Hicks trial soon, says Ruddock

THE final regulations that will put in place the US military commission that will try Austraia terror suspect David Hicks were due this month, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said today.

Hicks was expected to be tried shortly after that.

Australia was pressing the US to bring Hicks to trial as soon as possible and it expected charges against him to be laid soon.

Adelaide-born Hicks has been detained by US authorities at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for five years without charge.

Mr Ruddock said US President George W. Bush had told Prime Minister John Howard that Hicks would be one of the first Guantanamo Bay detainees to face trial.

Mr Ruddock said his US counterpart, Alberto Gonzales, said the final regulations that would put the US military commission in place were due this month.

"That is expected by the 17th of January and what the US Attorney has said to me is that he expected charges to be laid against Hicks as soon after as possible," Mr Ruddock said.

"We will continue to monitor their performance in relation to the assurances they have given to us."
Mr Ruddock said comments by the director of military prosecutions at the new Australian Military Court criticising the delay surrounding Hicks' trial echoed the Government's view.

Brigadier Lyn McDade described the treatment of Hicks as "abominable", The Sydney Morning Herald reported today.

Brig. McDade said Hicks' detention without charge for five years was unacceptable.

"Quite frankly I think it's wrong," she said.

"I don't care what he's done or alleged to have done. I think he's entitled to a trial and a fair one and he's entitled to be charged and dealt with as quickly as is possible."

Mr Ruddock said the fact that a trial had not yet occurred was frustrating and the Government had been arguing very strongly with the US that it needed to be resolved quickly.

"We believe the delay is very unreasonable and inappropriate and that's why we've been arguing that it needs to be dealt with as quickly as possible," Mr Ruddock said.

The 31-year-old Muslim convert, who was captured with Taliban forces in Afghanistan in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US, previously pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, attempted murder and aiding the enemy.

But the charges were dropped after a US Supreme Court ruling in June, declaring illegal the military tribunals set up to try Hicks and other Guantanamo Bay inmates.

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