U.S. Files Charges Against
3 Guantanamo Inmates

ANDREW GREY / Reuters 3feb2007

The first trials under a new system for trying foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, moved a step closer on Friday when a U.S. military prosecutor filed charges against three inmates.

"The chief prosecutor for the Office of Military Commissions has sworn charges against Guantanamo detainees David Hicks of Australia, Salim Hamdan of Yemen, and Omar Khadr of Canada," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.

The move was the first step toward trial under a system of military commissions set up by the Bush administration last year to try foreign terrorism suspects held at the detention camp at the U.S. military base in Cuba.

After a challenge from Hamdan, the Supreme Court in June rejected the administration's previous plan as a violation of international law.

Under the new system, the charges filed by the prosecutor, Air Force Col. Moe Davis, now have to be reviewed by other officials before the men can be formally charged.

Five years after the U.S. military started detaining suspected al Qaeda and Taliban fighters at the Guantanamo naval base, none of the 395 prisoners still held there has been tried.

Hicks was arrested in Afghanistan in late 2001 and has been accused of fighting for al Qaeda and conducting surveillance of U.S. and British embassies on its behalf.

The prosecutor filed charges against Hicks, 31, of providing material support for terrorism and attempted murder in violation of the law of war, the Pentagon said.

Hicks' military defense lawyer, Marine Corps Maj. Michael Mori, criticized the charges, saying even the prosecutor had stated that there was no evidence the Australian had shot at anyone in Afghanistan.

"The charge of material support is not part of the law of war and does not appear in any U.S. or Australian military manual as a law of war offense," Mori added in a statement.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard had demanded charges be filed against Hicks by the end of February.

"I'm glad that the charges are being laid and that the deadline I set has been met," Howard told reporters in Sydney on Saturday. "They are very serious charges and that is why they should be dealt with as soon as possible."

Hicks' father, Terry Hicks, was quoted by Australian Associated Press as saying, "I would be more relieved if David was facing a fair and just situation, not virtually the same thing that they went through before, which has been ruled as illegal."

BIN LADEN ALLEGATION

Hamdan has been accused by prosecutors of acting as Osama bin Laden's driver and of transporting weapons for al Qaeda. The charges filed against him are conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism.

Khadr has been accused of murdering one U.S. soldier with a grenade and wounding another during a firefight at a suspected al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan. He was 15 when captured during the clash.

The prosecutor filed charges accusing him of murder in violation of the law of war, attempted murder in violation of the law of war, spying, conspiracy and providing material support to terrorism, the Defense Department said.

Human rights groups have called on the United States to close the Guantanamo prison but the Bush administration has insisted it is needed to hold dangerous individuals.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2004 that detainees could go to American courts to seek their release or changes in confinement conditions. But in October 2006 President George W. Bush signed a law taking away prisoners' rights to the U.S. court system.

More than 770 prisoners have been imprisoned at Guantanamo since the United States began using the base to hold suspects captured during the war on terrorism that Bush launched in response to the September 11 attacks.

source:  3feb2007

Australian PM Hails Guantánamo Charges

ROD McGUIRK / AP 3feb2007

CANBERRA, Australia - Prime Minister John Howard on Saturday welcomed the U.S. announcement that fresh charges have been prepared against the lone Australian terror suspect who has spent five years at Guantánamo Bay awaiting trial.

''I'm glad that the charges are being laid and that the deadline I set has been met,'' Howard told reporters, referring to his demand that alleged Taliban fighter David Hicks be charged by mid-February.

''They are very serious charges and that is why they should be dealt with as soon as possible,'' said Howard, who has come under mounting political pressure to have Hicks tried or set free.

The 31-year-old former kangaroo skinner is among three high-profile inmates of the U.S. military prison on Cuba facing new charges, a military prosecutor said Friday.

Under military rules, the charges are not considered formally filed against the detainees until they are approved by a U.S. Department of Defense legal advisor and another official who oversees the tribunals.

Hicks' Pentagon appointed lawyer Maj. Michael Mori said his client could be imprisoned for life if convicted of the new charges -- attempted murder in violation of the law of war and providing material support for terrorism.

Mori said Hicks should not face the charge of material support, saying it is not part of the law of war and does not appear in any U.S. or Australian military manual as a law of war offense.

''What is most disturbing is that while Australian ministers have consistently said that creating a new law and applying it retrospectively to David Hicks is inappropriate, the same ministers are encouraging the U.S. administration to apply a new law created less than four months ago retrospectively to David Hicks,'' Mori said in a statement.

''This is something the United States will not do to Americans,'' he added.

Howard, a staunch U.S. ally in the war on terror, has maintained that Hicks cannot be brought home to stand trial because Australia's tough new counterterrorism laws which ban terrorist associations did not apply in late 2001.

Nearly half the members of Australia's Parliament signed a letter to the U.S. Congress last week appealing for help repatriating Hicks.

Failing repatriation, the lawmakers request Hicks ``be immediately put to trial before a properly constituted U.S. criminal court.''

Howard said Saturday the new charges allege that Hicks, a Muslim convert, left Pakistan for Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, and ''rejoined the Taliban, who were . . . involved through al Qaeda'' in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Hicks' father, Terry Hicks, from the South Australia state capital Adelaide, said he expected appeals against the legality of the new military commission system will be lodged in U.S. civilian courts which could delay the trials for two years.

Terry Hicks said he was outraged that the U.S. military commissions would accept evidence that was tainted by coercion.

''If David's done the wrong thing then he faces consequences, but not in a system that's already geared up to find him guilty,'' Terry Hicks said.

David Hicks has been held at Guantánamo since January 2002, a month after he was detained in Afghanistan.

source: http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/nation/16616049.htm 3feb2007

Hicks Charged Five Years Later

LINCOLN WRIGHT & STEFANIE BALOGH / Sunday Herald (Australia) 4feb2007

ALLEGED Australian terrorist David Hicks has been formally accused of attempted murder and of providing material support for terrorists.

The new US charges against Hicks, 31, who has been locked up for five years, carry a life sentence.

Hicks, the only Australian held at Guantanamo Bay military prison camp in Cuba, was one of three detainees there to have fresh charges sworn against them yesterday.

Chief Prosecutor for the Office of Military Commissions, Col. Morris Davis, swore the two charges against the accused Taliban fighter.

The US alleges Hicks left Australia for Pakistan about November 1999 and in early 2000 joined a terrorist organisation, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET).

Hicks, a South Australian, allegdly admitted in correspondence to friends and family that he trained for two months at LET's Mosqua Aqsa camp in Pakistan.

Hicks is accused of having travelled in January 2001, with the help of LET, to Afghanistan and attended a series of al-Qaida training camps. The US says he then joined battle against the West-friendly Northern Alliance and, later, US-led coalition forces.

Hicks's US appointed defence lawyer, Maj Michael Mori, said the original charges of conspiracy and aiding the enemy had disappeared.

Prime Minister John Howard welcomed the charges against Hicks. "I'm glad that the charges are being laid and that the deadline I set has been met,'' Mr Howard said.

He regretted the period of time it had taken to charge Hicks.

Opposition shadow attorney general Kelvin Thomson said Hicks had little hope of a fair trial. Pentagon spokesman Lt-Commander Chito Peppler said the new charges would be forwarded from the legal adviser to the convening authority.

He said that once the charges were confirmed, Hicks would be among the first detainees to go to trial before the newly convened military commissions.

Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said there were strict time lines to the process.

They said it should take two weeks before Hicks was served with the charges. After that Hicks had 30 days to be brought before a judge.

In Melbourne yesterday, Hicks's father, Terry, mocked the charges, saying: ``I'm surprised _ there's nothing real hard and definite there, is there? It's the way it's worded.

Attempted murder in violation of the laws of war? Well, I thought that's one they charged George (Bush) with.

Providing material support for terrorism? I suppose he was running a photocopier.''

Mr Hicks said a national TV campaign calling for the return of his son to Australia would begin this week.

source: http://www.news.com.au/sundayheraldsun/story/0,21985,21166692-2862,00.html 3feb2007

Pentagon Official Resigns Over Guantanamo Remarks

NICOLE KING / AHN 3feb2007

Washington, DC - A senior Pentagon official has resigned over remarks he made criticizing lawyers who represent terror suspects. Charles "Cully" Stimson resigned of his own free will a Department of Defense spokesperson said.

Stimson had served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs. The reason he gave for leaving is the controversy over a radio interview in which he said it was shocking that lawyers at some of the top law firm's represent detainees being held at Guantanamo prison.

Stimson's comments drew criticism from the Defense Department and the legal community. During a radio interview, Stimson also suggested that some lawyers weren't being truthful when they claimed they did the work for free, and companies might want to consider a boycott of those firms that do represent terrorists.

He later apologized for the remarks, but the Bar Association of San Francisco asked the California State Bar to investigate whether Stimson violated legal ethics by suggesting the boycott.

U.S. law is based on a vigorous legal defense for all persons accused of a crime, regardless of whether the individual is eventually found guilty or innocent.

source: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7006349305 3feb2007