It has just been reported that David Hicks has pleaded guilty. See the report in the SMH here. No doubt a sigh of relief can be heard from Canberra all the way up to Washington. But the question which must be asked is whether he has brought his own free will to the decision. After 5 years in the hell-hole of Gitmo and having been physically and mentally "battered" and tortured who wouldn't jump at the chance of getting out of Gitmo? - whether pleading guilty or not!
The Executive Director of GetUp, writing in Crikey on Hicks' guilty plea says:
"After the legal drama in his initial hearing today, David Hicks surely would have reflected on the fact that years after his initial plea of innocence, he was still locked in a cell 1.8m². Any normal Australian, facing a system weighted so heavily against them and broken by five years of unimaginable privation, is likely to have signed a document that would get them out of Guantanamo – regardless of their guilt or innocence.
David Hicks’ guilty plea is not justice served, nor does it necessarily reflect Hicks’ guilt – it is simply further evidence of a rank system, and Australians can smell it from afar.
Almost every eminent jurist and legal body in the country has condemned a tribunal that has more in common with a circus than justice. Australian and international jurists agree this system was designed to guarantee convictions. It should come as no surprise, then, that it has. It reflects a system that is no more than justice on the make – offending basic legal principles of independence and impartiality".
On another level, that appalling A-G Ruddock said yesterday [seriously!] on the ABC radio program PM that the delay in Hicks coming to trial would "benefit" him because with the passage of time the recollection of prosecution witnesses would have been diminished. There you go.....David Hicks has been advantaged by what has happened to him! Ruddock deserves to be sacked from his position as Attorney-General. He isn't worthy of the office.
The Executive Director of GetUp, writing in Crikey on Hicks' guilty plea says:
"After the legal drama in his initial hearing today, David Hicks surely would have reflected on the fact that years after his initial plea of innocence, he was still locked in a cell 1.8m². Any normal Australian, facing a system weighted so heavily against them and broken by five years of unimaginable privation, is likely to have signed a document that would get them out of Guantanamo – regardless of their guilt or innocence.
David Hicks’ guilty plea is not justice served, nor does it necessarily reflect Hicks’ guilt – it is simply further evidence of a rank system, and Australians can smell it from afar.
Almost every eminent jurist and legal body in the country has condemned a tribunal that has more in common with a circus than justice. Australian and international jurists agree this system was designed to guarantee convictions. It should come as no surprise, then, that it has. It reflects a system that is no more than justice on the make – offending basic legal principles of independence and impartiality".
On another level, that appalling A-G Ruddock said yesterday [seriously!] on the ABC radio program PM that the delay in Hicks coming to trial would "benefit" him because with the passage of time the recollection of prosecution witnesses would have been diminished. There you go.....David Hicks has been advantaged by what has happened to him! Ruddock deserves to be sacked from his position as Attorney-General. He isn't worthy of the office.
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