27 Mar 2007

Hicks plead Guilty


The Australian citizen David Hicks has become the first Guantanamo prisoner to plead guilty under the Military Commissions Act passed last year. Hicks entered the guilty plea Monday as part of a deal with military prosecutors. Hicks has been held at Guantanamo Bay for the past five years. We speak with Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. [rush transcript included]
The U.S. government had originally accused Hicks of conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to engage in acts of terrorism, attempted murder and aiding the enemy but only ended up charging him with a single crime -- providing material support for terrorism. Pentagon officials say Hicks will likely serve his sentence in Australia.



Hicks has said he was sodomized, beaten, and subjected to forced injections while in U.S. custody. The military denies the allegations.



Hicks appeared in the courtroom wearing khaki prison fatigues and with hair down to his chest - grown, his lawyer said, to pull over his eyes at night to keep out the light and allow him to get to sleep. source: Democracy Now! | David Hicks Becomes First Guantanamo Prisoner to Plead Guilty more about Hicks on Wikipedia


Also see “Fair Go For David” and "Australian-born David Hicks was captured by US forces in Afghanistan in November 2001, while allegedly fighting for the then Taleban government." on the BBC and you can read the details of abuse in Guantánamo Bay by him here.