Former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks is one step closer to having his name cleared after a "significant decision" in the US Appeals court on Monday which overturned a similar conviction.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Hicks, who launched an appeal last year over his conviction for the "invented" crime of providing material support for terrorism, had his case put on hold by the US Military Commission of Review pending the decision in the case of another detainee, Ali Hamza al-Bahlul, who was alleged to have been Osama Bin Laden's personal assistant.
Bahlul has had two of his three convictions set aside by the US Court of Appeals and one of them was the same charge as Mr Hicks - providing material support for terrorism. The court ruled it was not a war crime at the time Mr Bahlul was alleged to have committed the conduct.
Mr Hicks' lawyer, Stephen Kenny from Camatta Lempens, said the overturning of his conviction should now be a purely administrative matter.
"The Military Commission put Mr Hicks' case on hold because it covered the same ground," said Mr Kenny. "We will be now he asking the Military Commission to proceed and apply the Bahlul judgment and overturn Mr Hicks' conviction," he said.
"They should dismiss it without the need for a hearing. It should be a administrative matter. "
Mr Hicks' appeal argued for a summary dismissal of the conviction because the offence was not a war crime at the time Mr Hicks was detained, and his guilty plea was made under duress because of his detention, torture and abuse at Guantanamo.
"A guilty plea induced by the unholy trinity of violence, threats and improper promises cannot be allowed to stand," the appeal document said.
Mr Hicks told Fairfax Media that the Australian Government had been informed of this. "They were wrong to allow me to go through a system they knew was unfair,'' Mr Hicks said. ''Now it is all crumbling around them."
Mr Hicks was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001 and turned over to the US, before being taken to Guantanamo Bay in the first batch of prisoners to be incarcerated there. He was held for five-and-a-half years before being convinced to give an Alford Plea - which is not recognised in Australia - which meant that he did not make any admissions. The plea deal was that he would be convicted in the US of providing material support for terrorism but he would be allowed to return to Australia and serve a seven-month prison sentence.
