Fed: Hicks to face fair hearing under new charges: Ruddock

AAP General News (Australia)
12-10-2006
Fed: Hicks to face fair hearing under new charges: Ruddock

CANBERRA, Dec 10 AAP - Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says David Hicks will face new
charges as early as next month, and the US has assured him the accused terrorist will
receive a fair hearing.

Mr Ruddock today said Hicks, an Adelaide-born Muslim convert, was expected to be charged
after January 17, the date new regulations governing the military commission expected
to try him take effect.

Hicks, who was captured by US forces in Afghanistan five years ago, had originally
pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, attempted murder and aiding the enemy.

But the charges were struck out in June when the US Supreme Court ruled the military
tribunals set up to try him were illegal.

He has since languished in the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, along with
other terrorist suspects.

Mr Ruddock today said US laws passed in October which provided for a revised system
of military commissions would take effect by January 17, meaning Hicks could face new
charges within a few weeks.

"Regulations have to be proclaimed within three months. That means they have to be
in place before mid-January, and they provide the basis upon which a charge ... will be
outlined," Mr Ruddock told Sky News.

"The United States attorney-general assured me (last week) that his expectation was
that they would be able to charge him shortly after the regulations have been proclaimed."

Mr Ruddock said he did not know what charges Hicks would face.

But the US had told him the new commission process would be fair.

"We're pressing to get these issues addressed as quickly as possible," he said.

"We've sought assurances that there'll be a presumption of innocence, that he will
know the evidence that's going to be presented against him, that he will be effectively
represented in the military commission process, that there are appeals ... into the civilian
court system.

"We are certainly pressing the United States and have received certain assurances from
them that a fair trial should be possible under the scheme that they've legislated for."

Mr Ruddock said he sympathised with Hicks' father, Terry Hicks, who has not spoken
to his son since July.

"Do I have any sympathy with Mr (Terry) Hicks? I certainly do," he said.

"I don't think any father should be in the situation where they're having to defend
a child who has gone, perhaps, off the rails in some way, and I think we ought to respect
the way in which he has fought in his son's interests."

But he said the proceedings against Hicks had dragged on for so long largely because
of legal challenges to the process set up to try him.

"Part of the reason that David Hicks' trial has been delayed is because people sought
to challenge legally the process under which he is being tried," Mr Ruddock said.

"We have had cases in Australia where people have appealed decisions but they've remained
in jail for as long as five years before a trial has been eventually concluded."

Thousands of people rallied in capital cities across the country yesterday, urging
the federal government to do more to bring David Hicks home from Guantanamo Bay.

More than 1,000 people marched in Sydney, while hundreds took part in protests in Brisbane,
Melbourne, Perth and Canberra to mark the fifth anniversary of his incarceration.

AAP dcr/arb/bwl

KEYWORD: HICKS RUDDOCK

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