Terrorist David Hicks - I'll behave

TERRORIST David Hicks has promised to obey the law and wants to be reunited with his children when he returns to Australia after striking a plea deal today to bring him home by Christmas.

The Australian's father, Terry Hicks, revealed his son's pledge this afternoon after he dramatically pleaded guilty to a charge of supporting terrorism during a courtroom hearing at Guantanamo Bay.

The decision by the Aussie Taliban should see him back in Australia by the end of the year, the US military's chief Guantanamo Bay prosecutor said.

The admission was part of a plea bargain deal to win his release from custody, five years after he was captured fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan.

"Someone asked me a long time ago if it was possible if he would be home before the end of the year and if I was a betting man I'd say the odds are pretty good," Colonel Morris Davis said.

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Terry Hicks said his son was promising to be a law-abiding citizen at home and was aware that Australian authorities feared he would become a domestic trouble-maker.

"He knows that John Howard and the government are frightened that when he gets back that he'll do something," his father said.

"What the hell? "He did nothing in Afghanistan."

 

Hicks'  father said his son's biggest desire was to return home and to see his kids and family. David Hicks is estranged from his former partner, Adelaide-based Jodie Sparrow, with whom he has two children, a 14-year-old daughter Bonnie, and a 12-year-old son Terry.

"He just wants to try and get back to Australia, see his kids and have a normal life," Terry Hicks said.

 

Hicks today entered a guilty plea to providing material support for terrorism after earlier refusing to enter a plea.

Davis and Hicks's legal team were tight-lipped about the sentence Hicks may be given, saying they were under an order not to reveal the details of the potential sentence.

US prosecutors had earlier hinted Hicks faced a 20-year sentence.

But Hicks is now expected to receive a lesser sentence in return for pleading guilty, and could serve any sentence in an Australian jail under a prisoner exchange agreement.

Hicks's Australian lawyer David McLeod said Hicks could be sentenced by the end of the week.

"We expect that this matter may be completed by the end of the week," McLeod said.

 The guilty plea was a surprise after the hearing had apparently ended this morning, when Hicks chose to defer entering a plea to a charge of supporting terrorism.

Colonel Ralph Kohlmann called summon the parties back into the hearing at Guantanmo Bay at 8pm local time - 10am Sydney time.

Hicks changed his mind when recalled and announced his plea during the rapidly-reconvened hearing.

Hicks answered "Yes, sir," when the judge, Marine Colonel Ralph Kohlmann, asked if guilty was in fact his plea.

The judge ordered the prosecutors and defence lawyers to draw up a plea agreement by 6am AEST tomorrow, which was expected to spell out what sentence he would serve.

The maximum penalty for the offence is life.

Earlier foreign Minister Alexander Downer indicated that when Hicks is finally released from prison in Australia, security agencies are likely to keep a watchful eye on him.

"Given what our agencies believe they know about Hicks' background, they will obviously have an interest in him but that's all very hypothetical at this stage,'' he told Sky News.

Hicks' day in court came more than five years since he was captured in Afghanistan, under tight security.

The 31-year-old is the first "war on terror" detainee at the US-run prison to be tried under a new law that revived the tribunals after the US Supreme Court threw out the previous system created by an order from President George W Bush.

He arrived in the chamber dressed in khaki prison garb with chest-length hair but clean-shaven, escorted by two uniformed, unarmed soldiers. He was not wearing handcuffs or shackles.

He chose at first to defer his plea to a charge of lending "material support to terrorism" to a later, undetermined date before the bombshell development late this morning.

But what was supposed to be a routine procedural hearing turned into a tense confrontation when the military judge, Colonel Kohlmann, disqualified two civilian lawyers on the defence team.

The judge said US lawyer Joshua Dratel could only represent Hicks in the tribunal if he signed an agreement setting out the rules governing how the defence counsel could operate.

Dratel refused, saying: "I can't sign a document that provides a blank cheque that draws on my ethical obligations as a lawyer."

Dratel said the tribunal system was making up rules as it went along, comparing it to the previous military commissions that were ruled illegal by the US Supreme Court in June.

"These are the same problems that plagued the last commissions, that everything is ad-hoc," Dratel said.

A second civilian lawyer, Rebecca Snyder, was told by the judge she would have to step aside, at least for the moment, until she changed her reserve status in the military.

"I'm shocked because I just lost another lawyer," Hicks told the judge.

"I'm hoping to have more lawyers and paralegals to get equality with the prosecution.''

A former horse trainer in the Australian outback and kangaroo skinner, Hicks allegedly underwent training at an al-Qaeda camp in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan and volunteered to fight alongside Taliban forces during the US-led invasion.

The charge sheet does not allege Hicks fired on US troops or attacked a US target, but says he conducted surveillance on the abandoned US embassy in Kabul and met Osama bin Laden as well as accused "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.

Previous charges of attempted murder, conspiracy and aiding the enemy have been dropped, with defence lawyers saying the move shows US authorities have a weak case.

On the eve of the hearing, one of his lawyers said Hicks was considering a possible plea deal but declined to offer more details.

His time in detention, often in virtual isolation, has taken a toll, said his Australian lawyer David McLeod.

"Today he had dark, sunken eyes and he looked very tired," said McLeod, after meeting with Hicks for more than three hours.

Hicks had been approaching today's hearing with "some degree of trepidation", he added.

Today's hearing was watched by Hicks' father Terry and sister Stephanie, following a scheduled hour-long visit with Hicks before proceedings began.

Hicks, who sported a military-style haircut in photos from his younger days, has grown his hair long so he could shield his eyes at night to block out light in his cell and allow him to sleep.

He has alleged he was beaten during interrogations in Afghanistan and on US naval ships before he was taken to Guantanamo in 2002.

Much speculation has centred on how Hicks would "perform" in the dock - how he would look, sound and act.

Although clean-shaven, he apparently refused to cut his hair - which his lawyers say he has grown to keep out the light when trying to sleep.

It had been suggested before the hearing that looking scruffy could affect the case.

Witnesses said he spoke relatively little, with an accent that veered between Australian and Middle Eastern - "as if he had picked up the accent of his fellow captives" added one reporter.

Although speaking in English he stumbled over a few words - and told the bench that if they did not understand him it might be because of his "Australian English".

The Hicks case has become a political headache for the Australian government, which has been accused of failing to intervene forcefully to win the release of one of its citizens.

Following lobbying by Australian officials, the US government has promised that if convicted, Hicks can serve his sentence in an Australian prison.

Hicks, from Adelaide, is accused of lending "material support to terrorism".

Previous charges of attempted murder, conspiracy and aiding the enemy have been dropped.

Hicks' defence lawyers say the move shows US authorities have a weak case against their client.

As the arraignment got under way at 2.11pm local time (0411 AEST) today, Hicks said in the courtroom that he needed more lawyers to defend himself against the charge.

No cameras were allowed inside the tribunal chamber as military judge Colonel Ralph Kohlmann convened the hearing.

Yesterday his lawyer David McLeod revealed that the terror suspect believes that if he is the "worst of the worst", the world does not have much to worry about.

"He says if he's the worst of the worst and the person who should be put before a military commission first then the world really hasn't got much to worry about,'' Mr McLeod said.

Hicks, originally from Adelaide, has been held in captivity at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for five years accused of training at the highest levels with al-Qaeda.

He was captured fighting for the Taliban after the US invasion of Afghanistan.

He was due to appear before the commission at 3am today but the hearing was delayed by an hour.

"He's had a pretty rough trot over three to five years,'' Mr McLeod said.

Cryptic comments by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer suggested plea bargaining could be under way.

"Plea bargains are a matter for the prosecution and defence and the convening authority. They are not for me to talk about publicly,'' he said.

Hicks, who has grown his hair past his shoulders so he can put it across his eyes to shield them from the light at night, was shackled to the floor during yesterday's meeting with his lawyers.

Mr McLeod and Hicks' father Terry Hicks have again attacked the US military commission system as unfair.

Hicks was anxious about seeing his father and sister Stephanie, and nervous about how his time in captivity was impacting on them.

He was due to meet them in a secure room on the naval base before and after the hearing.

Before the meeting, Terry Hicks said his son was not going to be the same person and would have "to brace ourselves for that''.

"We are not sure what questions we are going to ask at this point because things change,'' he said.

"We don't know how David is going to be like, how his mental condition is or how his physical condition is. So we are probably going to be aware that he's changed and we'll just take it from there.''

The US military's chief prosecutor Colonel Morris Davis said the prosecution intended to prove Hicks had provided support for al-Qaeda.

Colonel Davis said Hicks "went to al-Qaeda training to learn how to perfect his skills''.

 "After 9/11 he travelled back to Afghanistan and reported in to a senior al-Qaeda commander and in essence said, 'David Hicks reporting for duty','' he said.

"He was issued a weapon. He was issued hand grenades. He was sent out to guard a tank, I think at Kandahar airport and there wasn't much action there. He wanted more excitement so he went to Konduz and then to the frontlines,'' he said.

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