David Hicks
Encyclopedia : D : DA : DAV : David Hicks
- For the U.S. chaplain, see David Hicks (chaplain)
David Matthew Hicks (born 7 August, 1975), also known as Abu Muslim al-Austraili and Mohammed Dawood, is an Australian citizen being held prisoner by the United States Government at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba after allegedly having served with the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. He has been detained, initially without charge, for more than four years as an "unlawful combatant" and thus, it was claimed, outside the normal protections of U.S. law and the provisions of the Geneva Conventions. His trial before a U.S. military commission was due to begin in November 2005, however proceedings were cancelled following a Supreme Court ruling invalidating the constitutionality of the commission process. A memo was then issued from The Pentagon on July 7 2006 directing that all military detainees are entitled to humane treatment and to certain basic legal standards, as required by Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. [] No new trial process has yet been announced.
Hicks' detainee number is 002. [list of prisoners (.pdf)], US Department of Defense
Early life
David Hicks was born in Adelaide, South Australia along with sister Chelsea Hicks. Described by his father Terry Hicks as "adventurous", he spent time working on rural properties in the Northern Territory, Queensland and South Australia. In 1999, Hicks travelled to Albania (leaving behind a failed relationship and two children), where he joined the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), a paramilitary organisation of ethnic Albanian Muslims fighting against Serbian forces in the Kosovo War, and served with them for two months. Review by David Stratton [The President Versus David Hicks], Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2004-08-05 But the conflict in Kosovo was almost over by the time he arrived and he saw no fighting. After his return to Australia, Hicks converted to Islam and began to study Arabic.The charges
Hicks was charged by a U.S. military commission, on August 26, 2004, however that commission was subsequently abolished when on June 29, 2006, in the case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld the United States Supreme Court ruled that the military commissions were illegal under United States law and the Geneva Conventions.
The indictment prepared for the previously scheduled trial had alleged that Hicks had conspired to attack civilians, attempted murder, and was guilty of "aiding the enemy" while an "unprivileged belligerent". He had pleaded not guilty to all charges. He was detained in December 2001.
In its indictment of Hicks, the United States government had alleged:
- that in November 1999 Hicks travelled to Pakistan, where he joined the paramilitary Islamist group, Lashkar-e-Toiba (Army of the Faithful).
- that Hicks trained for two months at a Lashkar-e-Toiba camp in Pakistan, where he received weapons training, and that during 2000 he served with a Lashkar-e-Toiba group near the Pakistan-Kashmir.
- that in January 2001 Hicks travelled to Afghanistan, then under the control of the Taliban regime, where he presented a letter of introduction from Lashkar-e-Toiba to Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, a senior al-Qaeda member, and was given the alias "Mohammed Dawood".
- that he was sent to al-Qaeda's al-Farouq training camp outside Kandahar, where he trained for eight weeks, receiving further weapons training as well as training with land mines and explosives.
- that he did a further seven-week course at al-Farouq, during which he studied marksmanship, ambush, camouflage and intelligence techniques.
- that at Osama bin Laden's request, Hicks translated some al-Qaeda training materials from Arabic into English.
- that in June 2001, on the instructions of Mohammed Atef, an al-Qaeda military commander, Hicks went to another training camp at Tarnak Farm, where he studied "urban tactics," including the use of assault and sniper rifles, rappelling, kidnapping and assassination techniques.
- that in August Hicks went to Kabul, where he studied information collection and intelligence, as well as Islamic theology including the doctrines of jihad and martyrdom as understood through al-Qaeda's Islamist interpretation of Islam.
- that in September 2001 Hicks travelled to Pakistan and was there at the time of the September 11 attacks on the United States, which he saw on television.
- that he returned to Afghanistan in anticipation of the attack by the United States and its allies on the Taliban regime, which was sheltering Osama bin Laden.
- that on returning to Kabul, Hicks was assigned by Mohammed Atef to the defence of Kandahar, and that he joined a group of mixed al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters at Kandahar airport, and that at the end of October, however, Hicks and his party travelled north to join in the fighting against the forces of the U.S. and its allies.
- that after arriving in Konduz on 9 November 2001, he joined a group which included John Walker Lindh (the "American Taliban"). This group was engaged in combat against Coalition forces, and during this fighting he was captured by Coalition forces.
Hicks's position
The U.S. administration has refered to Hicks as "the worst of the worst" [] , but it has not alleged Hicks engaged in any actual acts of terrorism, nor that he killed any U.S. or Coalition soldier while engaged in fighting at Konduz.Hicks has never had an opportunity to give a detailed account of the beliefs that motivated him to enlist with the KLA, Lashkar-e-Toiba or the Taliban. In 2004 an Australian documentary called The President versus David Hicks was made by Curtis Levy, with the cooperation of Terry Hicks, who appears in the documentary.
In the documentary, Terry Hicks reads out excerpts of David Hicks's letters, in which Hicks says that his training in Pakistan and Afghanistan is designed to ensure "the Western-Jewish domination is finished, so we live under Muslim law again". He denounces the plots of the Jews to divide Muslims and make them think poorly of Osama bin Laden and warns his father to ignore "the Jews' propaganda war machine."
Terry Hicks has said that his son seemed unaware of the September 11 attacks when they spoke on a mobile phone a few days after the American bombing campaign in Afghanistan began.
In November 2005, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation programme Four Corners broadcast for the first time a transcript of an interview with Hicks, conducted by the Australian Federal Police in 2002. [transcript of Debbie Whitmont's investigation "The Case of David Hicks"], Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2005-10-31 In this interview Hicks acknowledged that he had trained with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, learning guerilla tactics and urban warfare. He also acknowledged that he had met Osama bin Laden. He claimed to have disapproved of the September 11 attacks but to have been unable to leave Afghanistan. He denied engaging in any actual fighting against U.S. or allied forces.
Four Corners journalist Debbie Whitmont said: Four Corners can confirm, that in Guantanamo, Hicks signed a statement written by American military investigators that includes the following, "I believe that al-Qaeda camps provided a great opportunity for Muslims like myself from all over the world to train for military operations and jihad. I knew after six months that I was receiving training from al-Qaeda, who had declared war on numerous countries and peoples." It was later claimed by the Hicks family that these statements were obtained under duress.
Hicks in custody
Hicks's father Terry Hicks has sought since 2002 to have his son brought to Australia for trial, but the Australian government has made no move to request the U.S. to release Hicks. Since 2003 the Australian government has been requesting that Hicks be brought to trial without further delay, and has extended him limited consular support.According to Hicks in conversations with his father, he was abused by both Northern Alliance and U.S. soldiers. Nevertheless, the Australian Government has consistently accepted U.S. assurances that David Hicks and another Australian formerly held at Guantanamo Bay, Mamdouh Habib, have been treated in accordance with international law.
On August 5, 2004 David Hicks filed an affidavit declaring that he had been tortured, abused and ill-treated during his detention by U.S. military authorities, and that he saw and heard similar treatment inflicted on other detainees.[The David Hicks affidavit], Sydney Morning Herald, 2004-12-10 The affidavit was made public on December 10, 2004. U.S. military authorities are investigating the claims.
In June 2006, Moazzam Begg, a British man who had also been held at Guantanamo Bay but was released in 2005, claimed in his book Enemy Combatant: A British Muslim's Journey to Guantanamo and Back that Hicks had abandoned his Islamic beliefs, and had been denounced by a fellow inmate and al-Qaeda member, Uthman al-Harbi, for his lack of observance. [Hicks no longer a Muslim: ex-detainee], The Age, June 24, 2006
Hicks's cancelled trial
Hicks's subsequently cancelled trial was initially set for January 10, 2005. His U.S. Army appointed counsel is Major Michael Mori. In February the Hicks family lawyer, Stephen Kenny, who had been representing Hicks in Australia without charge since 2002, was dismissed from the defence team and Vietnam veteran and Army Reservist, David McLeod replaced him.Hicks's trial was delayed in November 2004 when the US Federal Court ruled that Commissions were neither competent nor lawful. In July 2005, however, the US appeals court ruled that the trial of "Unlawful Combatants" did not come under the Geneva Convention, and that they could be tried by a military tribunal. [Hicks defence 'not ready'], The Australian, 2005-07-19 In September it was announced that Hicks's trial would begin on 18 November. [Hicks Trial Date Set], The World News, 2005-07-27
In mid-February 2005, Jumana Musa, Amnesty International's legal observer at Guantanamo Bay, visited Australia to speak to Attorney-General Philip Ruddock (who is a member of Amnesty) about the military commissions. The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Musa as stating that Australia is, "the only country that seems to have come out and said that the idea of trying somebody, their own citizen, before this process might be OK, and I think that should be a concern to anybody."
In July 2005 the U.S. appeals court accepted the prosecution claim that because "the President of the United States issued a memorandum in which he determined that none of the provisions of the Geneva Conventions "apply to our conflict with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan or elsewhere throughout the world" that Hicks, among others, could be tried by a military tribunal. [United States of America v. David Matthew Hicks: Prosecution response to Defense motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction (.pdf)], 2004-10-18
In early August 2005 leaked emails from former U.S. prosecutors were obtained by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that were critical of the legal process. [Leaked emails claim Guantanamo trials rigged], Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2005-08-01 They accuse it of being "a half-hearted and disorganised effort by a skeleton group of relatively inexperienced attorneys to prosecute fairly low-level accused in a process that appears to be rigged" and "writing a motion saying that the process will be full and fair when you don't really believe it is kind of hard, particularly when you want to call yourself an officer and lawyer."
Ruddock responded by saying that the email comments, which were written in March 2004, "must be seen as historic rather than current". [Ruddock brushes aside criticism of Guantanamo courts], Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2005-08-02
On October 21, 2005, The Age reported that the US government announced that if Hicks was convicted it wouldn't count the time he has been detained against his sentence. [Hicks' time in custody ignored by Pentagon], The Age, 2005-10-21
In the Four Corners interview, Terry Hicks discussed "allegations of physical and sexual abuse of his son by American soldiers". ['New evidence' backs Hicks's torture claim], Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2005-10-31 He said that David Hicks had had objects inserted into his anus and had been repeatedly beaten while in American custody.
On November 15, 2005 District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly stayed the proceeding against Hicks until the US Supreme Court had ruled on Hamdan's appeal over their constitutionality. [David M. Hicks v. George W. Bush (.pdf)], civil action 02-299, memorandum opinion 2005-11-14
On June 29, 2006, in the case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld the United States Supreme Court ruled that the military tribunals were illegal under United States law and the Geneva Conventions.
On July 7, 2006 a memo was issued from The Pentagon directing that all military detainees are entitled to humane treatment and to certain basic legal standards, as required by Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. [1]
British citizenship application
On December 13, 2005, Justice Lawrence Collins of the High Court ruled that then-Home Secretary Charles Clarke had "no power in law" to deprive Mr Hicks of British citizenship "and so he must be registered". The Home Office announced it would take the matter to the Court of Appeal, but Justice Collins denied them a stay of judgement, meaning that the British government must proceed with the application. [Guantanamo detainee to get British citizenship] The Times, 2005-12-13
On March 17, 2006, the Home Office alleged during its appeal case that Hicks had admitted in 2003 to the Security Service (British intelligence agency MI5) that he had undergone extensive terrorist training in Kashmir and Afghanistan. [MI5 spies deal blow to terror suspect Hicks], The Age, 2006-03-18
On April 12, 2006, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court's decision that Hicks was entitled to British citizenship. The Home Office declared it would appeal the matter again, its last option being to submit an appeal to Britain's highest court, the House of Lords, no later than 25 April. [Britain's Court of Appeal backs Hicks in fight for citizenship], Sydney Morning Herald, 2006-04-13 On May 5, however, the Court of Appeal declared that no further appeals would be allowed, and that the Home Office must grant Hicks British citizenship. [Britain loses appeal, must act on Hicks], The Age, 2006-05-07
Hicks' legal team claimed in the High Court on June 14, 2006 that the process of Mr Hicks' registration as a British citizen had been delayed and obstructed by the United States, which had not allowed British consular access to Hicks in order to conduct the oath of allegiance to the Queen and the United Kingdom. [US denies Britain consular access to Hicks], ABC News (Australia), June 15, 2006 His lawyer, Major Mori, as an officer in the United States Marine Corps has the authority to administer oaths and offered to conduct the oath if the British government permitted it. [I'll make Hicks a UK citizen: lawyer], The Age'', June 19, 2006
On 27 June, with Hicks' British citizenship confirmed, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office announced that it would not seek to lobby for his release as it had with the other British detainees. The reason given was that Hicks was an Australian citizen when he was captured and detained, and that he had received Australian consular assistance. [Britain dashes Hicks' hopes], The Age, 27 June 2006.
See also
References
- [Lawyer tips more delays for Hicks], ABC, 12 August 2005
- [The charges against David Hicks], ''The Age, 14 June 2004
External links
U.S. Military
- [Charge Sheets (.pdf)]
- [Commissions Transcripts, Exhibits, and Allied Papers]
- [Presiding Officer Orders]
- [Commission Scheduling]
Campaign sites
- [Fair Go for David] (Seeks to publicise human rights concerns of Hicks' detainment. Collection of media references and commentary.)
- [ForeignPrisoners.com] (Seeks to publicise human rights concerns of detained persons)
- [The President Versus David Hicks] (Website of documentary film about Hicks' case)
Commentary
- [Forget peacetime niceties - this is a war (.pdf)], The Age, August 3 2005 (Argues that traditional justice is not applicable)
- [With Canberra’s loyal support: US to resume Guantánamo trial of David Hicks], World Socialist Web Site, September 30 2005
- [Following US Supreme Court ruling: Australian government demands new "kangaroo court" for David Hicks], World Socialist Web Site, July 72006
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