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Australian lawmakers ask U.S. for Hicks release

David Hicks
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australian lawmakers have written to their U.S. counterparts calling for Australia's only Guantanamo Bay inmate to be sent home for trial, saying new rules set up to try detainees "stomped on basic American values."

Almost 100 lawmakers, all from centre-left opposition and minor parties apart from a sole government senator, wrote to the new speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, on Friday, calling for David Hicks to face trial in Australia.

"We are not satisfied that the recently announced rules for Guantanamo Bay detainee trials will afford David Hicks, or other detainees, a fair hearing, consistent with international legal standards and Australian law," the letter said.

Hicks, 31, was arrested in Afghanistan in late 2001 and accused of fighting for al Qaeda. He is among around 395 suspected al Qaeda and Taliban fighters being held in the U.S. enclave, and is tipped to be one of the first to face trial.

Charges against Hicks of conspiracy, attempted murder and aiding the enemy were dropped when the U.S. Supreme Court last June rejected the tribunal system set up by President George W. Bush to try foreign terrorism suspects.

Hicks, a convert to Islam, had previously pleaded not guilty.

Last month the Pentagon issued new rules authorizing tribunals to try "unlawful enemy combatants" detained at Guantanamo using intercepted, forced and hearsay testimony.

But the Australian lawmakers, who included maverick government senator Barnaby Joyce from the junior National Party, said the rules ran counter to Australian and American values.

"We are also concerned that the ongoing absence of justice in David Hicks' case is serving to undermine international efforts to combat terrorism," they wrote.

Article 110 of the Geneva Convention protecting prisoners of war entitled Hicks to immediate repatriation to Australia to face trial before a proper court, they said.

"We ask you and your colleagues to insist, perhaps by way of resolution in the Congress, that David Hicks be immediately repatriated to Australia," the letter said.

Australia's government has backed the commission process, but expressed frustration at the time taken to bring Hicks to trial, recently demanding charges be laid before the end of February.

Hicks's case is straining Canberra's support for the U.S.-led "war on terror." Conservative Prime Minister John Howard faces re-election later this year with polls showing 62 percent of Australians oppose the way the Iraq war has been handled.

By Rob Taylor Reuters 2007.

Do you endorse Hicks' treatment, Prime Minister?
The Prime Minister, Foreign Affairs Minister and the Attorney-General must come clean immediately on whether they endorse the conditions in which David Hicks is being held, according to the Australian Democrats.

Mr Hicks' Adelaide lawyer David McLeod revealed yesterday that Mr Hicks is chained to the floor of his cell, is in isolation 22 hours a day, and has only seen sunlight three times in the last two months. He has now been held in solitary confinement for 10 months.

"I call on the Prime Minister, the Attorney-General and the Foreign Affairs Minister to declare whether they endorse this sort of treatment," Democrats' Attorney-Generals Spokesperson Senator Natasha Stott Despoja said.

"In Australia, people would be fined and charged with neglect if they kept an animal in these conditions no human should have to endure this.

"It is blatantly inadequate for Minister Downer to send a consular official to assess Mr Hicks' condition an independent psychiatrist (approved by his legal team) must be allowed to see him, and the Minister must also personally investigate the conditions in which Mr Hicks is being held, as a matter of urgency.

"I asked the Government about these very issues in December. Minister Ellison on behalf of the Government confirmed he was satisfied with the physical and mental health of David Hicks and the conditions in which he is being held, despite reports Mr Hicks health had deteriorated since being moved to virtual solitary confinement in March. The Government claimed the conditions in which Mr Hicks is being held are not unlike that of a maximum security prison in Australia (1).

"Does the Government stand by this assessment? Does it endorse or even wholeheartedly support allowing a citizen to be treated like this?

"In fact, I urge every member of the Coalition especially the Cabinet to come forward and declare whether they support anyone being held in these conditions."

Rhetoric: An orange appeal to free Hicks

Since chalking up five years in jail last month, David Hicks has gone from forgotten Aussie to cause celebre. The ultimate barbecue-stopper. And now he's inspired two 50-something Sydney women to don orange jumpsuits and plastic shackles for a Gandhi-style, non-violent protest.

"We've just come from Philip Ruddock's office in Hornsby," says Keryn Ellis, whose partner-in-orange is her friend Nadia Cafritza. "At John Howard's office we were asked to move on, even though we weren't doing anything. We're just two middle-aged ladies and we wanted to do something to make a difference."

Ellis said 95 per cent of people who approached them had been supportive. "It's been quite amazing," she said. "This is not about whether he's right or wrong or good or bad, it's just an injustice that anybody could be locked up like this. Our protest came out of pure frustration, the way we feel our country is going. We're going to keep doing it, even though it's quite confronting for us."

The hardest part? Finding the orange overalls. "We had to search on the internet," Ellis said. "They were hard to find with a little hood. And we hold onto a plastic chain, even though we don't actually shackle ourselves. And we're not speaking, because David can't speak. We just hold up a sign, 'Bring David back'. Otherwise people might think we work in pest control."

Meanwhile, Guantanamo Bay doesn't have quite the same ring as Montego Bay, but that hasn't stopped a Sydney reggae band writing a song about it. "It's a very long way to Guantanamo Bay," sing nine-piece the Resurrectors in Fair Trial for All. "Suffering away from home/ In my cell I sit alone/ Hypocrisy is rife/ You're f---ing with my rights."

Neither the PM nor Ruddock is singing backing vocals. Yesterday the PM said Hicks's refusal to speak to Aussie consular officials made it difficult to verify his claims of mistreatment; on Wednesday, Ruddock confirmed his support for sleep deprivation being used on prisoners.

The Resurrectors aren't looking to make money from the protest song, which can be heard at www.myspace.com/resurrectorstheband. They just want radio play and media coverage to raise awareness of Hicks's plight.

Labor MPs plead to Pelosi over Hicks

Nancy Pelosi
Canberra's federal Labor MPs have sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Party speaker of the US Congress, asking for help in bringing home accused Australian terrorist David Hicks.

ACT Senator Kate Lundy together with lower house members Bob McMullan and Annette Ellis say the US military commission process set send Hicks to trial runs against basic American values.

"As members of the Australian Parliament, we ask that members of the US Congress take steps to bring about the return to Australia of Australian citizen David Hicks, - a detainee held at Guantanamo Bay for more than five years - for prosecution here," the letter says.

"We believe that the denial of justice in David Hicks' case erodes values and principals shared by Australia and the US.

"We are also concerned that the ongoing absence of justice in David Hicks' case is serving to undermine international efforts to combat terrorism."

Hicks' lawyers claimed that the Australian was shown a photo of Saddam Hussein hanging from a rope after his execution.

Photos of the former Iraqi leader's trial also were shown to Hicks and other inmates held at the US military's Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

Showing the photos and articles breached the Geneva Conventions designed to protect prisoners of war, his lawyers said.

Greens leader Bob Brown said the showing of the pictures was "premeditated torture".

"The Hicks saga goes from bad to worse," Senator Brown said in a statement.

"The Guantanamo Bay horror is based on unlawful behaviour and sadistic practice by the jailers."

Senator Brown said US Vice-President Dick Cheney would have a lot to answer for when he visited Australia this month.

"The Howard government is not an innocent bystander, it is equally responsible," Senator Brown said.

©AAP 2007

Hicks' medical will be biased: Habib

Mamdouh Habib
Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib has scoffed at government claims that inmate David Hicks will receive an unbiased medical assessment at the US military prison.

Mr Habib, who spent three years in Guantanamo Bay without charge until his release in 2005, claimed mental experiments were conducted on detainees at the US military prison.

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said this week the federal government had asked US authorities to conduct a physical and mental assessment on Hicks, who has been detained without trial at Guantanamo Bay for five years.

Hicks' father Terry and his lawyers claim he is deteriorating both physically and mentally as his detention enters its sixth year.

Mr Ruddock denied the US had a conflict of interest in conducting the assessment and said it would be fair.

But Mr Habib did not believe any assessment would be independent.

"It's all rubbish, it's not true," he told reporters when he launched his campaign to contest a seat in next month's NSW state election.

"Guantanamo Bay is a place for experiments for mental problems.

"They have so many doctors there they pay money to the American government to study on people at Guantanamo Bay.

Hicks pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, attempted murder by an unprivileged belligerent and aiding the enemy at a US military commission hearing in August 2004.

The charges were dropped when the US Supreme Court ruled last year that the commissions set up to prosecute Hicks and other Guantanamo detainees were unlawful.

But he is due to face fresh charges within weeks and a trial shortly after.

"David Hicks is to be charged because of the pressures from John Howard," Mr Habib said.

Joyce a lone hand on Hicks plea letter
February 2, 2007


Barnaby Joyce
Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce is the only government member to have signed a letter to US Speaker Nancy Pelosi asking for Australian terrorist suspect David Hicks to be sent home.

Ninety-six MPs - the Australian Democrats, the Australian Greens, independents Peter Andren and Tony Windsor and most Labor members - put their name to the letter, which was faxed on Thursday to Ms Pelosi, a member of the US Democratic Party.

Mark Bishop, Robert Ray and Michael Danby were the only Labor politicians not to sign.

Co-authored by Democrats leader Lyn Allison and Labor's legal spokesman Kelvin Thomson, the letter asks that the US Congress take steps to have Hicks returned home.

Senator Allison said it was disappointing more coalition members didn't come on board.

"But we do know that there are many government members deeply worried about this situation so I'm consoled that many of them have gone public on this issue," she told reporters.

"I think it would have been more powerful had they been signatories to our letter but I think 96 parliamentarians is a very strong message indeed."

One government minister, while he did not sign the letter, spoke out strongly on Friday over the time Hicks has spent waiting to face trial at Guantanamo Bay.

The 31-year-old has been held at the US military prison in Cuba for five years since being taken prisoner in Afghanistan.

"He's spent five years now in detention in Guantanamo Bay and that is a very long time indeed," Justice Minister Chris Ellison said in Darwin on Friday.

"It's inappropriate that he's been held for such a long time without having his trial concluded.

Senator Ellison said Australia was doing all it could to ensure the Adelaide-born father of two was charged and dealt with as quickly as possible.

"We've made it very clear that we expect David Hicks to be charged as soon possible and for the law to take its course," Senator Ellison told reporters.

"It is incumbent on the United States to resolve this matter and have David Hicks dealt with."

But Labor's Mr Thomson said the federal government should shoulder its share of the blame.

"If minister Ellison wants to describe anything as totally inappropriate it should be this government's approach to David Hicks - which has been nothing short of disgraceful," he said in a statement.

The politicians who signed the letter say they are unconvinced Hicks will get a fair trial.

"We are not satisfied that the recently announced rules for Guantanamo Bay detainee trials will afford David Hicks (or other detainees) a fair hearing, consistent with international legal standards and Australian law," the letter says.

Although he was alone among his colleagues, Senator Joyce said he had no hesitation in signing the letter.

"The time is now for US Congress to act and get the ball rolling and let this man come home for a trial here in Australia," he said.

"Five years is far too long to be incarcerated without any charges being laid."

Senator Allison is hopeful Australians will make their concerns about Hicks known when US Vice President Dick Cheney visits Australia from February 22.

Hicks pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, attempted murder by an unprivileged belligerent and aiding the enemy at a US military commission hearing in August 2004.

The charges were dropped when the US Supreme Court ruled last year that the commissions designed to prosecute Hicks and other Guantanamo detainees were unlawful.

But Hicks is now expected to be one of the first inmates to be tried under a new revised system.

Hicks' military appointed lawyer Major Michael Mori has indicated his client will again plead not guilty if similar charges are brought against him.

Saddam poster used for 'mental torture'
Friday Feb 2 2007

A poster and news articles describing former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's trial and execution have been removed from the view of Guantanamo Bay inmates after US officials agreed the material could be "insensitive".

The move was a small victory for Australian inmate David Hicks and his legal team.

Hicks's lawyers, who spent the past five days at the US military base with their client, created headlines around the world on Thursday when they revealed the poster was hanging in a prison recreation area.

They also alleged Hicks was shown a photo of a dead Saddam hanging from a noose after the dictator's December 30 execution.

"This was a case of mental torture," Hicks's lead American defence lawyer, Joshua Dratel, told AAP after returning from the Cuba base.

"Of course they took the poster down.

"They wouldn't want anyone to take a photograph of it."

Commander Robert Durand, the director of public affairs at the Guantanamo military base, denied Hicks was shown a photo of the dead Saddam.

He also defended the poster and dissemination to prisoners of news articles about Saddam's trial and execution.

Durand said the material was "neither graphic nor sensational" and provided "intellectual stimulation" for prisoners.

"The poster was essentially like a news poster in Arabic," Durand said.

"It had images of Saddam Hussein and said 'The people of Iraq have spoken' and it gave a timeline of his capture, charging and conviction."

The news articles describing Saddam's execution were sourced from mainstream news websites, Durand said.

"We think that having access to outside news, having access to books in the library, magazines and mental stimulation is a good thing," Durand said.

Dratel, however, said the US military had prevented him and other lawyers from showing Hicks news stories.

Dratel also questioned why the message on the poster was written in Arabic. The lawyer compared the Guantanamo prison to the infamous Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq where prisoners were tortured.

"It's clearly not the guards at the prison who put up the banner," Dratel said.

"They don't know Arabic.

"This is another Abu Ghraib. This is intelligence officers running the prison using intimidation and mental torture."

Dratel also asked how Hicks would have been able to describe the photo of Saddam if he had not seen it.

"They showed David a photo of him hanging from a rope," Dratel said.

"They (the US military) haven't told the truth in five years.

"Why would they start telling it now?"

Hicks has been held without trial in Guantanamo Bay for five years after being picked up in Afghanistan in late 2001.

Dratel, who has been visiting Hicks for more than three years at Guantanamo, said the 31-year-old's mental and physical condition had deteriorated in the past two months.

"It is the worst condition I have seen him in," the lawyer said.

"Not just in terms of what he expressed to us, but other things indicated the past two months have really taken a toll on him mentally and emotionally."

Physically, Hicks looked like a different person, Dratel said, and possessions such as a comb had been taken from him.

Durand defended the treatment of Hicks and other inmates.

He said the Australian government could request an independent psychological assessment of Hicks's condition.

"As far as an independent assessment of his condition, that would be something that would have to be either requested government to government, Australian State Department to US State Department," Durand said.

A behavioural health unit at Guantanamo "has psychiatrists, psychologists and mental health technicians" while detainees also have access to counselling and prescription medication.

"The access to care and quality of care is certainly as good as any American service member has," Durand said.

New charges are expected to be laid against Hicks this month and he is likely to be among the first inmates at Guantanamo Bay to face a military commission trial.

©AAP 2007

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