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Aussie Torture Victim pleads ‘Guilty’
by finch Monday, Mar 26 2007, 12:14pm
international / injustice/law / commentary

In circumstances that could only be described as ‘railroading’ and coercive, the Aussie battler, David Hicks has pleaded guilty to one count of providing material support to terrorists. Few Australians, including leading legal advocates accept the ‘trial’ of Hicks as legally legitimate. The flagrantly rogue court convened under the most biased and unfair conditions also disqualified Hicks’ civilian lawyers at the last minute. Hicks’ (now) disqualified lawyers accused the presiding judge, Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Kohlmann of making up the rules as he went along – there is nothing new in the ‘legal’ proceedings at Guantanamo Bay!

Hicks suffered the Camp X-Ray torture centre -- now closed

The world has become all too familiar with the criminal nation the USA has become. It is a sad day for Justice when Mafia tactics are accepted as legal proceedings. Nevertheless, let it be recorded that Australians (and people of conscience throughout the world) who respect due process, the Geneva Convention and International Law, protest the illegal ‘trial’ of the Australian citizen, David Hicks and condemn the Howard government for its clear dereliction of duty to citizens suffering torture and injustices at the hands of foreign powers. [The Howard government will no doubt pay dearly for its negligence at the next Australian Federal election.]

The Hicks issue is far from over. In historical terms it has barely begun. Much to the chagrin of the present Howard government it will no doubt become a watershed event in Australian history – a time of national shame and a time of personal triumph. Hicks displays all the classic characteristics of what it is to be an Australian fighting against the odds while the Howard government continues to play sycophant and servile lackey to a foreign power.

The Hicks case has become an albatross for the USA and Australia – it is a propaganda nightmare for both criminal governments. Compare the character of Howard, Downer and Ruddock with Hicks and realise that it is entirely inappropriate for cowards to the lead the Australian nation. Australians everywhere will soon have the opportunity -- at the ballot box -- to express their disgust over the treatment of Hicks and the lack of strong national leadership. Never again should a nation with a proud and unique history allow cowards and lackeys to assume leadership positions in government.

A despotic and criminal nation (USA) that displays nothing but contempt for international law and convention is clearly unable to deliver justice, as the Hicks case is proving to the WORLD. Whatever decisions Hicks makes in the circumstances; he neither disgraces himself or his nation.

The only thing Hicks is clearly guilty of at present is being a VICTIM of torture.

A tribute to Hicks from a previous post: