Conviction of Australian at Guantanamo court in doubt

Source: Associated Press

Conviction of Australian at Guantanamo court in doubt
By BEN FOX, Associated Press | February 5, 2015 | Updated: February 5, 2015 3:25pm

MIAMI (AP) — One of the few convictions at a military court at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, appears to be on shaky ground.

Prosecutors concede in a legal filing that the conviction of Australian David Hicks may no longer be valid, even as they argue that it should be upheld because the former Guantanamo prisoner agreed not to appeal as part of a plea deal that got him home.

The filing to the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review was under seal Thursday, but was published this week by the online news site Pro Publica. A Pentagon spokesman, Army Lt. Col. Myles Caggins, said he could not comment on the document until it is released.

Hicks was the first person convicted by military commission at the base in Cuba, and one of six to be convicted and sentenced. He pleaded guilty in March 2007 to providing material support to terrorism with most of his seven-year sentence suspended and he was released by the end of that year.


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