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Hicks linked to shoe bomber
 Australian terrorist suspect David Hicks has admitted to British intelligence agents that he trained with terrorists including "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, UK authorities said. The Guantanamo Bay detainee also is said to have told MI5 agents who interrogated him in 2003 that he received extensive training at camps in Kashmir and Afghanistan and met the late Abu Hafs, an al-Qaeda kingpin who prior to his death in 2001 was named as the successor to Osama bin Laden. The Sun-Herald today said the admissions were being used by the British Government in its appeal against a High Court ruling last December requiring that Hicks be given British citizenship because his mother was born and raised in England. The paper cited a letter to Hicks' lawyers last December setting out why Home Secretary Charles Clarke was unwilling to grant Hicks citizenship and stating he intended to "rely on admissions made by Mr Hicks in an interview with the Security Service (MI5) on 26 April, 2003, in Guantanamo Bay." "In particular, Mr Hicks admitted ... attending a (Lashkar-e-Toiba) training camp in Kashmir in around 2000 ... attending the Al Farooq system of camps in Afghanistan in around 2001 ... (and) receiving training in weapons and guerrilla warfare," the letter added. The letter said Hicks also had admitted "training with a number of UK nationals known to be Islamic extremists" including Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber" now serving a life sentence for trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with a bomb concealed in his shoe in 2001. The British Government has since secured the release of all British citizens held at Guantanamo Bay in a deal with US authorities. Hicks had sought British citizenship in the expectation it would also help secure his release from Guantanamo Bay. He has been in US custody at the detention centre in Cuba since he was captured allegedly fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US. The British Government appeal was argued yesterday before Justices Pill, Rix and Hooper in the Court of Appeal at the Royal Courts of Justice. A judgment was expected early next month, although it was open for both sides to appeal the verdict further to the House of Lords. The Adelaide-born former chicken processor and one-time jackaroo is facing trial on terrorism-related charges before a US military commission. His father, Terry Hicks, who retraced his steps through Pakistan and Afghanistan for a television documentary two years ago admitted David had been with the Taliban but has always denied that he was a terrorist. Today he said his son was struggling to stay positive in the wake of the appeal, but added Britain would be responsible for retrieving David from Guantanamo Bay if the Government appeal fails. "If David wins the appeal then it falls on the British Government to get him back," he said. Posted by: Oztralian 2006-03-19 |
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