More evidence needed for Hicks to go home

Australian Guantanamo detainee David Hicks has pleaded guilty to a war-crime charge but must still provide an account of his activities with al-Qaida to seal an agreement to send him home.

A judge presiding over new military tribunals at the US Naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will decide whether the details of the confession are enough to convict Hicks of providing material support for terrorism at a hearing expected tomorrow.

The session is meant to formalise a plea agreement, but critics said anything could be expected following a tumultuous hearing on Monday where the judge disqualified two of Hicks’ three defence lawyers before his surprise guilty plea.

“Nobody knows how these things are supposed to happen, which is why they should be held in US federal courts with accountability,” said Jennifer Daskal of Human Rights Watch.

Hicks, a 31-year-old Muslim convert, received al-Qaida training and was captured in Afghanistan shortly after the September 11 attacks.

He was among the first prisoners taken to the US military prison at Guantanamo in January 2002.

The former kangaroo skinner is the first detainee to appear before reconstituted tribunals.