SA: Hicks likely to be charged with conspiracy

AAP General News (Australia)
12-18-2003
SA: Hicks likely to be charged with conspiracy

ADELAIDE, Dec 18 AAP - Australian terrorist suspect David Hicks was likely to be charged
by the US with conspiracy but Saddam Hussein would receive a fairer hearing, Hicks' lawyer
said today.

Stephen Kenny has for the first time met with Hicks, who has been held in the US base
at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for two years without charge after being arrested in December
2001 while fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan.

He is the first defence lawyer given access to any of the 660 detainees held at Guantanamo
Bay, which he described as a physical and moral black hole.

While the US had imposed restrictions on what he could say about his meetings with
Hicks, Mr Kenny said the Adelaide man was likely to be charged with conspiring with others
to carry out terrorist actions.

"I have some limitations on what I can and cannot say but I think I can say the charge
will be some form of conspiracy charge," Mr Kenny told reporters in New York.

Hicks is due to face a US military tribunal, a system criticised by many lawyers as
unfair and lacking the protections afforded in civil courts.

"It appears to me Saddam Hussein is going to be afforded a fairer system of justice
than what David Hicks will receive," Mr Kenny said.

He said he could reveal few facts about the case, but his client was "not a killer"

and had "not killed or injured any civilians or any US or Australian military personnel".

"In the past there have been media reports saying David Hicks has threatened to kill
an American citizen, that he slipped his hands out of his handcuffs. Those things are
untrue," Mr Kenny said.

Hicks' father Terry suggested the US government might be moving to charge his son as
it could otherwise be embarrassed by not having laid charges against any terrorism suspects
in Guantanamo Bay.

"It has taken so long to maybe charge him on a very minor thing," Terry Hicks said in Adelaide.

"Is it just because it's an embarrassment to both sides, so they said let's charge
him with spitting on the sidewalk?

"Elections are coming up on both sides, (US President George W) Bush's is coming up as well.

"It's been two years, it should not have taken that long ... what's going on?"

Mr Kenny said the next step would be to ask US authorities for all of the evidence
they had against David, then discuss it with him, possibly with a view to negotiating
a plea bargain.

"I think from there we'll go into some discussions with the American prosecuting authorities
to see if some arrangement can be reached," he said.

"If it can, well and good, if not he may or may not come before a military commission
sometime in the future."

Mr Kenny said he initially approached Hicks with the words: "G'day, mate" and presented
him with Haigh chocolates from Adelaide and a jar of Vegemite.

"If I remember correctly I think I said to him G'day, mate and he looked at me and
said Steve Kenny? and I went Yes," he said.

"We took him some chocolate, a small jar ... of Vegemite, I think he appreciated that," he said.

"It caused some amusement amongst, I can say, Americans, that we would bring such a product."

He said he found Hicks to be in reasonable spirits, despite his depressing circumstances.

"After having been there, it is a physical and a moral black hole," he said.

Hicks had, however, given credit to his guards for treating him decently and humanely,
within the limits set for them.

"He has not been ill-treated since his arrival in Guantanamo Bay, if you ignore the
isolation, his lack of access to the outside world and his denial of his basic human rights,"

he said.

AAP scl/sl/cbs/br

KEYWORD: HICKS NIGHTLEAD

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