Fed: Hicks will not face death penalty - US ambassador

AAP General News (Australia)
08-28-2006
Fed: Hicks will not face death penalty - US ambassador

CANBERRA, Aug 28 AAP - Australian terrorist suspect David Hicks definitely will not
face the death penalty if found guilty by a US military commission, new US Ambassador
Robert McCallum says.

But Mr McCallum said Hicks, who has been in US custody for four-and-a-half years, could
expect a long wait until his hearing.

Mr McCallum, who took up his Australian posting last week, said the US Congress would
decide sometime after September how to proceed with the military commission process following
a court ruling that the set-up was unlawful.

"The rule of law, international established law, the law of war, allows the detention
of enemy combatants during the course of the hostilities. There is still a war on terror,"

Mr McCallum told reporters.

Hicks, 31, has been in US custody in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since January 2002, a month
after he was captured fighting among Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

He was to have been tried by a military commission, but the US Supreme Court has ruled
the commissions unlawful, forcing the US Administration to revamp the process.

Hicks' military lawyer US Major Michael Mori raised concerns at the weekend that new
process would allow the presiding military officer to order capital punishment.

Mr McCallum said Hicks would have the same protection from capital punishment under
a new commission process that he had under the previous process.

"He will not face the death penalty," Mr McCallum said.

"Attorney-General (Philip) Ruddock has been in conversation on a number of occasions
with United States Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales and there have been certain assurances
given to the attorney-general and to Prime Minister (John) Howard about the death penalty.

"He will not face the death penalty in the military commission proceedings that he faces."

The Adelaide-born Muslim convert is accused of having trained with Osama bin Laden's
al-Qaeda terror network and has been charged by US authorities with aiding the enemy,
attempted murder and conspiracy.

Mr McCallum said Hicks would remain detained until Congress decided how to proceed.

"That is the rule of law under the architecture that exists for military commissions
trying war criminals, or alleged war criminals," he said.

"And it is not at all unusual or unprecedented for such individuals to be detained
pending the military commission outcome.

"There is no dispute that Mr Hicks was detained and captured in Afghanistan. So I don't
think there is any dispute about him being an enemy combatant in that sense."

The US has released all British detainees being held in Guantanamo Bay following representations
from the British government.

Hicks is reported to have been stripped of British citizenship immediately after the
High Court in London ruled he was entitled to it.

AAP mfh/jt/bwl

KEYWORD: HICKS MCCALLUM (PIX AVAILABLE)

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