Australian terror suspect faces new-style Guantanamo trial

A former kangaroo skinner is today expected to get a chance to contest allegations that he took up arms against the United States in the chaotic aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

After a nomadic decade that carried him from the Australian outback to the battlefields of Afghanistan, David Hicks ended up locked away at the remote Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, accused of training with al Qaida and fighting for the Taliban.

Hicks is scheduled to be arraigned today on a charge of providing material support for terrorism.

He is the first Guantanamo detainee charged under new rules for military trials, or commissions, adopted after the Supreme Court cast aside the previous system in June.

Lawyers for Hicks, 31, say he plans to plead not guilty.

One of his lawyers, Joshua Dratel, dismissed as US “mythology” that the Australian was a terrorist who threatened the United States or its allies.

The US military had originally charged Hicks with attempted murder, aiding the enemy and conspiracy to attack civilians, commit terrorism and destroy property.

But those charges were dropped, suggesting that even the United States no longer considered Hicks to be a significant catch in its global war on terror.

“His support for the al Qaida organisation is what we intend to prove,” said Air Force Col. Morris Davis, the chief prosecutor for the tribunals. Davis said prosecutors and defence lawyers ha been discussing a possible plea deal since January, but had not reached an agreement.

Military charging documents depict Hicks as somewhat of a hapless holy warrior. A high school dropout, he converted to Islam in 1999 after returning from Kosovo, where he fought on behalf of Muslim Albanians seeking independence from Serbia.

Armed with grenades and an assault rifle, Hicks spent weeks trying to join the fight in Afghanistan following the 2001 US invasion but apparently failed to win the confidence of his al Qaida associates, according to the documents.

The charge against Hicks carries a maximum sentence of life-time imprisonment, but US and Australian officials said he may be able to serve his time in Australia.

Officials have said they plan to charge 60 to 80 of the detainees at Guantanamo, where the United States now holds about 385 men on suspicion of links to al Qaida or the Taliban.