Australian Taliban's lawyer welcomes US decision

A lawyer for an Australian captured last year in Afghanistan today welcomed a US decision to apply the Geneva Convention to Taliban fighters being held at a naval base in Cuba.

But lawyer Stephen Kenny said it was unclear whether the decision by US President George Bush would apply to David Hicks, who is among more than 180 captives being held at the Guantanamo Bay US base.

Hicks, who was captured in November by US forces, had reportedly trained at an Afghan camp run by Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror network.

His case has drawn comparisons to that of US Taliban suspect John Walker Lindh, though Lindh has been charged and Hicks has not.

‘‘It does give us some hope because at least the people in Guantanamo Bay, certainly those classified as Taliban, now will have some certainty in the future and they will have an understanding of exactly what’s happening to them,’’ Kenny said.

The 1949 Geneva Convention, which is actually a series of treaties, was intended to regulate wars between nations and rebellions or insurgencies within a nation.

Under the convention, a prisoner of war is required only to give name, rank and service number, and may not be further questioned against his will. Unlawful combatants, on the other hand, may be questioned at length so long as they are not tortured or otherwise mistreated.

Bush said yesterday that the treaties apply to Taliban prisoners but not to captured al-Qaida terrorists.

Kenny said Hicks’ family did not believe he was an al-Qaida operative.

‘‘The government has not provided us with any likely charges against him so we really have no idea of what their classification is likely to be,’’ he said. ‘‘If he attended an al-Qaida training camp, I don’t believe that makes him an al-Qaida operative.’’

He said that while it was possible US and Australian officials regard Hicks as an al-Qaida member, ‘‘we have been provided with no access to David Hicks so we don’t know what he says, which is really a critical issue.’’

Australia’s Attorney-General Daryl Williams has described Hicks as a terrorist, and said he was ‘‘extremely dangerous.’’

Hicks’ parents maintain their son is a convert to Islam who was in Afghanistan for religious reasons, but began fighting with the Taliban against the Northern Alliance.