Australian Pleads Guilty to Terror at Guantanamo

By ED HARRIS

AN Australian terror suspect has pleaded guilty at an American military commission in Guantanamo Bay.

David Hicks, 31, is the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to admit terrorism-related charges. at the US Navy base.

He pleaded guilty to a warcrime charge of providing material support to terrorism.

The detainee, who has spent more than five years imprisoned in Guantanamo, is expected to serve a prison sentence in Australia. He was accused of supporting al Qaeda in Afghanistan and could be sentenced by the end of the week, military officials said.

Defence lawyers said a gagging order by the military judge prevented them from discussing details of the plea until a sentence is announced.

“If I was a betting man, I’d say the odds are good that Hicks will be home by the end of the year,” Air Force Colonel Morris Davis, chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo tribunals, said after Hicks entered his plea.

America has agreed to let Hicks serve any sentence he receives in Australia.

Hicks’s military attorney, Marine Corps Major Michael Mori, told the judge, Marine Colonel Ralph Kohlmann, that his client was pleading guilty to one of two counts of providing material support for terrorism and not guilty to the other.

Asked by Judge Ralph Kohlmann if this was correct, the heavyset Hicks, clad in a khaki prison jumpsuit, said solemnly: “Yes, sir.”

The charge Hicks denied was of supporting the preparation for an act of terrorism or of carrying out an act of terrorism.

Hicks was arrested by the US- backed Northern Alliance in Afghanistan in December 2001 for allegedly fighting with the Taliban against US-led forces.

But Australian senator Bob Brown, leader of the minor opposition Greens party, said Hicks made the plea so he could get out of Guantanamo Bay, and that his guilt remains in doubt.

(c) 2007 Evening Standard; London (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.