ed316
05-10-2006, 01:53 PM
http://network.news.com.au/images/logos/news_print_logo.gif Transfer deal buoys Hicks
By Mark Dodd and Andrew McGarry
11-05-2006
From: The Australian
GUANTANAMO Bay terror suspect David Hicks could soon be serving a jail sentence in Australia after the signing of a prisoner transfer agreement with the US.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said they had finalised the agreement to cover prisoners sentenced by a US military commission.
Hicks's Australian lawyer, David McLeod, said that hypothetically any sentence would be better off served in Australia, but he stated that Mr Downer had misused his time putting the transfer agreement together rather than ensuring Hicks received a fair trial.
A prisoner exchange treaty already exists.
The new deal was signed in Washington by Australian ambassador Dennis Richardson and the legal adviser to the Appointing Authority Office of Military Commissions, US Brigadier-General Thomas Hemingway.
"Should Mr David Hicks, who is currently facing charges before the military commission, be convicted, the arrangement would provide a means for Mr Hicks to apply to be transferred to serve any penal sentence in Australia in accordance with Australian and US law," the joint ministerial statement said.
"The enforcement of the sentence will be governed by Australian law but must maintain the legal nature and duration of the original sentence." Any transfers would need the approval of both governments and the detainee, and could only be made possible after the final judgment of the military commission.
Mr McLeod said Australia seemed content to allow its citizens to face trial by what he termed an "unfair" military commission.
"The whole issue with David Hicks is becoming a question of how countries value their citizenships," he said. Mr McLeod contrasted Australia's attitude with how he felt the US would respond.
**"I would think they would start bombing Sydney Harbour at dawn, and they would stop only once we released (a US citizen) back to America," he said.
Yesterday, the British high commission cast fresh doubt on Hicks's bid for British citizenship.
A spokeswoman said the Blair Government was taking legal advice on its rights to revoke citizenship if granted to Hicks.
Opposition justice spokesman Joe Ludwig said he was in no doubt the deal signed in Washington was a one-off, face-saving agreement to bring Hicks home to counter growing concern in Australia that the Government had failed to provide assistance to one of its own citizens.
"The evidence for that is in 2002, they (the federal Government) had to amend the legislation to include military tribunals alongside courts," Mr Ludwig said yesterday.
And he questioned whether Mr Ruddock would now have to exercise his discretion to waive the requirement that the offences be recognised under Australian law - a prerequisite for prisoner-exchange treaties. Hicks was captured with Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan in 2001 and has been held for more than four years at Camp X-Ray, the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19094812-421,00.html
** Guess he doesn't know the about US citizens in foreign jails then.
By Mark Dodd and Andrew McGarry
11-05-2006
From: The Australian
GUANTANAMO Bay terror suspect David Hicks could soon be serving a jail sentence in Australia after the signing of a prisoner transfer agreement with the US.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said they had finalised the agreement to cover prisoners sentenced by a US military commission.
Hicks's Australian lawyer, David McLeod, said that hypothetically any sentence would be better off served in Australia, but he stated that Mr Downer had misused his time putting the transfer agreement together rather than ensuring Hicks received a fair trial.
A prisoner exchange treaty already exists.
The new deal was signed in Washington by Australian ambassador Dennis Richardson and the legal adviser to the Appointing Authority Office of Military Commissions, US Brigadier-General Thomas Hemingway.
"Should Mr David Hicks, who is currently facing charges before the military commission, be convicted, the arrangement would provide a means for Mr Hicks to apply to be transferred to serve any penal sentence in Australia in accordance with Australian and US law," the joint ministerial statement said.
"The enforcement of the sentence will be governed by Australian law but must maintain the legal nature and duration of the original sentence." Any transfers would need the approval of both governments and the detainee, and could only be made possible after the final judgment of the military commission.
Mr McLeod said Australia seemed content to allow its citizens to face trial by what he termed an "unfair" military commission.
"The whole issue with David Hicks is becoming a question of how countries value their citizenships," he said. Mr McLeod contrasted Australia's attitude with how he felt the US would respond.
**"I would think they would start bombing Sydney Harbour at dawn, and they would stop only once we released (a US citizen) back to America," he said.
Yesterday, the British high commission cast fresh doubt on Hicks's bid for British citizenship.
A spokeswoman said the Blair Government was taking legal advice on its rights to revoke citizenship if granted to Hicks.
Opposition justice spokesman Joe Ludwig said he was in no doubt the deal signed in Washington was a one-off, face-saving agreement to bring Hicks home to counter growing concern in Australia that the Government had failed to provide assistance to one of its own citizens.
"The evidence for that is in 2002, they (the federal Government) had to amend the legislation to include military tribunals alongside courts," Mr Ludwig said yesterday.
And he questioned whether Mr Ruddock would now have to exercise his discretion to waive the requirement that the offences be recognised under Australian law - a prerequisite for prisoner-exchange treaties. Hicks was captured with Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan in 2001 and has been held for more than four years at Camp X-Ray, the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19094812-421,00.html
** Guess he doesn't know the about US citizens in foreign jails then.