Asia-Pacific News

Hicks' sentence reduced to nine months (2nd Lead)

Mar 31, 2007, 2:39 GMT

Sydney/Washington - Australia will not commute the nine- month sentence a Guantanamo Bay military tribunal handed convicted al-Qaeda supporter David Hicks, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Saturday. 'The sentence would be fully carried out,' Downer told national broadcaster ABC. 'I say that with a bit of passion because we take a very strong stand against terrorism.' Hicks pleaded guilty at a US military commission to providing material support for a terrorist organization and was given a seven-year sentence. The 31-year-old former kangaroo skinner, a Guantantamo inmate for more than five years, will have to serve only nine months of that sentence, US military officials said. The sentence will probably be served in a maximum-security facility in his Adelaide hometown. US officials earlier indicated that Hicks would return to Australia within 60 days of his sentencing. Last year Canberra secured a commitment from Washington that Hicks could serve any remainder of his jail time in Australia. A convert to Islam who was captured in Afghanistan in December 2001, Hicks is the first Guantanamo prisoner to have his case brought before the commissions set up to try terrorism suspects. Years of legal wrangling preceded the trial. Hicks confessed to attending al-Qaeda training courses and to travelling to Afghanistan from Pakistan after the September 11 attacks, intent on joining the fight against the US-led coalition. He said he sold the AK-47 assault rifle he was issued with at Kandahar airport to raise the cab fare to flee to Pakistan. The taxi was stopped by anti-Taliban forces and he was handed over to US forces. Hicks, whose alleged nicknames included Abu Muslim Australia, would have faced up to 20 years in prison if he had contested the charges and then been convicted. Hicks' father said he was relieved that his son would be home within two months and could be a free man early next year. 'It's a lot better than 12 years or seven or two or whatever they were touting through the night,' Terry Hicks said. 'But it's a real shame David had to go through all this to get released when he should have had the Australian government standing up for Australian citizens' rights.' Guantanamo holds about 400 detainees, including 14 high-level suspects transferred there last year after being held at secret CIA sites abroad. Hicks' arraignment last week marked the resumption of tribunals after they were halted in 2004 over lawsuits filed in US courts challenging their legitimacy. The US Supreme Court ruled last summer that the tribunals could not continue unless President George W Bush got explicit authorization from Congress, which lawmakers approved late last year. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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bfreesunMar 31st, 2007 - 03:58:34

Isn't it ironic that a kangaroo skinner is the first and only person to be convicted by these american kangaroo courts.

Ya couldn't make it up!

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NicMar 31st, 2007 - 04:57:42

The whole purpose of guantanimo, the torture and show trials, is to demonstrate to the American people that revenge is being meted out. Americans don’t really care if it is innocent Afghans, Iraqi’s or Australians that are suffering.

Justice would see a properly constituted court. Revenge is a deal to make the victim confess to the charges while gagging him from speaking the truth, in a sham court with the US military as judge, jury, and executioner, after five years of torture.

But Howard, Downer and Ruddock see it as a great opportunity to prove their loyalty. Can there be a stronger love of a craven people for their master, then the rendering up one of their own citizens for sacrifice.

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thrhMar 31st, 2007 - 06:05:02

And he was sentenced to? 'The comfy chair,' as in the old Monty Python episode about the Spanish Inquisition. Does make one wonder about all the hardened murderers they are holding at Gitmo....

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TomMar 31st, 2007 - 06:10:43

For THIS we are holding people in secret, for years, without recourse to the courts? The mountain labored, and brought forth a ridiculous mouse!

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trhMar 31st, 2007 - 06:12:39

The whole Gitmo enterprise, and the US government along with it, just became a laughingstock. Just try to convince us, after this sentence, that the extreme measures taken to hold these prisoners are justified!

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EZ HogMar 31st, 2007 - 06:45:08

If I had been held for 5 years with no other prospect of getting out I'd pleaad guilty to anything if promised a nine month sentence in Australia.
You wouldn't even have to torture me.
Land of the free? You must be joking.

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Hicks' sentence reduced to nine months (2nd Lead)

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