Australian guilty of supporting al-Qaida in Afghanistan

AN Australian detainee held for five years at Guantanamo Bay was found guilty yesterday of providing material support for terrorism, marking the first conviction at a US war-crimes trial since World War II.

David Hicks, a 31-year-old Muslim convert, faces a prison sentence of up to seven years under a plea agreement revealed yesterday that also requires Hicks to drop any claims of mistreatment by the US government since he was captured in Afghanistan and taken to Guantanamo Bay, said the judge, Marine Corps Colonel Ralph Kohlmann.

The plea agreement also calls for an unknown portion of the sentence to be suspended.