An Australian terror suspect held at GUANTANAMO BAY pleads guilty to helping the Taliban in Afghanistan.
David Hicks pleaded guilty on Monday to giving material support for terrorism, and he becomes one of the first detainees at Gitmo to make a plea. Mr.Hicks' lawyers hope this plea helps Hicks get transferred from Gitmo to a prison in Australia.
According to the charge sheet, Hicks spent weeks trying to join the fight in Afghanistan alongside the Taliban against invading U.S. forces and their Northern Alliance allies, the charge sheet says, but the Taliban's lines collapsed barely two hours after he reached the front. He was armed with grenades and an assault rifle and his menial assignments along the way included guarding a tank.
The count he pleaded guilty to says he intentionally provided support to a terror organization involved in hostilities against the United States. He denied the charge that he supported for preparation, or in carrying out, an act of terrorism.
Mr.Hicks has been held at Gitmo for five years, and was starting to get depressed because he felt that their was no chance that he was going to receive a fair trail.
Mr.Hicks' hearing was the first under the new revised tribunal hearings that defense lawyers and human rights activist still consider to be a flawed system.
"In a narrow sense, David Hicks was not legally coerced today to issue a plea, but he was operating in the background of a highly coercive system that has held him for five years and did little today to restore his faith ... in the legitimacy of the system," said Jennifer Daskal of Human Rights Watch.
At his hearing on Monday, Mr.Hicks requested more lawyers to aid in his defense. Instead of granting this request, the tribunal told Mr.Hicks' civilan defense attorneys to leave the table. This ended up leaving Mr.Hicks with only one lawyer.
If everything goes as plans, Mr.Hicks should be back in Australia by the end of the year to serve any imprisonment term imposed by the Gitmo tribunal.
Read more at Yahoo News
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