http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2007/s1886199.htm
Hicks to confess association with al-Qaeda PM - Friday, 30 March , 2007 18:21:00 Reporter: Michael Rowland MARK BANNERMAN: In a few hours time at Guantanamo Bay David Hicks will have to tell the world how he aided and abetted the terrorist group al-Qaeda. Hicks will be required to confess to his association with the group as the final stage of the guilty plea he made, in sensational circumstances, earlier this week. What might he say? Well that's hard to know. A gag order means Hicks' lawyers and the prosecutors still can't disclose the extent of the confession or the details of any plea bargain. Tonight's hearing will be the final stage before full sentencing procedures begin over the weekend. Overseeing events on behalf of the US Military is the Chief Prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay, Colonel Moe Davis. He's been speaking to North America Correspondent Michael Rowland. MOE DAVIS: Mr Hicks, as you're aware, on Monday evening entered a plea of guilty. The next step is for the judge to, it's called a providence inquiry, to determine that he's plea has providence. So that will require that he be placed under oath and he'll have to explain to the judge, in some detail, what he did that causes him to believe he's guilty of the charge. MICHAEL ROWLAND: How much detail will he be required to go into? MOE DAVIS: Well it's really up to the judge but I would expect it'll be in fairly, you know, pretty good detail. He's going to have to. there are four elements to the crime. You've seen the charge sheet. There are about 24 factual allegations so I would expect they would walk through that and David Hicks would explain his conduct and why he believes that he's guilty of the offence. MICHAEL ROWLAND: These are allegations such as that he guarded a Taliban tank; that he trained at al-Qaeda training camps. He'll be required to essentially confess to those activities? MOE DAVIS: Well that's one of the. in addition to providing the factual basis he also has to acknowledge that his plea is voluntary and that he recognises that he's giving up certain rights, such as the right to confront the evidence against him. So yes by his plea, in the statements he'll make tomorrow, he'll be giving up the right to confront and challenge those things and will be admitting that, whatever he admits he'll be admitting are the true facts of the case. MICHAEL ROWLAND: Are you confident his plea is a genuine one? As you know his father has essentially said he's pleading guilty simply as a way of getting out of Guantanamo Bay. MOE DAVIS: Yeah and again I would never downplay the hardship on Terry Hicks. I mean I understand that it's got to be traumatic for him. But, you know, he's not here. David Hicks is here and tomorrow he'll be under oath. Major Mori has been very zealous in defending Mr Hicks but I am confident Major Mori is not conspiring with Mr Hicks to come into court tomorrow and commit perjury. What I believe is he's working with him to come in and tell the truth. He's going to raise his hand and swear that he's telling the truth and I have no reason to believe that the statements he'll make are in fact true. MICHAEL ROWLAND: There are reports in Australia that David Hicks might end up with a prison sentence of only one year. Can you comment on that? MOE DAVIS: I really can't. If there are, first off, until we get into court whether, there's a lot of speculation on whether there is an agreement or whether there's not an agreement but it's really not appropriate to comment on that. You know some things can play out in the court of public opinion, others have to play out in a court of law and that would be one of those. MICHAEL ROWLAND: Because you've previously indicated that you'd like a penalty of 20 years or so. MOE DAVIS: Right. Yeah that's what I said early on, again comparing to some other terrorism cases. But as I said his plea of guilty and acceptance of responsibility is a mitigating factory, so we will not be arguing for a 20-year sentence. MICHAEL ROWLAND: Why was David Hicks first off the blocks? You may have heard, David McLeod his Australian lawyer, has said that if David Hicks is the worst of the worsts then the world really hasn't got too much to worry about. Why was Hicks chosen? MOE DAVIS: To be quite honest, you know when the military commissions, the manual for military commissions came out and there was that 120-day time clock and we have one court room, the original 10 cases, the cases that had been charged under the prior process for military commissions, those were the logical cases to start with. They had counsel assigned, the (inaudible) had been provided. You know those cases were more mature and ripe and ready for trial. So he came into a pool of 10 to begin with and for a variety of reasons, the availability of evidence, counsel, just a whole range of issues, we narrowed the 10 down to about four or five and ultimately it just filtered down to three and he was one of the three. MICHAEL ROWLAND: But I suppose the point he's making is that David Hicks is certainly no Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. MOE DAVIS: Yeah I will not argue that point. I certainly wouldn't put him at the top of the pyramid. But again it's not just the grand strategic thinkers, it's the tactical foot soldiers that are also accountable for their conduct. MARK BANNERMAN: US Military Chief Prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay, Colonel Moe Davis. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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