Kelvin Thomson

The United States Military Commission Chief Prosecutor Colonel Morris Davis has made very serious allegations concerning David Hicks.

These allegations have been equally strenuously denied by David Hicks’ defence counsel, Major Michael Mori.

The proper way to resolve these allegations is through a trial – a fair trial before a jury of your peers. The problem is that after 5 years no such trial is in sight.

Attorney - General Ruddock is only able to say David Hicks “may” be charged in the next month, and that he is “confident” David Hicks will get a fair trial. His confidence is misplaced. The US Military Commission is made up of US Military Officers . This is not independent or impartial. Furthermore the Military Commission Rules do not exclude evidence obtained by coercion, do not exclude hearsay evidence, and do not permit the accused to be privy to all the evidence. These things breach the Geneva Convention and the Australian Criminal Code. Given these shortcomings, legal challenges to the Military Commission are certain, and more extensive delays likely.

I am concerned about Colonel Davis’ statement that David Hicks’ five years in detention should not be taken into account in any sentencing. This is quite inconsistent with Australian standards, international standards, and basic notions of fairness in sentencing. The Australian Government claims to have raised this matter in the past and to be ‘hopeful’ that time already served would be taken into account in sentencing. The Australian Government needs to raise this matter again, and demand assurances that time already served will be taken into account in any sentence which is handed down.

David Hicks does not deserve special treatment, he deserves access to justice. Colonel Davis’ revelation about sentencing intentions underscores the need – already clear from the basic principle of habeas corpus (no imprisonment without trial) and question marks about David Hicks’ mental health – for David Hicks to be released on bail on condition he appears in Court for any actual trial proceedings.

• David Hicks Case Information

Kay Danes & Terry Hicks [father of David Hicks] rally in Adelaide to Bring David Hicks Home!

My husband and I would not be here today if not for the joint efforts of the Australian Government, our lawyers and various Lao Government officials who did their best to free us from unlawful detainment in communist Laos in 2001.

We were lucky and I will always be grateful for their support but what I find difficult to understand is how an Australian can be detained indefinitely, without charge, without trial and prevented access to their lawyers, to family and friends as is the case with David Hicks of South Australia.

There was a time when I thought I would never come home. Nowadays, I think of David. What must he be going through? I dread to think, although in my heart I know those same fears, wondering how long you can endure, wondering if you will ever put your face to the sunshine and breathe the fresh air of freedom.

David Hicks has been labelled a terrorist but of course, no one really knows what David may or may not have done. He's been hidden behind a wall of diplomacy and secrecy and who in this country cares? Who cares about his family and what they might be going through?

I have learned that what matters more than guilt or innocence, is that each of us, no matter where we are or who we are, must have the right to defend ourselves in an open and fair court and not be silenced or sentenced by a court or a government that changes the rules to suit its own purpose. UN mandates are designed to offer protections for citizens of the world but when it suits a government to ignore these mandates, to which they are a signatory to, then how can anyone feel safe?

Even Saddam Hussein, for all the atrocities he has committed over the years against the people of Iraq, is given a trial within three years of his arrest, seemingly one in which he could at least voice objections in a civil court.

Others who were detained in Guantanamo prison, arrested the same time frame as David Hicks but released from Gitmo as a result of diplomatic pressure by their respective governments, have returned to their country and not further subjected to judicial process.

So why is David Hicks given less than that? Why does our Government allow his rights to be so violated? But not just his rights, our Government will allow, through its silence and support of the US Military Commission, the ultimate violation of the Geneva Convention.

We can no longer assume that only bad things happen to bad people. You cannot think that what happened to me and my family or what's happening to David Hicks and his family is something that can never happen to you and yours, because it can!

No matter what the situation, we absolutely must have the right to have our most basic human rights upheld, the right to be treated with dignity, to have our legal rights defended by our government when clearly they are violated, and the right to be judged in an open and transparent civil court where evidence is submitted and the rule of law upheld. After all, the right to a fair trial is an essential right in all countries respecting the rule of law. None of us is above the law.

The US military commissions are not fair. David Hicks will not be given a fair trial. The proper way to resolve the allegations against him is to trial him before a jury of his peers. David Hicks will be condemned and our Government will sit back and do nothing! It's time to bring David Hicks home but more importantly, it's time to uphold rule of Law!

Kay Danes
International Human Rights Advocate
Foreign Prisoner Support Service
foreignprisoners.com

Author Website: www.kaydanes.com
Latest world-wide release - 'Nightmare in Laos' - A True story of a woman imprisoned in a communist gulag.

• David Hicks Case Information