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David Hicks

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For the U.S. chaplain, see David Hicks (chaplain)
David Hicks outside his family home in Adelaide

David Matthew Hicks (born 7 August, 1975), also known as Abu Muslim al-Austraili and Mohammed Dawood, is an Australian being held prisoner by the United States Government at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He has been detained for more than four years as an "unlawful combatant," after having allegedly fought with al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. His trial before a U.S. military commission began in November 2005, however proceedings have been stayed pending a US Supreme Court case challenging the constitutionality of the commission process. David Matthew Hicks is a supporter of the Taliban

David Hicks was born in Adelaide, South Australia. Described by his father Terry Hicks as "adventurous", he spent time working on rural properties in the Northern Territory, Queensland and South Australia. In 1999, Hicks travelled to Albania (leaving behind a failed relationship and two children), where he joined the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), a paramilitary organisation of ethnic Albanian Muslims fighting against Serbian forces in the Kosovo War, and served with them for two months.[1] But the conflict in Kosovo was almost over by the time he arrived and he saw no fighting. After his return to Australia, Hicks converted to Islam and began to study Arabic.

The Charges

File:David hicks.jpg
David Hicks, in Albania, training with the American backed Kosovo Liberation Army

Hicks was formally charged by a U.S. military commission, on August 26, 2004, with conspiracy to attack civilians, attempted murder, and "aiding the enemy" while an "unprivileged belligerent". He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He was detained in December 2001.

In its formal indictment of Hicks, the United States government alleges:

  • that in November 1999 Hicks travelled to Pakistan, where he joined the paramilitary Islamist group, Lashkar-e-Toiba (Army of the Faithful).
  • that Hicks trained for two months at a Lashkar-e-Toiba camp in Pakistan, where he received weapons training, and that during 2000 he served with a Lashkar-e-Toiba group near the Pakistan-Kashmir.
  • that in January 2001 Hicks travelled to Afghanistan, then under the control of the Taliban regime, where he presented a letter of introduction from Lashkar-e-Toiba to Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, a senior al-Qaeda member, and was given the alias "Mohammed Dawood".
  • that he was sent to al-Qaeda's al-Farouq training camp outside Kandahar, where he trained for eight weeks, receiving further weapons training as well as training with land mines and explosives.
  • that he did a further seven-week course at al-Farouq, during which he studied marksmanship, ambush, camouflage and intelligence techniques.
  • that at Osama bin Laden's request, Hicks translated some al-Qaeda training materials from Arabic into English.
  • that in June 2001, on the instructions of Mohammed Atef, an al-Qaeda military commander, Hicks went to another training camp at Tarnak Farm, where he studied "urban tactics," including the use of assault and sniper rifles, rappelling, kidnapping and assassination techniques.
  • that in August Hicks went to Kabul, where he studied information collection and intelligence, as well as Islamic theology including the doctrines of jihad and martyrdom as understood through al-Qaeda's Islamist interpretation of Islam.
  • that in September 2001 Hicks travelled to Pakistan and was there at the time of the September 11 attacks on the United States, which he saw on television.
  • that he returned to Afghanistan in anticipation of the attack by the United States and its allies on the Taliban regime, which was sheltering Osama bin Laden.
  • that on returning to Kabul, Hicks was assigned by Mohammed Atef to the defence of Kandahar, and that he joined a group of mixed al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters at Kandahar airport, and that at the end of October, however, Hicks and his party travelled north to join in the fighting against the forces of the U.S. and its allies.
  • that after arriving in Konduz on 9 November 2001, he joined a group which included John Walker Lindh (the "American Taliban"). This group was engaged in combat against Coalition forces, and during this fighting he was captured by Coalition forces.

Hicks's Position

It is not alleged by the U.S. that Hicks engaged in any actual acts of terrorism, nor that he killed any U.S. or Coalition soldier while engaged in fighting at Konduz.

Hicks has never had an opportunity to give a detailed account of the beliefs that motivated him to enlist with the KLA, Lashkar-e-Toiba or the Taliban. In 2004 an Australian documentary called The President versus David Hicks was made by Curtis Levy, with the cooperation of Terry Hicks, who appears in the documentary.

In the documentary, Terry Hicks reads out excerpts of David Hicks's letters, in which Hicks says that his training in Pakistan and Afghanistan is designed to ensure "the Western-Jewish domination is finished, so we live under Muslim law again". He denounces the plots of the Jews to divide Muslims and make them think poorly of Osama bin Laden and warns his father to ignore "the Jews' propaganda war machine."

Terry Hicks has said that his son seemed unaware of the September 11 attacks when they spoke on a mobile phone a few days after the American bombing campaign in Afghanistan began.

In November 2005, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation programme Four Corners broadcast for the first time a transcript of an interview with Hicks, conducted by the Australian Federal Police in 2002.[2] In this interview Hicks acknowledged that he had trained with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, learning guerilla tactics and urban warfare. He also acknowledged that he had met Osama bin Laden. He claimed to have disapproved of the September 11 attacks but to have been unable to leave Afghanistan. He denied engaging in any actual fighting against U.S. or allied forces.

Four Corners journalist Debbie Whitmont said: Four Corners can confirm, that in Guantanamo, Hicks signed a statement written by American military investigators that includes the following, "I believe that al-Qaeda camps provided a great opportunity for Muslims like myself from all over the world to train for military operations and jihad. I knew after six months that I was receiving training from al-Qaeda, who had declared war on numerous countries and peoples."

Hicks in custody

Hicks's father Terry Hicks has sought since 2002 to have his son brought to Australia for trial, but the Australian government has made no move to request the U.S. to release Hicks. Since 2003 the Australian government has been requesting that Hicks be brought to trial without further delay, and has extended him limited consular support.

According to Hicks in conversations with his father, he was abused by both Northern Alliance and U.S. soldiers. Nevertheless, the Australian Government has consistently accepted U.S. assurances that David Hicks and another Australian formerly held at Guantanamo Bay, Mamdouh Habib, have been treated in accordance with international law.

On August 5, 2004 David Hicks filed an affidavit declaring that he had been tortured, abused and ill-treated during his detention by U.S. military authorities, and that he saw and heard similar treatment inflicted on other detainees.[3] The affidavit was made public on December 10, 2004. U.S. military authorities are investigating the claims.

Hicks's trial

Hicks's trial was initially set for January 10, 2005. His U.S. Army appointed counsel is Major Michael Mori. In February the Hicks family lawyer, Stephen Kenny, who had been representing Hicks in Australia without charge since 2002, was dismissed from the defence team.

Hicks's trial was delayed in November 2004 when the US Federal Court ruled that Commissions were neither competent nor lawful. In July 2005, however, the US appeals court ruled that the trial of "Unlawful Combatants" did not come under the Geneva Convention, and that they could be tried by a military tribunal [4]. In September it was announced that Hicks's trial would begin on 18 November. [5]

In mid-February 2005, Jumana Musa, Amnesty International's legal observer at the Guantanamo Bay, visited Australia to speak to Attorney-General Philip Ruddock (who is a member of Amnesty) about the military commissions. The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Musa as stating that Australia is, "the only country that seems to have come out and said that the idea of trying somebody, their own citizen, before this process might be OK, and I think that should be a concern to anybody."

In July 2005 the U.S. appeals court accepted the prosecution claim that because "the President of the United States issued a memorandum in which he determined that none of the provisions of the Geneva Conventions "apply to our conflict with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan or elsewhere throughout the world"[6] that Hicks, among others, could be tried by a military tribunal [7].

In early August 2005 leaked emails from former U.S. prosecutors were obtained by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that were critical of the legal process[8]. They accuse it of being "a half-hearted and disorganised effort by a skeleton group of relatively inexperienced attorneys to prosecute fairly low-level accused in a process that appears to be rigged" and "writing a motion saying that the process will be full and fair when you don't really believe it is kind of hard, particularly when you want to call a lawyer."

Ruddock responded by saying that the email comments, which were written in March 2004, "must be seen as historic rather than current" [9].

On October 21, 2005, The Age reported that the US government announced that if Hicks was convicted it wouldn't count the time he has been detained against his sentence.[10]

In the Four Corners interview, Terry Hicks discussed "allegations of physical and sexual abuse of his son by American soldiers". [11] He said that David Hicks had had objects inserted into his anus and had been repeatedly beaten while in American custody.

On November 15, 2005 District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly stayed the proceeding against Hicks until the US Supreme Court had ruled on Hamdan's appeal over their constitutionality.[12]

British citizenship application

Wikinews has related news:

In September 2005, it was claimed that Hicks may be eligible for British citizenship through his mother, after the passing of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. Hicks's British heritage was revealed during a casual conversation with his lawyer, Major Michael Mori, about the 2005 Ashes cricket series. As the British government has previously negotiated the release of the nine British nationals incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay, it is possible that this may be extended to Hicks if his application is successful [13]. In November 2005, the British Home Office rejected Hicks' application for British citizenship on character grounds, but his lawyers appealed the decision.

On December 13, 2005, Justice Lawrence Collins of the High Court ruled that British Home Secretary Charles Clarke has "no power in law" to deprive Mr Hicks of British citizenship "and so he must be registered". The Home Office announced it will take the matter to the Court of Appeal, but Justice Collins denied them a stay of judgement, meaning that the British government must proceed with the application. [14]

See also

References

  1. ^ Review by David Stratton The President Versus David Hicks, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, August 5 2004
  2. ^ transcript of Debbie Whitmont's investigation "The Case of David Hicks", Australian Broadcasting Corporation, October 31 2005

^ David M. Hicks v. George W. Bush (.pdf), civil action 02-299, memorandum opinion November 14, 2005

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