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Hicks to be sprung Saturday
David Hicks, the first Guantánamo Bay prisoner convicted of terrorism charges, will walk free from an Australian prison tomorrow after more than six years in captivity. The 32-year-old former kangaroo skinner will apologise to the Australian people for the inconvenience he has caused when he leaves the maximum security Yatala prison in Adelaide, his father said.

However, Terry Hicks insisted that his son had been pressured into admitting terrorism charges in a plea bargain which saw him sent home from Guantánamo in May. "There'll be some sort of apology," Terry Hicks said. "It is important to him that he gets this message across and thanks everybody who has been supportive of him."

He added: "Nothing's really been proved, nothing's been in a proper court system, all that's happened is that David signed a piece of paper to get out of the place."

US officials portrayed Hicks, who was captured while guarding a Talitank alongside Taliban forces in Afghanistan in December 2001, as a committed al-Qaida supporter who had met Osama bin Laden a number of times. His lawyers countered that the Muslim convert, who has since renounced the faith, was an immature adventurer who only went to Afghanistan after his application to enlist in the Australian army was turned down.
Immature young lad. On a grand adventure. With a gang of blood-thirsty jihadis. And a rifle of his own.
Hicks spent more than five years at the US detention centre in Guantánamo Bay, where his family say he became depressed and withdrawn.
No kidding; being in a U.S. military slammer would sure depress me.
He became the first person convicted at a US war-crimes trial since World War II after he pleaded guilty in March to providing material support to al-Qaida. Under the plea bargain, Hicks was allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence in Adelaide, but in return forfeited any right to appeal his conviction and agreed not to speak to the media for a year from his sentencing date.
He admitted his guilt. Case closed. Next!
Australia's government has concedes that the gagging order may not be enforceable in Hicks' home country, where he has not been convicted of any crime. On release, Hicks will be subject to a form of control order obliging him to report to police three times a week and obey a curfew, among other restrictions.

Hicks' long incarceration without trial prompted human rights campaigners to condemn the country's then prime minister, John Howard, for not pushing the US for his release. The new prime minister, Kevin Rudd, who defeated Howard in a November election, was a strong critic of Hicks' treatment and the military tribunal system that convicted him.

However, Rudd has not challenged the plea deal and said today that Hicks would have to accept the control order. "Mr Hicks should be treated no differently to any other Australian citizen in these circumstances and our expectations of Mr Hicks is that he would comply with the requirements which have been imposed upon him," he told reporters.
Mr. Rudd does not seem to be a complete ninny...

Posted by: Steve White 2007-12-29
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=216016