Mar 30, 2007 8:00 pm US/Eastern
U.S. Military Convicts 1st Guantanamo Detainee
Australian Faces Up To 7 Years In Prison
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (CBS) ―
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David Hicks will be returned to Australia within 60 days of his sentencing under an agreement revealed today. (File)
AP
An Australian detainee held for five years at Guantanamo Bay was found guilty Friday of providing material support for terrorism, marking the first conviction at a U.S. 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 Friday that also requires Hicks to drop any claims of mistreatment by the U.S. government since he was captured in Afghanistan and taken to Guantanamo Bay, said the judge, Marine Corps Col. Ralph Kohlmann.
The agreement calls for Hicks to be returned to Australia within 60 days of his sentencing, which is expected within days. The U.S. 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 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan showed little emotion as he confirmed to the judge that he conducted surveillance on the former American Embassy in Kabul.
On Thursday, Davis said Hicks must be held accountable.
"It's not just the big strategic thinkers that have carried out the deaths of thousands of people around the world," he said. "It's also those tactical soldiers out on the front line that need to be held accountable."
The U.S. Congress approved the new system to prosecute Guantanamo detainees last year after the Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional the Pentagon's previous efforts to try them. Prosecutors say they expect to charge as many as 80 of the 385 men held at Guantanamo.
Human rights groups say the tribunals are illegal because they do not offer the same protections as U.S. courts, but the military insists they are fair and appropriate to try terror suspects.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
CBS News Interactive: Guantanamo Tribunals
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