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US Court Overturns Conviction of Former Guantanamo Inmate

Al-Akhbar | February 19, 2015

Former Australian Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks expressed relief on Thursday after a US court quashed his terrorism conviction, and demanded Canberra pay his medical bills as he struggles to overcome the effects of alleged torture.

Hicks was held in the notorious US-run prison from January 2002 until May 2007, when he pleaded guilty to providing material support to al-Qaeda.

The plea bargain suspended all but nine months of his seven-year sentence and allowed him to return home. He has since recanted his confession, claiming he only admitted guilt under duress.

Hicks said he was beaten, sexually abused and drugged while in jail.

Three appeals court judges unanimously overturned his conviction, ruling that material support for terrorism was not a war crime and could not be tried by a military court.

“We had been waiting for this decision for years. It is a relief because it is over,” Hicks said in Sydney.

“I am sure no one is surprised by today’s long-awaited acknowledgement by the government of the United States of America of my innocence. Even the Australian government has admitted that I committed no crime.

“It is just unfortunate that because of politics, I was subjected to five-and-a-half years of physical and psychological torture that I will now live with always.”

Hicks was arrested in 2001 in Afghanistan and accused of fighting alongside the Taliban against US-led forces which had invaded the country following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US.

He admitted to taking part in paramilitary training in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as conflicts in Kosovo and Kashmir but maintained he never had extremist intentions.

The Australian government was accused of not doing enough to help him while in Guantanamo, but Hicks said he was “too defeated” to pursue an official apology.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the government “did what was needed” and ruled out any apology.

“Look, I’m not in the business of apologizing for the actions that Australian governments take to protect our country. Not now, not ever,” he said.

His stance was echoed by John Howard, Australia’s prime minister while Hicks was in jail.

“Nothing alters the fact that by his own admission, Hicks trained with al-Qaeda, met Osama bin Laden on several occasions — describing him as a brother. He reveled in jihad,” Howard said.

“He is not owed an apology by any Australian government.”

Still suffering from the effects of torture

Hicks said he would not be chasing compensation but called on Canberra to pay his medical bills brought on by ongoing dental, back, knee and elbow issues stemming from his time in jail.

“I am in a lot of trouble physically at the moment. It is affecting my ability to do any day job which is my only income,” he said.

“I do think that someone should be responsible for my medical expenses,” Hicks added. “The Australian government, they were aware of the conditions I was being held in at the time. They should at least pay my medical expenses. That is not much to ask for, I don’t think.”

Hicks directly blamed his medical problems on his treatment in Guantanamo Bay.

“It is due to the torture. Being kept in freezing conditions, small rooms for years. Not being able to move or exercise,” he said.

“The body deteriorates over five-and-a-half years, even without the added torture, such as stress positions, being beaten.”

Lawyer Wells Dixon, who argued the appeal in the United States, said the decision demonstrated the failure of the military commissions, used at Guantanamo to try terror suspects outside the normal US court system.

“This decision is an illustration of what happens when you make up a secondary system of justice,” said Dixon, who works at the Center for Constitutional Rights which defends Guantanamo detainees.

Since their creation in 2006, six people have pleaded guilty and been sentenced by Guantanamo courts. The sentencing of three of them was reversed while three more are on appeal.

At least 122 detainees remain in Guantanamo. Fifty-four of those, including 47 Yemenis, have been approved for resettlement, while the rest are considered “too dangerous” to release.

The prison was set up to hold alleged “terror suspects” after the 9/11 attacks, but human rights groups have condemned the jail as a “legal black hole,” where inmates languish for years without being tried in court.

The pace of transfers from the US-run detention center at Guantanamo has picked up in recent months as US President Barack Obama attempts to fulfill a promise he made nearly six years ago when he took office to shut the prison, despite opposition from some lawmakers.

Obama’s envoy overseeing the release of Guantanamo inmates, Cliff Sloan, resigned in December after reportedly becoming frustrated at how long it took the Pentagon to approve transfers of detainees.

The US has been under scrutiny for years over the unethical treatment of detainees at Guantanamo, particularly for its interrogation methods.

Prisoners have reported a wide range of extreme human rights abuses from prison authorities, including brutal physical assault with torture tools, being kept in isolation for years at a time, and sleep and sensory deprivation.

More than 160 Guantanamo detainees are believed to have participated in a wave of hunger strikes in 2013 in protest of their ongoing imprisonment and the conditions they’re subjected to while being jailed indefinitely.

Pre-trial hearings of the alleged co-conspirators of the 9/11 attacks faced new delays last week after two of the five defendants identified a court interpreter as having worked in one of the United States’ notorious CIA prisons where they had been interrogated and tortured.

“I ask you to stop until we can go to the bottom of this,” lawyer David Nevin said on Wednesday.

Nevin, who represents alleged 9/11 mastermind Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, said the government has acknowledged the interpreter was a CIA employee.

The defense claims to have documented numerous cases of the government meddling in the legal process, possibly violating the defendants’ rights to a fair trial.

Microphones have been concealed in smoke detectors, and an FBI agent has infiltrated defense teams, the lawyers claimed.

(AFP, Al-Akhbar)

February 19, 2015 - Posted by aletho | Civil Liberties, Deception | Guantanamo, Human rights, United States