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Gitmo Father Suspects Plea Deal
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - The unexpected guilty plea of an Australian who was the first Guantanamo detainee to stand trial before a military tribunal was likely linked to a deal with prosecutors, the man's father said Tuesday.
David Hicks, a 31-year-old former kangaroo skinner, entered the surprise plea Monday at the first session of the tribunals set up after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Pentagon's previous efforts to try Guantanamo prisoners. The military said he could be sentenced this week and will likely be returned to Australia this year to serve his time there.
Hicks appeared focused as his Pentagon-appointed attorney told the judge that his client was pleading guilty to one of two counts of providing material support for terrorism. Asked by the judge if this was correct, Hicks said solemnly, ``Yes, sir.''
Hicks' father, Terry Hicks, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Tuesday he believed his son had pleaded guilty as part of a bargain with prosecutors that would get him out of the Guantanamo prison: ``It's a way to get home, and he's told us he just wants to get home.''
``He has been through five years of absolute hell,'' Terry Hicks added. ``I think anyone in that position, if they were offered anything, I think they'd take it.''
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6512282,00.html
Hicks appeared focused as his Pentagon-appointed attorney told the judge that his client was pleading guilty to one of two counts of providing material support for terrorism. Asked by the judge if this was correct, Hicks said solemnly, ``Yes, sir.''
Hicks' father, Terry Hicks, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Tuesday he believed his son had pleaded guilty as part of a bargain with prosecutors that would get him out of the Guantanamo prison: ``It's a way to get home, and he's told us he just wants to get home.''
``He has been through five years of absolute hell,'' Terry Hicks added. ``I think anyone in that position, if they were offered anything, I think they'd take it.''
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6512282,00.html
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The 31-year-old Adelaide father of two could be back in Australia by the end of the year after he today entered a surprise guilty plea to a charge of providing material support to terrorism.
A guilty plea gives him a ticket home because Canberra and Washington have struck a deal which will allow Hicks to serve any custodial sentence in Australia.
The development is a relief for the government which has weathered a growing storm of protest over Hicks' treatment at the hands of the US.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer acknowledged the government was glad the "saga" was nearing its conclusion.
"I'm pleased for everybody's sake ... that this saga has come to a conclusion," he told ABC radio.
But Hicks' return may not be enough to appease critics who believe he hasn't had a fair go - and won't be treated justly until he's given a proper day in court.
There are even those in government ranks who aren't entirely satisfied.
Outspoken Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce, a critic of the US military commissions, hasn't changed his mind about a process he says is flawed.
"It's on the record that I don't believe in the process that he's being tried under," he told Sky News.
And while the government is presenting itself at arms length from the process, Senator Joyce believes there would have been much behind the scenes pressure from Canberra on Washington.
"There would have been a lot of lobbying from the prime minister to make sure this thing was at least dealt with," he told Sky News.
Labor was holding its judgment on developments, waiting for a briefing from government before commenting.
Hicks' father, Terry, says his son only pleaded guilty to escape the hell of the US military prison.
"It's a way to get home, and that's what he's told us. He just wants to get home," he said.
More
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/return-may-not-appease-government-critics/2007/03/27/1174761464597.html
More than five years after he was arrested and taken into custody by the United States, the Australian could be back home later this year as a result of yesterday's dramatic developments before a US military commission in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
His guilty plea to a charge of providing material support for terrorism means Hicks will be the first person convicted by the new US military commission system, which was created in defiance of claims that it contravenes international standards of justice.
Under a prisoner transfer deal between Canberra and Washington, Hicks is expected to apply to serve any sentence in Adelaide, his home town, ending almost five years in the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison.
A plan has been prepared to place him, at least initially, in the high security G division of Yatala prison in Adelaide's north — along with notorious criminals including serial murder suspect Bevan von Einem and Snowtown murderer John Bunting.
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http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/highsecurity-plan-for-hicks/2007/03/27/1174761470787.html
DAVID Hicks has pleaded guilty and the consequences for him personally should be known soon enough. But what does this development mean for the Australian community who have been debating his situation — whether as defenders or critics of Hicks and the way he has been treated — for so many months?
There can be no doubt that the nature and intensity of the public debate over Hicks will shift in light of his guilty plea. Any movement in a scenario that has been at an impasse for so long must be a source of relief to the Australian Government. It was suffering a significant backlash over its handling of the matter and yet had no obvious means of bringing about a resolution. Ironically, this was a power that David Hicks — otherwise so disempowered — possessed and that the Howard Government did not.
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http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/guilt-in-the-minor-league/2007/03/27/1174761465414.html