JURIST - Paper Chase: Hicks transferred to Australia to finish Guantanamo sentence

[JURIST] Australian Guantanamo detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] was transferred [US DOD press release] to a maximum security prison near his hometown of Adelaide, South Australia Sunday to serve the remainder of his nine-month prison sentence. In March, a US military commission [JURIST news archive] at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] recommended sentencing Hicks to seven years in prison, but all but nine months of that were effectively suspended by a military judge [JURIST report] under the terms of a plea agreement [JURIST document] kept secret from the panel of military officers during its deliberations.

Hicks has spent more than five years in US custody since being captured in Afghanistan. Under the plea agreement, Hicks was required to state that he "has never been illegally treated" while being held as an enemy combatant by the United States and that his detention was lawful pursuant to the laws of armed conflict. Hicks is also prohibited from having contact with the media for a period of one year, is to not take any legal action against the United States for his treatment during his 5 year detention, and is required to turn over any profits from an eventual sale of his story to the Australian government. AP has more.

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