Australian at Guantánamo faces tribunal

By Richard A. Serrano
Los Angeles Times

AP Australian David Hicks is seen holding a bazooka in this undated photo taken in Kosovo. Hicks faces three charges.

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The decision to try David Hicks, 28, a prisoner at the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, was reached after lengthy negotiations between the United States and longtime ally Australia that produced a U.S. agreement not to seek the death penalty.

Hicks' trial could start as soon as August, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said.

Hicks was charged with conspiring to commit acts of terrorism, attempted murder and aiding the enemy.

Hicks is not specifically accused of hurting or killing anyone. In justifying the charge of attempted murder by an "unprivileged belligerent," the Pentagon alleges Hicks participated in fighting in Afghanistan as an "illegal combatant."

Unlike two other detainees at Guantánamo Bay who face military tribunals, the government portrayed Hicks as a committed and well-traveled terrorist who trained alongside bin Laden and shouldered an AK-47 rifle and a grenade pack for the al-Qaida network and the Taliban army in their war against U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Hicks was captured in November 2001 on the Afghan battlefield along with John Walker Lindh, the Taliban recruit from Northern California, six weeks after the terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Maj. John Smith, a Pentagon spokesman for the still-unfolding military tribunal process, said Hicks "will be provided a fair and full trial" at the secluded naval base in Cuba, and that two of his family members and representatives of the Australian government will be permitted to attend along with the media.

"While there may be some classified information that is presented, there will be nothing secret about the process and the trial," Smith said.

At the Australian Embassy in Washington, spokesman Matt Francis said his government "welcomes" the start of the trial in that officials have wanted "Mr. Hicks' case to be resolved as expeditiously as possible."

He added, "The Australian government is satisfied the military commission process will be fair and transparent while protecting the security interests of the U.S."
 
But the U.S. military lawyer who will defend Hicks against a team of military prosecutors and before a military judge and a jury of American soldiers said the process was stacked against his client.

"David Hicks has not violated any law of war and shouldn't have been charged," said Maj. Michael Mori, the lawyer. "It's unfortunate these charges will never be tested before a fair and established justice system."

Mori added that although Hicks is accused of maintaining surveillance on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, as a possible terrorist target in August 2001, the Embassy was closed at that time. "They didn't even get that right," Mori said.

According to the charges disclosed yesterday, Hicks, a native of Adelaide, Australia, traveled in 1999 to Albania and joined the Kosovo Liberation Army, a paramilitary organization fighting on behalf of Albanian Muslims seeking autonomy in the Yugoslavian province of Kosovo. He returned home and converted from Christianity to Islam and in early 2000 joined a militant group known as Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, or LET, the "Army of the Righteous," in Pakistan, the charges say.

By early 2001 he was in Afghanistan at an al-Qaida training camp, with a letter of introduction from LET. "Hicks turned in his passport and indicated that he would use the 'kunya,' or alias, 'Muhammed Dawood,' " the charges state.

He next participated in an eight-week course at al-Qaida's Al Farouq camp where he was "trained in weapons familiarization and firing, land mines, tactics, topography, field movements, and basic explosives," the charges say.

By April of that year he was taking guerrilla warfare and mountain tactics training with al-Qaida, a seven-week course.

"During one visit," the charge sheets said, "Hicks questioned bin Laden regarding the lack of English al-Qaida training material. Accepting bin Laden's advice, Hicks began to translate the training camp materials from Arabic to English."

Hicks allegedly continued to study and train with other terrorists, learning assassination methods, kidnapping techniques and the use of assault and sniper rifles.

He also briefly visited a friend in Pakistan. "After watching television footage of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, Hicks returned to Afghanistan to rejoin his al-Qaida associates," the military says.

As U.S. troops invaded Afghanistan, Hicks was given a choice of three mobilization sites and chose to fight at the Kandahar Airport. There, according to the Pentagon, he helped guard a Taliban tank while the airport was under bombardment by U.S. forces. He later joined Lindh, and by the end of November was captured.

Lindh also was taken prisoner. As an American, he was charged in the federal courts in this country and eventually pleaded guilty to fighting for the Taliban in return for a 20-year prison sentence.

At Guantánamo Bay, where U.S. military authorities are holding non-American prisoners of war, 600 captives are being held. Among them is another Australian, Mamdouh Habib.

Former cellmates of Hicks and Mamdouh Habib, have alleged that both were beaten while in captivity.

It was unclear how much prison time Hicks could face if convicted, but under an agreement with the United States he could serve some of the sentence in Australia.

Military tribunals haven't been used since World War II, but President Bush has revived them in the war on terror. Human rights advocates, international law experts and military lawyers have objected, saying the system isn't impartial and provides for no appeal to civilian courts.

Hicks' father, Terry Hicks, said that much of what his son has said "has probably been said under coercion or threats, so I suppose he could say anything."

The Pentagon brought war crimes conspiracy charges in February against two men alleged to be associates of bin Laden.

Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi of Sudan allegedly was a paymaster for al-Qaida and Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul, of Yemen was a propagandist for bin Laden, according to an official list of charges released by the Pentagon.

Information from The Associated Press and Knight Ridder Newspapers is included in this report.