Guantanamo: Hicks found guilty, faces 7-yr sentence

An Australian detainee held for five years at Guantanamo Bay was found guilty on Friday of providing material support for terrorism, the first conviction at a US war-crimes trial since World War II.

David Hicks, a 31-year-old Muslim convert, faces a prison sentence of up to seven years under a plea agreement revealed on Friday that also requires Hicks to drop any claims of mistreatment by the US government since he was captured in Afghanistan and taken to Guantanamo Bay, said the judge, Marine Corps Col. Ralph Kohlmann. The plea agreement also calls for an unknown portion of the sentence to be suspended. Hicks had pleaded guilty to the charge Monday night but was not convicted until Kohlmann accepted his plea during Friday’s session. The agreement calls for Hicks to be returned to Australia within 60 days of his sentencing, which is expected within days. The US government had previously agreed to let him serve any sentence in Australia. Hicks, 31, was dressed for the hearing in a gray suit with a dark tie and with his hair newly cut short. The former outback cowboy and kangaroo skinner who aided al-Qaeda during the US-led invasion of Afghanistan showed little emotion as he confirmed to the judge that he conducted surveillance on the former American Embassy in Kabul.

Hicks could have been sentenced to life in prison. He had been also charged with supporting terrorist acts but that count was dismissed as part of the agreement.Hicks, who had complained of abuse in US custody in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo, agrees as part of the deal that he has “never been illegally treated by a person or persons while in the custody of the US government,” Kohlmann said.

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He will also be required to cooperate with U.S. and Australian law enforcement authorities or risk having his sentence in Australia extended.

Another condition of the plea agreement calls for him to hand over to the Australian government any proceeds from telling the story of his activities in Afghanistan and his capture.