|
HUMAN RIGHTS FOR EACH PERSON REGARDLESS OF AGE, RACE, RELIGION OR POLITICS
|
|
|
|
|
|
LATEST NEWS
|
|
Hicks walks free from jail
|
Jamie Walker - December 29, 2007
DAVID Hicks has walked free from an Adelaide prison, vowing he would not let down those who campaigned for his release.
The convicted terrorism supporter, looking chubby but otherwise healthy, had an emotional reunion with his father Terry, before emerging from Yatala Labour Prison just after 8:20am local time.
He was driven from the maximum security jail under police escort seated in the car beside Mr Hicks' former wife, Bronwyn Mewett.
His lawyer, David McLeod, read a statement on Hicks' behalf in which he apologised for not being "strong enough" to speak publically.
"I will not forget, or let you down," Hicks said in his statement
Hicks said he owed the Australian public a debt of gratitude for having him returned home from the US military's Guantanamo Bay detention centre last year.
The 32-year-old Adelaide man was held there for more than five years after he was captured in a Afghanistan in 2001 while serving with the Taliban and al-Qa'ida-backed fighters.
Hicks said he was looking forward to spending some quiet time with his father, other family members and friends.
"I ask you to respect my privacy as I will need time to readjust to society and to obtain medical care for the consequences of five-and-a-half years at Guantanamo Bay," he said in his statement.
"I have been told that my readjustment will be a slow process and should involve a gentle transition away from the media spotlight."
Hicks was taken to an undisclosed location where he will stay with friends for the coming days.
Under the ternms of the interim control order governing his post-release movement he is required to report to police by tomorrow.
Terry Hicks said that his son hadn't fully comprehended that he was at last free.
Describing their meeting this morning, Mr Hicks said: "He just walked in and said 'good morning'."
Mr Hicks said his son was much more mature than he had been when he joined the Taliban but had "done his time" and deserved the opportunity to get on with his life.
David Hicks Case Information
|
|
Control order easy after Guantanamo, says lawyer
|
Ian Munro -
December 29, 2007
Major Michael Mori: "The real challenge will be the media hounding him."
Photo: Justin Mcmanus
|
A CONTROL order is unlikely to worry David Hicks after surviving the rigours of Guantanamo Bay, according to his former military lawyer, Major Michael Mori.
Major Mori, who is to be sent to Iraq's Anbar province soon as part of a US Marines contingent, would not comment on whether his former client was a serious terrorist or merely a misguided adventurer.
"I am just very happy that for David, this is over, and he will get the opportunity to get on with his life," he said.
Major Mori's spirited defence of Hicks, which included attacks on the US military commissions process, drew fire from the defence establishment.
In his days as the terror suspect's defence lawyer, Major Mori insisted that Hicks was not a danger to anyone, but now he refuses to give a personal assessment of the man, saying he is restricted in what he can say since he no longer represents the man who once was known publicly as "the Australian Taliban".
But he said that compared with Guantanamo Bay, complying with a control order would not be a challenge for him.
"The real challenge will be the media hounding him."
David Hicks Case Information
|
|
Claims against Hicks not proven - father
|
December 29, 2007 -
Article from: AAP
TERRORISM-related accusations against David Hicks were not proven, his father said today.
Terry Hicks intimated his son pleaded guilty to a charge of providing material support for terrorism just to be released from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"David has done five and a half years pretty tough and I think he has done his time for whatever - nothing has been proved of what he was supposed to have done," Mr Hicks told reporters outside Yatala jail today.
"So he has done his time and it's time for him now to settle down."
Hicks, 32, was today freed from custody for the first time since his capture among Taliban forces in Afghanistan in December 2001.
The father of two was released from a maximum security Adelaide jail, where he served the remainder of his sentence under a plea deal struck with US prosecutors.
After being detained at Guantanamo Bay for five and a half years, Hicks pleaded guilty to providing material support for terrorism at a US military commission hearing in March this year.
He was sentenced to seven years jail but, under the plea deal, all but nine months was suspended and he was returned to Australia.
Terry Hicks today described the Yatala jail as a "five star hotel" compared with Guantanamo Bay.
He said he always believed his son would be freed.
"Eventually it had to come, you can't be locked up forever and a day, particularly in David's circumstances," Mr Hicks said.
"There had to be a time when he would have had to be released, it has just taken a long time."
Asked if he was worried about the next few weeks as his son tried to assimilate into society again, Mr Hicks said: "I am ... I think the best option for David at this point of time is to be left alone and get on with his life."
Mr Hicks said he realised his son was not liked by some Australians.
"You have got to be honest about this, there will be people out there that don't like David Hicks," he said.
"I'm hoping that is far as it goes, that they just don't like him and leave it at that.
"I suppose it's justified in those people's minds, if that is the way they want to think - a lot of these people are going by hearsay, they don't want to sit down and look at the facts and figures.
"But as I say, if everybody was exactly the same, what a boring world."
David Hicks Case Information
| |
CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE NEWS PAGE
|
|
|
FREEDOM IS A RIGHT OF ALL HUMAN BEINGS IN A WORLD WHERE LIFE IS VALUED AND PEACE MAY FINALLY BE A POSSIBILITY
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Just in case you forgot - read the Universal declaration of Human Rights
| |
|
