U.S. Files Terror Charges Against Australian (Hicks)

[sabra]

http://kdka.com/topstories/topstories_story_060113530.html

U.S. Files Terror Charges Against Australian

(AP) WASHINGTON The Bush administration has filed terrorism charges against David Hicks, an Australian citizen suspected of aiding the Taliban in Afghanistan and the first terrorism-war era detainee to be charged by the Pentagon under new rules for military commissions.

The decision was made even though officials of Australia already had asked the United States not to bring such charges. Australia has been a steadfast ally to the Bush administration in its war on terrorism.

Hicks is a former kangaroo skinner captured in Afghanistan in December 2001. He has been held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for more than five years without trial.

According to government officials and documents, the Defense Department will announce that Hicks is being charged with "providing material support for terrorism." Hicks would be have a trial in a special military tribunal, established in a law that Congress passed last year, rather than a civilian court. Opponents have vowed to challenge the constitutionality of the military tribunal proceedings.

[HuffleClaw]

1. i guess howard didn't toe the line?

hicks is a HOSTAGE.

[struggle4progress]

2. US military charges Australian Guantanamo detainee (Reuters)

01 Mar 2007 22:09:42 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds defense attorney comments)
By Kristin Roberts

... The U.S. military accuses Hicks of supporting terrorism by attending al Qaeda training courses, conducting surveillance on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, and briefly fighting U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

A second charge of "attempted murder" was not advanced ...

"All this time, we have been told that David had to be tried by military commission rather than in a federal court because the offenses were war crimes," said U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Michael Mori, defense counsel in the Pentagon's military commissions office. "But after five years, the U.S. has not charged David with a single war crime." ...

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N01474678.htm

[Eugene]

3. Reuters: Australia's Hicks alleges U.S. abuse at Guantanamo

Australia's Hicks alleges U.S. abuse at Guantanamo
01 Mar 2007 23:39:28 GMT
Source: Reuters

CANBERRA, March 2 (Reuters) - An Australian detainee facing U.S. terrorism charges,
David Hicks, has complained of torture and abuse at the Guantanamo Bay jail in Cuba,
Australian media reported on Friday.

Charges brought against Hicks on Thursday were the first brought against a suspected
al Qaeda or Taliban member under a military commissions law passed by the U.S. Congress
last year, the Pentagon said.

Hicks, in an application for British citizenship, said he had been shown a photo of a
battered fellow inmate, and was told he would be sent to Egypt for similar treatment if he
did not cooperate, the Sydney Morning Herald said.

Hicks, the sole Australian at Guantanamo Bay, said the anxiety caused by months of abuse
forced him to "say anything" to military interrogators. The United States has denied any
abuse at the prison.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SYD192275.htm

[Eugene]

4. BBC: Hicks charge 'took too much time'

Last Updated: Friday, 2 March 2007, 06:44 GMT

Hicks charge 'took too much time'

Australian PM John Howard has welcomed a US move to file charges against
an Australian man held at Guantanamo Bay for five years without trial.

But he said he was "very unhappy" that the process to charge 31-year-old
David Hicks had taken so long.

A US military judge finally charged Mr Hicks on Thursday with "providing
material support for terrorism".

There has been growing domestic unease over Mr Hicks' treatment, and
Mr Howard had been under pressure to intervene.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6410587.stm

[Eugene]

5. AFP: Trial date set for Australian Guantanamo detainee (Mar. 20)

Trial date set for Australian Guantanamo detainee

Thu Mar 8, 1:43 AM ET

SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian terror suspect held in the US prison at Guantanamo
Bay for five years without trial will face a US military court on March 20, Prime
Minister John Howard said Thursday.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070308/wl_asia_afp/australiausattacksjusticeguantanamo

[Javaman]

6. I'm sure Mr Hicks will have proper legal representation

by his peers and a presentation of all the evidence against him, right?

Bwahahahahaha...sorry, I just crack myself up sometimes. It keeps me from crying.