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'No shot' Hicks faces murder, terror charges
Penelope Debelle, Jane Holroyd - February 4, 2007

DAVID HICKS is expected to plead not guilty to supporting terrorism and attempted murder after the long-awaited charges were filed in Washington.

Hicks' military lawyer, US marine Major Michael Mori, who left Guantanamo Bay a day before the charges were announced, said he had not spoken to Hicks but anticipated he would deny the charges.

Hicks, 31, who has spent more than five years in the military prison in Cuba following his arrest in Afghanistan in 2001, spent most of the past week in briefings with his lawyers and was told of the new charges. His family were also notified.

The charges carry a life sentence but the prosecution said yesterday it would not press for the full life term.

Prime Minister John Howard welcomed the charges being laid after setting a mid-February deadline for progress in the case. He said the charges were very serious and should be dealt with as soon as possible.

"They allege that in the full knowledge of what happened on the 11th of September, he rejoined the Taliban who were, of course, involved through al-Qaeda & on the attacks on the 11th of September," Mr Howard said.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said they wanted the case dealt with "expeditiously and fairly" and would maintain pressure on the Americans.

But Labor legal affairs spokesman Kelvin Thomson denied the US had met the deadline because Hicks had not been formally charged, the convening authority was not in place and there was a prospect of extensive legal challenges.

The chief prosecutor in the US Office of Military Commissions, Colonel Morris Davis, will allege that Hicks had trained to kill and had avoided killing US soldiers in Afghanistan only through lack of opportunity.

"Our theory is that Hicks has attended a number of terrorism training courses where he has perfected his skills in killing," Colonel Davis said.

The prosecution will allege that Hicks had reported to senior al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan, was issued a rifle and grenades, and positioned himself where he thought US and allied forces would be present. "We believe the evidence will show that he did everything humanly possibly to engage against US forces and to kill US forces and it was lack of opportunity that kept him from achieving his objective," Colonel Davis said.

Major Mori questioned the attempted murder charge given Colonel Davis' admission that there was no evidence Hicks shot at anyone while in Afghanistan.

"The old charge of attempted murder has reappeared even after the chief prosecutor has admitted to the ABC that there is no evidence that David shot at anyone in Afghanistan," Major Mori said.

Hicks' father, Terry Hicks, also queried the attempted murder charge. "The Americans say they can't prove he fired a shot or anything," Mr Hicks said. "I think they are saying that just by being there he was going to commit a murder."

Speaking last night in Melbourne at a fund-raising dinner, Terry Hicks said there was a sense of relief that a new process had begun.

He said he still expected it would be a long time before Hicks was dealt with because the military commissions were yet to be established. "Even though there may be charges, they haven't even put the group together who will look at them."

While the convening authority who heads the commissions was announced last week retired judge Susan Crawford who was a former inspector-general of the Department of Defence in the administration of President George H.W. Bush, the father of President Bush the military panels who will try the cases have not been appointed.

It will be up to Judge Crawford to decide whether the charges filed by Colonel Davis are backed by sufficient evidence to go ahead.

Also charged along with Hicks is Salim Hamdan, the Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee who was allegedly a former bodyguard and driver for Osama bin Laden.

Hamdan's successful challenge to the legality of the first military commissions took almost three years to reach the US Supreme Court, but succeeded in aborting the process.

Terry Hicks finds little relief in new charges
The announcement of proposed charges against Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks brings little relief, says his father Terry Hicks.

Overnight, Colonel Morris Davis, the chief prosecutor for the upcoming
US military commissions, announced Hicks and two other Guantanamo Bay inmates would be the first three brought to trial.

Col Davis has recommended Hicks be charged with "providing material support for terrorism and attempted murder in violation of the law of war".

If convicted, the 31-year-old former jackeroo from Adelaide faces a maximum penalty of life in a US prison.

Col Davis "swore" the charges against Hicks today but they won't be formally laid until they have been approved by US military judge Susan Crawford - a process expected to take two weeks.

Terry Hicks says the new proposed charges are confusing and bring little promise that the process is moving forward.

"There is in one way, but I would be more relieved if David was facing a fair and just situation, not virtually the same thing that they went through before, which has been ruled as illegal," Mr Hicks told AAP today.

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.

But those charges were dropped when the US Supreme Court ruled last June that the commissions were unlawful.

"The basic bottom line is David's got to go through another process of an unfair and unjust system and they're not going to listen to him anyway," Mr Hicks said today.

He said he just wanted his son home and was getting sick of hearing uncertain dates.

"It gets a bit ridiculous - no one ever seems to want to put a hard and fast date on anything because I think what happens if you put a date on and nothing happens, then there's repercussions - we jump up and down," he said.

Hicks' military defence lawyer, Major Michael Mori, said his client would still be facing unjust charges.

He said the charge of material support was not part of the law of war and did not appear in any US or Australian military manual as a law of war offence.

"What is most disturbing is that while Australian ministers have consistently said that creating a new law and applying it retrospectively to David Hicks is inappropriate, the same ministers are encouraging the US administration to apply a new law created less than four months ago retrospectively to David Hicks," Major Mori said in a statement today.

Democrats senator Natasha Stott Despoja agrees, labelling the process a sham.

"Today's announcement of new charges that may be brought against Hicks continues the tragic farce that has been David's fate since being taken by military authorities in Afghanistan," she said in a statement today.

The senator says Hicks is about to face a process that defies the rule of law and contravenes international humanitarian law.

"The new commissions allow detainees to be convicted on evidence obtained by coercion and on hearsay evidence they will not have the opportunity to challenge," Senator Stott Despoja said.

Prime Minister John Howard said he was pleased the charges were to be laid before a mid-February deadline that he had set.

"I'm glad that the charges are being laid and that the deadline I set has been met," Mr Howard told reporters today at his Sydney residence Kirribilli House.

"They are very serious charges and that is why they should be dealt with as soon as possible."

But Labor says the government can't say its demands have been met because no charges have actually been laid as yet.

"David Hicks has not yet been charged, nor is a trial imminent" Labor's legal affairs spokesman Kelvin Thomson told reporters in Melbourne today.

Mr Thomson said the prosecution has only indicated an intention to charge Hicks.

He said today's announcement was a small step towards a trial for Hicks, but a giant leap backwards for a fair trial for the detainee.
AAP

Hicks charges false, lawyer claims
Penelope Debelle, Adelaide
February 1, 2007

US PROSECUTORS were trying to create the false impression David Hicks would soon be charged to meet the deadline set by Prime Minister John Howard, Hicks' US military lawyer claimed last night.

In a statement from Guantanamo Bay where Hicks was allegedly interrogated against his will by the Australian consul-general on Tuesday Major Michael Mori said US prosecutor Colonel Morris Davis did not have the power to charge Hicks. Under the US Military Commissions Act, any charges against Hicks would be independently decided by a convening authority that was not yet appointed, Major Mori said.

"It appears the prosecution is trying to create a false impression that the system is moving to meet Prime Minister Howard's deadline without the independent decision being made by a convening authority."

Colonel Davis said yesterday new charges against Hicks were in the final stages of being prepared and could be laid as early as tomorrow. "I'm confident that by Friday we'll have everything in order and be ready to swear the charges," he said.

But Major Mori said the swearing of charges represented prosecution allegations and did not mean the charges were approved by the convening authority or that they would even proceed to trial. "It appears the prosecution is worried that there will be no official decision in time for Howard's deadline."

Following reports of Hicks' alleged deteriorating physical and mental health from his lawyers at Guantanamo Bay, the consul tried to meet Hicks on Tuesday to report back to Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on his wellbeing.

Hicks' Adelaide lawyer, David McLeod, from Guantanamo Bay accused the consul of forcibly interrogating Hicks in an attempt at political damage control.

Mr McLeod said the consul arrived unannounced in Hicks' cell on Tuesday morning and tried to see him later in an interview room with his lawyers present. However, Hicks refused to see him and Major Mori handed the consul a letter dated January 30, 2007, written by Hicks. In it, Hicks tells the consul he does not wish to see him, is afraid to talk to him and in the past has been punished for doing so.

"You are not here for me but on behalf of the Australian Govt (sic) who are leaving me here," Hicks writes. "If you want to do something for me, then get me out of here."

Prime Minister John Howard said Hicks was making it harder for himself by refusing to see consular officials.

Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd accused Mr Howard of negligence in aiding Hicks.

The Federal Government said a camp psychiatrist had seen Hicks on January 29, assessing his state as "good".

"His mental health was assessed as good, although he was 'frustrated'," Mr Downer said.

Hicks' father, Terry, said yesterday his son was mentally unwell.

With SARAH SMILES

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