USA: LAWYER FOR GUANTANAMO BAY DETAINEE AUSTRALIAN DAVID HICKS QUESTIONS FAIRNESS OF IMPENDING TRIAL BEFORE A U.S. MILITARY TRIBUNAL
Record ID:
190178
USA: LAWYER FOR GUANTANAMO BAY DETAINEE AUSTRALIAN DAVID HICKS QUESTIONS FAIRNESS OF IMPENDING TRIAL BEFORE A U.S. MILITARY TRIBUNAL
- Title: USA: LAWYER FOR GUANTANAMO BAY DETAINEE AUSTRALIAN DAVID HICKS QUESTIONS FAIRNESS OF IMPENDING TRIAL BEFORE A U.S. MILITARY TRIBUNAL
- Date: 10th June 2004
- Summary: (W1) WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (JUNE 10, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. LAWYER FOR DAVID HICKS, MARINE CORP MAJOR MICHAEL MORI WALKS UP TO PODIUM 0.04 2. CAMERA OPERATOR AT PRESS CONFERENCE 0.05 3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARINE CORP MAJOR MICHAEL MORI, LAWYER FOR DAVID HICKS SAYING, "The government just recently announced they're still tweaking the rules and procedures for the Commission. None of the recent changes that have occurred have done anything to fix the fundamental flaws of the Commission process. There is no independent judiciary and there is no independent appeals process. You would find that in any civilized nation's legal system." 0.29 4. TWO MEMBERS OF HICKS' LEGAL TEAM WATCH PRESS CONFERENCE 0.32 5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAJOR MICHAEL MORI SAYING, "Why are the resources being devoted to someone who has never injured any U.S. service member when there are individuals out there who have killed Americans? The main thing I have asked for all along for David Hicks is that he receive a fair trial. It doesn't look like that's going to happen. It appears the U.S. government is going to allow David Hicks to be tried in this unfair process." 0.56 6. REPORTERS AT PRESS CONFERENCE 1.00 7. MORI AT PODIUM 1.01 Initials TIME ON CAPTION READING DURATION 1.58 IS WRONG Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 25th June 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: WASHINGTON, D.C.
- City:
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA6F8NT4G7LSJ4ULFW17VMMDLI1
- Story Text: An Australian man being held by the U.S. at
Guantanamo Bay will face a military tribunal, but his
lawyer questions the fairness of the pending trial.
The United States has brought three criminal
charges against an Australian man held at Guantanamo Bay,
accusing him of conspiracy to commit war crimes, attempted
murder and aiding the enemy, the Pentagon said on Thursday
(June 10, 2004).
David Hicks, captured in Afghanistan in late 2001, will
face trial before a U.S. military tribunal, although no
date has been set, the Pentagon said in a statement.
While the United States holds about 595 non-U.S.
citizens at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
Hicks, 28, became just the third Guantanamo prisoner to be
charged with any crime. Another Australian citizen,
Egyptian-born Mamdouh Habib, is being held there without
charges.
These military tribunals, formally called commissions,
will be the first of their kind for the United States since
World War Two. The Pentagon confirmed earlier statements by
the Australian government that U.S. prosecutors will not
seek the death penalty against Hicks.
Human rights and legal activists have criticized the
United States for holding prisoners in Guantanamo without
charges, while excoriating the rules established for the
military tribunal trials as rigged to yield convictions.
Military lawyers assigned by the Pentagon to defend
Guantanamo prisoners have been among the most critical.
"The government just recently announced they're still
tweaking the rules and procedures for the Commission. None
of the recent changes that have occurred have done anything
to fix the fundamental flaws of the Commission process.
There is no independent judiciary and there is no
independent appeals process. You would find that in any
civilized nation's legal system," said Marine Corps Major
Michael Mori, the military lawyer named to defend Hicks at
a press conference Thursday (June 10, 2004).
"Why are the resources being devoted to someone who has
never injured any U.S. service member when there are
individuals out there who have killed Americans? The main
thing I have asked for all along for David Hicks is that he
receive a fair trial. It doesn't look like that's going to
happen. It appears the U.S. government is going to allow
David Hicks to be tried in this unfair process," Mori said.
The Pentagon statement said "military commission
procedures provide for a full and fair trial," including
the presumption of innocence, a requirement of proof beyond
a reasonable doubt to secure a conviction and an
opportunity to present evidence and call witnesses.
But critics have noted the entire process is controlled
by the Defense Department, including the appointment of the
panel that will hear the case and a review panel to which
any appeal would go. Unlike normal U.S. military courts,
there is no right to appeal to a civilian court in the
military commissions.
Two months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President George
W. Bush authorized military trials of non-U.S. citizens
caught in what he calls the global war on terrorism.
Hicks was held at Guantanamo for more than two years
before being charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes,
attempted murder by an unprivileged belligerent and aiding
the enemy.
The Pentagon said Hicks attended al Qaeda training
camps in Afghanistan and conducted surveillance of the U.S.
and British embassies in Kabul.
Prosecutors said Hicks travelled to Afghanistan in
January 2001 to attend a variety of al Qaeda training camps
after earlier joining a paramilitary organization fighting
for Albanian Muslims in Kosovo and an Islamic extremist
group in Pakistan.
Prosecutors said Hicks met with al Qaeda leaders
including Osama bin Laden and Mohammed Atef, and performed
tasks including translating al Qaeda training materials
from Arabic to English.
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