Posted on 06/29/2006 11:35:11 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
THE Federal Government today rejected calls for David Hicks to be returned home after The United States' highest court found the military commissions set to try the Australian terror suspect were unlawful.
Prime Minister John Howard urged US authorities to find another forum to try Hicks, saying he had no sympathy for the Adelaide-born man accused of training as a terrorist with al-Qaeda.
Hicks' father, lawyers and politicians demanded Hicks be brought home after the US Supreme Court ruled overnight that the military commissions set up to try Guantanamo Bay detainees were unlawful.
The Supreme Court justices voted five to three that the structure and procedures of the commissions violated military justice codes and the Geneva Convention.
But Mr Howard said Hicks, who has been in detention at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for four-and-a-half years, should still be tried in the US.
Mr Howard said he was not embarrassed by the court ruling but admitted his government was wrongly advised that the military commissions were lawful.
"Our view in relation to Mr Hicks is that he should be brought to trial," Mr Howard told Southern Cross Broadcasting.
"There clearly has to be another method of trial - a court martial or a civilian trial - which conforms with the Supreme Court decision."
Mr Howard said he didn't want Hicks, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, conspiracy and aiding the enemy, to return to Australia.
"I don't have any sympathy for somebody who trained with an organisation such as al-Qaeda," he said.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia would urge the US to try Hicks in a court as soon as possible,
Mr Downer said a resolution of his case had taken "an inordinately long time".
"I would have much rathered David Hicks' case was brought to court long ago," Mr Downer said from Adelaide.
"The Government will talk to the Americans about what they see as the next practical way forward but it's our preference that David Hicks' case goes to a court as quickly as possible, that the charges are heard in a court," Mr Downer said.
"That is what we would like to see happen.
"But how that will happen, and when that will happen, ... that is something that will have to be considered by the Americans.
"And hopefully they will do that very quickly and we will certainly be urging them to do that."
Hicks' father, Terry Hicks, said the US court ruling should spell the end of his son's time in detention.
"Let's get him back here," Mr Hicks said.
"Four and a half years is long enough for anyone to go through what David has gone through and is still going through."
The victory could be short-lived, with US President George W. Bush and other US government officials hinting shortly after the decision that they would go to the US Congress to remedy the concerns raised by the Supreme Court.
If successful, Hicks and other Guantanamo inmates could still face the military commissions.
"We have people looking at it right now to determine how we can work with Congress if that's available to solve the problem," US President George W. Bush said.
Hicks, who was captured with the Taliban in Afghanistan in late 2001, is alleged to have trained at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in the use of weapons, explosives, ambush, kidnapping techniques, assassination methods and surveillance.
He is also alleged to have been armed with an AK-47 rifle, ammunition and grenades while guarding a Taliban tank near Kandahar airport in October 2001.
Hicks' US military lawyer, Michael Mori, said the Howard Government should lobby for his release.
"The ball is now in the Australian Government's court," Major Mori said.
His call was echoed by Hicks' Adelaide-based civilian lawyer, David McLeod.
"The only action that can now be properly regarded as fair is to bring this nightmare for David Hicks to an end," Mr McLeod said.
"Any alternative trial process would only add to the unreasonable delay by years.
"Justice delayed is justice denied."
Labor's shadow attorney-general, Nicola Roxon, said the Howard Government must admit it was wrong to support the military commissions.
"The government now needs to see that it has been wrong up until now and should be urging the US to take proper action," Ms Roxon said.
"Mr Hicks should either be charged and have his case heard in a proper court or he should be released."
Greens leader Bob Brown also demanded Hicks be returned home.
"The Prime Minister has dishonoured this nation's law and its traditions," Senator Brown said.
"It is a disgrace which should end."
Australian Democrats foreign affairs spokeswoman Natasha Stott Despoja said the Howard Government should press for Hicks' immediate repatriation.
"The process has been judged illegal, it is an abrogation of international humanitarian law," Senator Stott Despoja said.
The Law Council of Australia's independent observer of the Hicks case, Lex Lasry QC, said there was a "very strong argument" that under a properly constituted court martial, or civilian court, there was no case for Hicks to answer.
I think we should take him back to Australia by boat - and have an "accident" half way between here and there.
Lotta sharks between Cuba and Australia...oh dear...
Bloody tragedy, really...:-)
"Game over, man! Game over!"
No, wait, that was Hudson, not Hicks.
}:-)4
As Mohammed Dawood is now a British citizen, he's no longer our problem.
Well, technically Hicks is now both an Australian and a British citizen, holding dual citizenship.
He was born an Australian citizen, but under British law was entitled to British citizenship, as his mother was born in the United Kingdom.
He applied for British citizenship late last year in the belief that as all British citizens held at Guantanamo Bay have been released, the British government would work to secure his release if he became a citizen. The British government denied him citizenship, but he appealed through their court system, and ultimately it was ruled they had to allow him citizenship. He has become a British citizen in the last month, but the British government announced this week, that they would not be seeking his release.
Australia has allowed dual citizenship since 2002, so Hicks is now a citizen of both Australia and the United Kingdom.
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