Hicks visited by US embassy official

[struggle4progress]

Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has confirmed that a US Embassy official recently visited Australian terror suspect David Hicks at Guantanamo Bay.

Mr Downer had earlier declined to identify the source of reports that Mr Hicks was in good health ...

Mr Downer says he has also received assurances from the United States that new charges will be laid against David Hicks within weeks, following the release of trial rules late last week for Guantanamo detainees.

Australia's Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, has urged the US to issue charges without delay ...

http://www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/s1830439.htm



He's being done over to protect politicians
Major Michael Mori
January 14, 2007

WHEN I was assigned to represent David Hicks, I knew the US Administration and those within the military commissions system, such as Colonel Morris Davis, chief prosecutor for the US Office of Military Commissions, would resist providing an Australian the same rights and protections as an American. I never imagined Australian ministers would actively support the United States' hypocritical treatment of an Australian.

In The Sunday Age last week, the Attorney-General tried to defend the indefensible treatment of David Hicks. It was the Attorney-General who permitted David to languish in Guantanamo for two years without legal counsel, permitted 2½ years to pass before he was charged, permitted the prosecution to charge him with offences made up after the fact, and permitted him to be tried in an illegal commissions system that was unacceptable for American and British citizens.

The Attorney-General says David cannot come home because "Mr (former Australian Guantanamo inmate Mamdouh) Habib and the released UK citizens had neither been charged under the military commission process nor been designated as eligible for trial". The truth is Habib and two released British citizens were designated for commission by President Bush in July 2003 but are now free. Being designated for trial or charged does not prevent detainees from being released from Guantanamo.

The Attorney-General also claims David cannot come home because the US made it clear early on that a detainee would not be repatriated unless he would be prosecuted. More than 300 detainees have been released from Guantanamo without prosecution, including the Taliban's ambassador to Pakistan and detainees who fought with Osama bin Laden ...

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hes-being-done-over-to-protect-politicians/2007/01/13/1168105227930.html

[cal04]

1. Government scrambles to avoid Hicks delay fallout

(snip)
Rebel Queensland National senator Barnaby Joyce said he "didn't care if this is an issue for the federal election campaign". He intended to fight for "one of the fundamental legs on which a democracy stands".

Senator Joyce said it was embarrassing Australia had to rely on the US Congress to defend such a fundamental right.

"You can't have a judicial system without habeas corpus," Senator Joyce said. "The idea of making this an issue solely about David Hicks distracts from what we are really talking about, which is the primacy of a fair judicial system. It is an outrage."

(snip)
A spokesman for Democrat senator Patrick Leahy, who this week assumes the chair of the powerful Senate Judicial Committee, told The Sunday Age restoration of habeas corpus was a top priority and "something I feel very strongly about".
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/howard-tries-to-avoid-hicks-fallout/2007/01/20/1169096027850.html?s_cid=rss_age

[Judi Lynn]

2. Hicks could face reduced charges

Hicks could face reduced charges
January 21, 2007 11:14pm

AUSTRALIAN officials believe the charges against terror suspect David Hicks may be downgraded by US prosecutors.

The 31-year-old Adelaide father of two has been detained at Guantanamo Bay military prison since January 2002, a month after he was captured with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

He pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, aiding the enemy and attempted murder at a US military commission hearing in August 2004, but the charges were struck out by a US Supreme Court ruling last June declaring the military commissions unlawful.

It is understood those charges will not proceed, The Australian newspaper reports.

A second charge of aiding and abetting the enemy may also be dropped.

Confirmation that Hicks will be among the first charged under the new military commissions is expected within weeks.

But the 31-year-old will probably still face charges that carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, including providing “material support” to terrorist groups.
(snip/...)

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,21096855-5005521,00.html