australia Controls

2007-05-21

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - David Hicks, the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to stand trial for terrorism, will not fight strict monitoring conditions likely to be imposed on his release from an Australian jail later this year, his lawyer said Monday. Hicks' return to Australia has prompted debate about how he will be treated after his release, with one possibility being a control order restricting his movement, requiring him to report to authorities, and other strict monitoring measures. Hicks' Australian lawyer David McLeod said his client would not oppose such an order. ``He doesn't want to be seen as someone who is bucking the system or being difficult. He is extremely grateful to everybody who has secured his return to Australia and he doesn't want to upset that,'' McLeod told Seven Network television. Just wait til it's time and see what he says then. Hicks is due to be released Dec. 29. He has not committed a crime under Australian law, but national police could request a control order using terrorism laws introduced since the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. Attorney General Philip Ruddock declined to comment on security arrangements for Hicks, saying only ``public safety is the primary concern.'' McLeod said Hicks, a Muslim convert who left Australia in 1999 and joined fighters in Kosovo and Kashmir before going to Afghanistan, was overjoyed to be back in Australia. Hicks had ``a lot of regrets'' and accepts he was ``misguided,'' he said. ``He knows he's got the job ahead of him to prove he's not the monster he's made out to be,'' McLeod said. And we're supposed to buy that.

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Down Under

Australian Qaeda supporter home from Guantanamo

2007-05-20

The first Guantanamo Bay inmate convicted of terror charges by a U.S. military court returned to Australia on Sunday to serve out his sentence in a maximum security prison, police said. A government-chartered executive jet bringing David Hicks from the U.S. prison in Cuba landed at an air force base in the suburbs of his Adelaide home, eight years after Hicks left for Pakistan. With Hicks were Australian Federal Police agents, his Australian lawyer David McLeod and prison guards from Adelaide's Yatala Prison, where he will serve out his sentence.Under a deal with U.S. prosecutors, most of his jail term was suspended and Hicks will be able to walk free from prison before January 1, 2008. Hicks was the first person convicted by a U.S. war crimes tribunal since World War Two and was the first of hundreds of foreign captives, held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba, to face a military trial. Hicks will complete his sentence under a prisoner exchange agreement between Australia and the United states. He will be placed in the high-security G-division at Yatala, alongside Australia's worst serial killers, a gang of four who murdered 11 people and disposed of several bodies in barrels hidden in a disused bank vault. He will have little or no contact with other prisoners and all of his telephone conversations will be monitored. He will be allowed to meet his lawyers, but all other visits will be strictly controlled and will be limited to non-contact visits. As part of his sentence, Hicks will be banned from speaking to the media for a year after his March conviction, although Australia raised doubts over whether the U.S. gag order can be legally enforced. Australia's only other Guantanamo inmate, Mamdouh Habib, was released without charge and returned home in January 2005.

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Down Under

Premier questions community threat posed by Hicks

2007-05-14

South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson says the Premier is right to question the threat to the community posed by convicted terrorism supporter David Hicks. Hicks's Australian lawyer David McLeod is on his way to Cuba to bring his client back to Australia. The Guantanamo Bay detainee is scheduled to return to South Australia by May 29 to serve a nine-month sentence at Yatala prison. He is then expected to be released on December 29. As he departed yesterday, Mr McLeod criticised the State Government for trying to influence Hicks's treatment when he arrives. But Mr Atkinson says it is the Government's responsibility. "The State Government is responsible for the safety of South Australians," he said. "The Premier was right to put on the record in State Parliament exactly what David Hicks had admitted to. Those who want to treat David Hicks as a hero after that - I think the Premier's statement will give them some pause." Hicks could arrive in Australia as soon as the weekend. But Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says it is unlikely Hicks will be back by Sunday. Hicks's father, Terry, says the Government has gone over the top. "Nowhere in there it says he's killed anyone or blown anything up or anything like that," he said. Not that he didn't want to ...

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Terror Networks

David Hicks military trial to begin tonight

2007-03-26

The US military trial of Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks begins tonight (Australian time), where it is expected he will use the opportunity to make a statement to the tribunal. When Hicks first appeared before a US military commission in August 2004, he uttered just one sentence: "Sir, to all charges, not guilty". But this time, his Australian lawyer, David McLeod, says he expects the South Australian to make a lengthier statement. "It's likely that now David's been in prison for quite a long time, he might have a few things to say about the process," Mr McLeod said. "He is certainly more focused on this proceeding." This will be the first test of the new military commission structure after the original system was struck down by the US Supreme Court. More at link

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Down Under

Guantanamo inmate lawyers target Australian govt

2007-02-26

CANBERRA - Lawyers for Australia’s only Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks launched court action against the Australian government on Monday, arguing senior ministers had failed to ensure a fair trial. Hicks’ Australian-based solicitor David McLeod asked the Federal Court in Sydney to rule on whether senior lawmakers had breached their ministerial duty by approving trial for Hicks through a US military commission. “In effect the courts are being asked to review the actions of ministers in their dealings with other governments,” McLeod told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. The Australian Federal Court was to rule first on whether it had jurisdiction to hear a case which government lawyers said interfered with ministerial control over foreign affairs. Opening the case, Solicitor-General David Bennett said the government had no legal obligation to protect citizens abroad. But Hicks’ lawyer McLeod said Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Attorney General Philip Ruddock should have followed the lead of the British government and ensured its citizens were released from Guantanamo Bay. “It’s definitely not a stunt. It’s an opportunity for David’s case to be aired before the courts and for the courts to take a view as to whether or not it has the power and authority to intervene to assist an Australian citizen,” he said. As the hearing began, six top Australian legal figures wrote a public letter condemning the US military commission process, set up to try Hicks and other detainees. “The fact of the matter is that this is not a regular court, it’s not a properly constituted court and it cannot deliver a fair trial,” group spokesman and former Family Court Chief Justice Alistair Nicholson said.

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Down Under

'Slipping' Hicks rejects consular staff

2006-10-07

THE mental health of Australian terror suspect David Hicks has deteriorated further and he is now unwilling to speak with consular officials, his Australian lawyer has said. Adelaide lawyer David McLeod has said Mr Hicks, being held at the US facility at Guantanamo Bay, has just met with his military lawyer Major Michael Mori who has reported that his physical and mental conditions have "slipped". “Hicks is overweight because of his poor diet and lack of exercise and is having trouble with his eyesight.” Mr McLeod has said Mr Hicks is overweight because of his poor diet and lack of exercise and is having trouble with his eyesight. Mentally, Mr Hicks has become suspicious of those who have claimed to represent his interests and recently has refused to speak to the visiting Australian consul for the first time. "Major Mori is finding David increasingly reluctant to interact, not because he doesn't want to but because he is finding it socially difficult to do so," Mr McLeod has said. "Major Mori's best description of David is that he is slipping." “Hicks has been in US custody at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for almost five years...” Mr McLeod has made the comments at a rally in Adelaide in support of Mr Hicks, who has been in US custody at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for almost five years. He has said it is time the Government accepted the fact that Mr Hicks has effectively served a five-year sentence in tough conditions and it is appropriate to release him to Australia, effectively on parole.

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Down Under

I can't take much more, Hicks tells his father

2006-07-08

GUANTANAMO BAY inmate David Hicks told his father yesterday he did not know whether he would survive another year in the US detention centre, saying he was being "pushed all the time" since three suicides there last month. Terry Hicks broke the news yesterday to his son about last week's historic decision by the US Supreme Court, which ruled that the military commission set up to hear his case was illegal and a violation of the Geneva Conventions and US military law. In their first conversation since Christmas, Mr Hicks was allowed to speak to his son for a little over two hours yesterday, along with other members of the Hicks family and his Australian lawyer, David McLeod. Mr Hicks said that while his son was pleased about the court victory he was depressed that he was not being released. "That means I could be here for another 12 months or more and I can tell you now, I don't know whether I can last that long," Hicks told his father. "You don't realise how much pressure we are under here, the guards are absolute pigs." Hicks has been held in Guantanamo Bay for 4œ years, much of it spent in solitary confinement. The Prime Minister, John Howard, said this week he would not ask for Hicks to be released. He said he still wanted Hicks tried by the US. The Howard Government had backed the military commission process as a fair means of trying Hicks. He was one of the first Guantanamo Bay inmates to be selected for military commission trial, and the court decision striking them down is a major setback for the Bush Administration. The White House and Congress are now attempting to set up a new process for hearing the cases, but it is unlikely the legislation will be passed in the near future. Following three suicides at the camp last month, Hicks told his father yesterday that the guards had "locked down" the facility. He said his books, table and chair, pen and paper had been removed, he had received no letters and spent most of his time in solitary confinement lying on a concrete floor. He said the guards would turn the air conditioning on full, make loud noises and sometimes take his clothes away. "Just listening to him talk he was so angry," Mr Hicks told the Herald. For 45 minutes his son told him about the conditions at the camp and said suicide was one of the few ways to get back at the guards. While he insisted he was not suicidal himself, he told his father: "We're being pushed, pushed, pushed all the time. Don't be surprised if things happen." Hicks was given only 30 minutes' notice of the phone call and was told at the same time he was being shifted to Camp Echo, out of solitary confinement. He apparently believed this meant he was being released and was deflated when he realised his mistake. Hicks's US lawyer, Major Michael Mori, was due to arrive at Guantanamo Bay last night to explain the court decision to him.

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Down Under

"I'm a true blue Aussie," Guantanamo detainee tells Howard

2006-07-07

David Hicks: Jihadi pussy. And a groveling one at that... SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian held at Guantanamo Bay for more than four years has written a pleading letter to Prime Minister John Howard, insisting he is a "true blue Aussie" and not an evil terrorist. Somebody get David some extra bedsheets. And maybe another belt... David Hicks, who was captured in Afghanistan in December 2001 after allegedly fighting alongside the ousted Taliban regime, implores Howard to secure his release from the US military prison in Cuba. "I am determined to fit back into society and be a model citizen," Hicks, 31, writes in the letter, a copy of which was obtained Friday by AFP. "I am not an evil person or a risk to the Australian public and it saddens me that some may think so. On the contrary, I like to think of myself as a true blue Aussie. Australia is in my heart and forever will be." I'm a victim of coicumstances, I tell ya! His lawyer David McLeod said Friday that Howard had not responded, or even acknowledged the letter, written on January 21, 2005. Dear David, Eat shit and die. Regards, Office of the Prime Minister Hicks' description of himself in the letter is at odds with the charges laid by the United States and the strong comments of the Australian government which insists it has no sympathy for the inmate. The former ranch-hand, or "jackeroo" in the Australian outback, was one of a handful of Guantanamo detainees scheduled to face a special military tribunal. The Muslim convert was charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes, attempted murder and aiding the enemy after allegedly training in Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. Hicks' father Terry informed his son of the [Hamdan] Supreme Court ruling in a two-hour telephone conversation on Friday. He told AFP his son took little comfort in the ruling and was close to breaking point. Is he closer to the breaking point then he was closer to the breaking point 2 years ago, Pops? "He said if I have to go another 12 months I do not know if I will last," Hicks' father said. Oh, I'll bet he will. Just so he can complain about being closer to the breaking point... "He was agitated, he was angry. It was terrible to listen to him," added Hicks, who requested permission through Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs to phone his son several months ago. Hicks said his son was facing tougher conditions in the US military prison since the suicide of three inmates last month. "They have taken all his rights off him," he told AFP. "No books, no writing. He has nothing. On occasions they take his clothing and turn the air conditioning on cold, up as high as it can go," he added. "They are pushing him to the limits." He said David no longer wanted to see Australian consular officials and believed they were misrepresenting his circumstances and failing to pass on his list of grievances. Hicks last received a consular visit two weeks before the June 10 suicides, according to McLeod. Prime Minister John Howard last month described the report from that visit as "positive." There was no immediate comment Friday from Australia's foreign affairs department. Political opponents and legal experts have rounded on Howard's government for doing nothing to help free Hicks. While Britain secured the release from Guantanamo of its nine nationals and argued the tribunals did not meet international legal standards, Howard supported the process. Since the Supreme Court ruling, he has urged Washington to find another means of trying Hicks. John Howard's nobody's fool. In the letter, the father of two wrote that his memories of Australia had kept him going. "I have walked her sandy beaches and rugged coastlines. Been a jackeroo in the northern bush and shorn sheep in the south. Its memories and character live on inside me," he wrote, and begged to be reunited with his "loving family." Man, get out the big, GIANT violin...

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Down Under

Apathy on Hicks 'unbelievable'

2006-03-11

AMERICANS would not tolerate a fellow citizen being treated in the way the US has dealt with Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee, David Hicks, his military lawyer, Major Michael Mori, said yesterday. I'm an American. I would. "I didn't mean you. I meant most Americans. The ones in the blue states." They're managing to swallow it for Johnny Jihad, doing twenty big 'uns. Major Mori said he believed Australia was the only country to have accepted US military commissions as a means of putting its citizens on trial. "I just don't understand why the Australian Government just won't move on this. Hicks has done four years at Guantanamo We know he didn't violate any Australian law," Major Mori said from the US. "From an American perspective, e would not tolerate it for an American citizen. I just can't believe it's not rubbing people in Australia the wrong way." It's probably because they don't like him. They don't care about him. Hicks' Australian lawyer, Adelaide-based David McLeod, said the Federal Government had refused again this week to intervene on his client's behalf despite widespread condemnation of the military commissions set up to try detainees. "He's here again, Mr. Minister." "Tell him we don't care. Again." "Yes, sir. Should I sneer?" "No, no. That wouldn't be polite." "Damn." "I believe the supercilious look should do." "But if my lip does lift...?" "I'm sure it will be accidental, Higgins." "Thank you, sir!" The British Government is appealing against a British High Court decision to grant Hicks British citizenship. The hearing is set for next Friday. Nine British citizens have been released from Guantanamo Bay at the request of the British Government. Hicks has tried to secure his release by seeking British citizenship; his mother was born there. Blair's government's appealing against the award of Brit citizenship. If they lose, they still have no obligation to ask that he be freed. And if he does, we have no obligation to comply. Major Mori said Hicks' treatment was extraordinary when compared with the case of an aide to Osama bin Laden, Abdallah Tabarak, who was released from Guantanamo Bay in August 2004. Tabarak is said to have sacrificed himself for capture by operating bin Laden's satellite phone as he headed towards Pakistan from the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan, while the al-Qaeda leader fled in the opposite direction. Didn't Tabarak spill his guts? Has Taliban Dundee spilled his guts? It was revealed recently that a former Taliban spokesman, Rahmatullah Hashemi, who also spent time with bin Laden, has enrolled in a course on terrorism at Yale University in the US. That's an internal Afghan matter. If they choose to amnesty the guy, that's their right. It's their country, so they're free to screw it up as they please. And Yale's free to do stoopid things, too. Major Mori said that even after considering the allegations against Hicks, those being released were far more culpable. "They (the US) are not pursuing enemy combatants. Unless you were in the first group of 700 captured (and taken to Guantanamo), you are not even considered for (trial by military commission)," Major Mori said. Life's tough, ain't it? Maybe he should have been in Adelaide instead of Konduz. Hicks' case faces further delay while the US Supreme Court considers the legality of the military commissions created to try Guantanamo Bay detainees. Lawyers acting for one detainee, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, will argue that the commissions are illegal. Hamdan, from Yemen, was allegedly bin Laden's bodyguard and driver during the period he plotted the September 11, 2001 attacks. I doubt if the Supreme Court will find them illegal. Even if they do, an anticipated verdict isn't the same thing as a verdict.

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Home Front: WoT

Lawyers slam Pentagon ruling

2005-09-21

Lawyers for Australian terror suspect David Hicks AKA Mohammed Dawood said they were shocked at the Pentagon's decision to push ahead with his trial. His defence team was caught by surprise at the decision to hold another hearing at Guantanamo Bay within 30 days. US Marine Corps Major Michael Mori said his client was to be "the guinea pig for this unfair and rigged show trial". Major Michael Mori also challenged claims the defence team was prepared to proceed with the trial, saying the defence office was severely undermanned. His view was repeated by Mr Hicks' father, who said the procedure was "a sham". "This is going to be another case of moving too fast ... the defence isn't ready yet," Terry Hicks said. "David's being used one again as a political football. Bring him home. Let's get him back here." John Altenburg, the appointing authority for the US military commissions set up to hear cases, lifted the stay on Mr Hicks' trial this morning. He directed the presiding officer to hold a hearing within 30 days to resolve preliminary issues, the Pentagon said. A second session would be convened a short time after to pick other commission members and to resolve any other outstanding motions. "This decision clears the way for the Hicks trial by military commission to resume at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in the near future," the Pentagon said. The ruling was attacked by Mr Hick's Adelaide-based lawyer, who said his client's defence team had no chance of being ready to proceed with the case. "I can only assume that it has come as a result of pressure from the Australian Government," said David McLeod. Mr McLeod was highly critical that Mr Hicks' defence team learnt of the development through the media. "Nobody has spoken to the defence, it's disappointing and outrageous," he said. "It wouldn't happen anywhere in the world, and therefore doesn't happen in any criminal jurisdiction." He said his client would be unaware of the latest development. "He obviously wants to be put before a fair tribunal - he doesn't care where, as long as it complies with accepted standards of justice." No trial date was set in the Hicks case, but the action in effect opened a window from October 3 through October 20 during which the case might be heard, officials said. The action follows a federal appeals court ruling in July that reaffirmed President George W. Bush's authority to order trials of war-on-terror detainees by special military commissions in the case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan. Lawyers are appealing that case to the Supreme Court, but Pentagon officials said they had decided to proceed with the Hicks case anyway. "The Australians have indicated their desire to see the Hicks case move forward as expeditiously as possible, but at the same time we are cautious to ensure that he receives a full and fair trial," a Pentagon official said. Adelaide-born Hicks is charged with conspiracy, attempted murder and aiding the enemy. The 29-year-old Muslim convert has been detained by the US military since he was captured allegedly fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan in December, 2001. The US alleges he had links to the terrorist group al-Qaeda. Major Mori said today: "Mr Hicks is the only one facing a commission. "The lifting of the abeyance in the case of David Hicks makes clear that David Hicks will be the guinea pig for this unfair and rigged show trial ... and the test case for the commission process. "The military commission system will not provide a full and fair trial, whether it starts today, in a month or in three months. "The rules are constantly changing. "The system is controlled by those who have already condemned Mr Hicks." He said it had taken seven months to get a second military lawyer to assist in representing Hicks and the one eventually assigned already held a full-time position in Germany. "The prosecution has been provided seven different counsels to work on the Hicks case over the past two years with four still currently assigned," he said. "The staffing of the appointing authority's office is at 18 personnel, the prosecution's office at 25 personnel and the defence at five personnel."

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Down Under

Lawyer's assessment concerns Hicks's dad

2005-06-23

David Hicks's father Terry Hicks says he is distressed but not surprised by concerns raised about his son's health. I guess we have a little bit in common, then. I'm neither surprised nor distressed. David Hicks's Australian lawyer, David McLeod, is returning to Adelaide today after visiting the 29-year-old in the Guantanamo Bay military prison. Mr McLeod says he is appalled by his client's condition, saying Hicks has a sense of hopelessness. Terry Hicks says he also has grave fears for his son's health. "We've been trying to impress or get across to the Australian Government when I went across to see him in August last year that he wasn't well - they seem to think he was okay," he said. "About four or five weeks ago the Australian consulate went across to visit him and then they told us also that he was okay." Hicks has been held at Guantanamo Bay since early 2002 over allegations he fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Actually, he's being held after being caught fighting with the Taliban.

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Down Under

Hicks at breaking point, says lawyer

2005-06-23

The new Australian civilian lawyer for Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks says he is shocked by his client's appearance and mental health, after their first meeting. David McLeod has just returned from his first visit to the US detention centre in Cuba. Military lawyer Major Michael Mori escorted Mr McLeod and another Australian lawyer, Michael Griffin, to Guantanamo Bay. Mr McLeod says his initial impression of David Hicks is that he is at physical and mental breaking point. "David's not well. He's got a bad back, his eyesight is failing," he said. Mr McLeod described the conditions at the prison. "If you imagine going down to the zoo and watching the gorillas in an enclosure, that's how they're being held," he said.

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