Australian David Hicks has entered a guilty plea to one of two counts against him, that of supporting a terrorist organization.

He was taken to court late at night and his civilian attorneys were tossed off the case by the presiding judge, one because she was not a serving member of the military and the other because he refused to sign form demanded by the court saying he would conform to the regulations governing proceedings.

David Hicks has pleaded guilty to one count of supporting a terrorist organisation.

He pleaded guilty to a late night specially convened military commission after an apparent deal was reached between his defence attorney and the prosecution.

Major Michael Mori, Hicks’s military lawyer, entered the plea to the charge of material support for terrorism, which was broken into two counts or specifications.

Major Mori said Hicks pled guilty on specification one, and not guilty on specification two.

Specification one of the charge detailed Hicks’s links to terrorist organisations and his activities in Afghanistan where he met Osama bin Laden and completed al-Qaeda training courses.

Specification two simply alleged that Hicks entered Afghanistan from about December 2000 to December 2001 to provide support for terrorism and that he did so in “the context of and was associated with an armed conflict namely al-Qaeda, or its associated forces against the United States or its coalition partners”.

The plea raises the prospect that he will soon return to Australia.

It is unclear what sentence he will have to serve. There was no mention of how long he will have to serve, or if he will serve it in Australia.

The Military Commission will reconvene tomorrow (Tuesday) to enter a formal verdict.

Hicks was asked to stand when he entered his guilty plea. He showed little emotion, but at the end of the hearing he turned around and said to one of his supporters: “Good to see, mate.”

His father is reported to have left Guantanamo Bay before he entered the plea. Terry Hicks was told there was a late night hearing but declined to attend.

Maybe we’ll hear what his sentence is and where it will be served, but if he pled guilty to supporting Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and trained with them I would consider him to be a terrorist.

Military justice is not like civilian justice and we must all remember that. We must also remember he pled guilty to one charge and that charge is serious.

Written by ~J~

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