[NYTr] David Hicks, Former Gitmo Gulag Captive, Freed by Australia

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Radio Havana Cuba
http://www.radiohc.cu/ingles/portada.htm


Australian Guantánamo Prisoner Released

Adelaide, January 1 (RHC)-- An Australian who became the first person
convicted at a U.S. war crimes trial since World War II, left prison
over the weekend, apologetic for "what he's supposed to have done and
what people believe he's done," according to his father.

David Hicks, who was captured fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan
in December 2001, pleaded guilty in March to providing material support
to al-Qaida after more than five years at at the U.S.-run Guantánamo
prison and returned to Australia to serve out his sentence. He was
released in his hometown of Adelaide but will face strict controls on
his movement because he was judged a security risk.

Hick's father, Terry, said that his son was "looking forward to finally
stepping out into the open." He said that David wants to find a job to
fund university courses in environmental studies. The 32-year-old
former kangaroo skinner's long detention at Guantánamo without trial
strained ties between Washington and one of its closest allies in the
wars of aggression against Iraq and Afghanistan.

A U.S. military tribunal sentenced Hicks -- a Muslim convert who has
since renounced the faith -- to seven years in prison in March after he
confessed to aiding al-Qaida during the U.S-led invasion of Afghanistan
in October 2001. Under a plea bargain, Hicks was allowed to serve the
remainder at a maximum security prison in South Australia state. He was
told to remain silent about any alleged abuse he suffered while in
custody. Under the deal, Hicks forfeited any right to appeal his
conviction and agreed not to speak with news media for a year from his
sentencing date.

His case became a cause for rights campaigners in Australia, and a
political nightmare for former Prime Minister John Howard, who was
criticized for letting an Australian spend so long behind bars without
trial. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who defeated Howard in November
elections, was a strong critic of Hicks' treatment and the military
tribunal system that convicted him, saying it could not deliver justice
and that the Guantánamo Bay prison should be closed.