Hicks walks free from jail

DAVID Hicks has walked free from an Adelaide prison, vowing he would not let down those who campaigned for his release. The convicted terrorism supporter, looking chubby but otherwise healthy, had an emotional reunion with his father Terry, before emerging from Yatala Labour Prison just after 8:20am local time. He was driven from the maximum security jail under police escort seated in the car beside Mr Hicks' former wife, Bronwyn Mewett. His lawyer, David McLeod, read a statement on Hicks' behalf in which he apologised for not being "strong enough" to speak publically. "I will not forget, or let you down," Hicks said in his statement Hicks said he owed the Australian public a debt of gratitude for having him returned home from the US military's Guantanamo Bay detention centre last year. The 32-year-old Adelaide man was held there for more than five years after he was captured in a Afghanistan in 2001 while serving with the Taliban and al-Qa'ida-backed fighters. Hicks said he was looking forward to spending some quiet time with his father, other family members and friends. Click Here for Complete Story

Hicks 'elated' to be in solitary confinement in Adelaide

More than seven years ago, Australian David Hicks, then 24, left Adelaide as a Muslim convert on his way to Pakistan to support the cause of Islam. Just before 11am yesterday, he was home again ? escorted in the back of a van by motorcycle police, prison officers and a high-security response squad. In Cuba's Guantanamo Bay, where he was held for almost 5½ years by US authorities who declared him a prisoner in the war on terror, he spent most of his time in solitary confinement. In Yatala Labour Prison, in Adelaide's northern suburbs, he will also be in a small cell by himself, allowed out for exercise for one hour a day before his release in late December ? possibly in time to be reunited with his family for the New Year. The dramatic return of the former Taliban fighter and convicted supporter of terrorism was not lost on Hicks, now 31, who landed at the RAAF base at Edinburgh, north of Adelaide, at 9.50am Adelaide time (11.50am NZT) after a secretive 24-hour flight from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay. "He did make the rather amusing comment ? there are not too many prisoners who get a world trip between stretches," Hicks' civilian lawyer for the past two years, David McLeod, said. Hicks was grateful to be a prisoner of the Australian Government, after years as a prisoner of the US Government, a situation that, in the end, embarrassed both governments. Click Here for Full Story Hicks transferred to Adelaide jail Ruddock says AFP to decide on Hicks control order Stop slurring my son: Hicks dad David Hicks will be out of jail on New Year's Eve after an extraordinarily lenient plea bargain agreement meant that whatever sentence he got, he would only serve nine months of it in jail. The Military Commission panel – made up of serving US officers – gave him the maximum possible sentence of seven years. Even that was a reduction on the statutory maximum of life imprisonment. But the pre-trial agreement meant that six years and three months will be suspended. This means that he will be released on the last day of the year, and as long as he doesnt violate the terms of his agreement, he will stay out of jail. The pre-trial agreement appears to have been designed with the Australian political calendar in mind. Click Here for Full Story

Click Here for Highlights of the David Hicks Rally in Adelaide ~ Adelaide Rally - Adelaide remembers David Hicks - Photo Gallery ~

Detainee 002 - The Case of David Hicks

Leigh Sales Detainee 002 is a chilling reminder that, in a war with ever-changing rules and no end in sight, there are no limits. If you care about the Australia you live in, you must read this book. Opinion This is the story that Canberra didn't want us to know--it is scrupulously fair and a brilliant yarn. --Ray Martin About this Title In a remote American military base at Guantanamo Bay, 385 enemy combatants sit waiting for their day in court. Among them is David Hicks, who was detained for five years until the March 2007 hearing where he pleaded guilty to the charge of providing material support for terrorism. Detainee 002 reveals in unprecedented detail how an Australian citizen wound up in the War on Terror. Based on more than five years of reporting and dozens of interviews with insiders, Leigh Sales explains the intricacies of Hicks's case, from his capture in Afghanistan, to life in Guantanamo Bay, to the behind-the-scene establishment and workings of the military commissions. Sales' impeccable research takes us from top-secret negotiations at the White House and Pentagon to the domestic fallout Hicks's incarceration has had on his family, to the campaign that Major Michael Mori, the marine who becomes his greatest advocate, waged on his behalf. David Hicks's case is emblematic of some of the greatest challenges facing the world today: the rise of Islamic extremism, terrorism and the accountability of governments towards their citizens. It is a chilling reminder that, in a war with ever-changing rules and no end in sight, there are no limits. Visit the Detainee 002 website at www.detainee002.com About the Author Leigh Sales is the ABC's National Security Correspondent. She visited Guantanamo Bay twice during her recent four-year posting as the network's Washington correspondent. In 2005, she won a prestigious Walkley Award for her coverage of the Guantanamo military commissions and was nominated again in 2006 for her reporting of Hurricane Katrina. Click Here to Order This Book

The torture of being locked up a long way from home

Kay Danes David Hicks's case raises questions about the support by our officials for those in foreign jails, writes Tom Allard. KAY DANES feels she knows something of what David Hicks, the Australian detained in Guantanamo Bay for more than five years without trial, is going through. Arrested on trumped-up charges of embezzlement and tax avoidance in Laos in December 2000, Kay and her husband, Kerry, languished in a prison for 10 months. Kerry, a former SAS warrant officer, was repeatedly beaten. Torture of inmates, including burning their genitals, was a regular occurrence and performed in view of other prisoners. Even worse, says Kay, was the mental anguish, including constantly being told by the prison guards that she was about to be released. "They said it so many times but it would never happen," she says. "I know David is going through the same thing. He's been told to pack his bags and then sent back to his cell. Of all the things they can do to you, this is the worst … It is mental torture." Click Here for Full Story

• he fought on the side of NATO and the UN when he was in Kosovo
• he was not armed when he was detained
• he was not shooting at American or Australian troops (or any others)
• all others detained with him at the time were immediately released
• he had his first phone call with his family in December 2002 - after two years imprisoment
• his military lawyer, Major Mori, says he has almost no chance of a fair trial
• his mental state is fragile and he has deteriorated physically
• Major Mori is convinced he was not involved in any terrorist activities
• he still has not formally been charged with ANYTHING
• he has been in solitary confinement on and off since September 2003

For more information about his case please visit the website www.fairgofordavid.org

Fair Go for David seeks that: . David Hicks be treated in accordance with the Geneva Conventions . The law of Habeas Corpus be applied to David Hicks . David Hicks be repatriated to Australia and given a fair civil trial, if charged with any crime/s . Any other Australians in a similar situation to David Hicks be entitled to the same rights Contributions can be sent to: Fair Go For David, PO Box 634, PROSPECT EAST SA 5082.