Hicks charged

After five years in captivity in Guantanamo, Australian David Hicks has finally been charged and will face "trial" before a military tribunal. However, the charge - "providing material support for terrorism" - has never existed in the laws of war. Instead, it was created by the US Military Commissions Act of 2006 and is being applied retrospectively. This is not acceptable under US legal standards, or those of any civilised nation - but the US is able to get away with it because the same law which retroactively created the offence also stripped those charged of any right to challenge any aspect of their trial before the ordinary courts. So, the US will be able to subject Hicks to what is essentially an extralegal process before a kangaroo court, and the justice system which normally protects defendants from this sort of abuse will remain legally blind to it. And the Australian government is colluding in it.

This is fundamentally unjust. As Hick's lawyer, Major Michael Mori, points out, "providing material support for terrorism" is a charge under ordinary US criminal law. The US could, if it wanted to, try Hicks in front of a federal court on this charge. The reason they don't, of course, is because their "evidence" - assembled from hearsay and the screams of torture victims - would not stand up to an instant's scrutiny in a proper court of law.