Habib evidence may be used against Hicks

Habib evidence may be used against Hicks
By Marian Wilkinson, National Security Editor
March 19, 2005
Sydney Morning Herald

Lawyers for David Hicks are concerned US military prosecutors plan to use the interrogation of the former Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee, Mamdouh Habib, in Hicks's military trial.
Hicks's chief defence lawyer, Joshua Dratel, said he understood Mr Habib's interrogations at Guantanamo Bay, along with those of other detainees who had been released, would be drawn on by military prosecutors. "Whatever statements Habib made at Guantanamo, I think their position is that they're free to use anything", Mr Dratel told the Herald from New York. None of the detainees, including Mr Habib, is expected to be called as a witness in the military trial but Mr Dratel believes prosecutors plan to read sections from the detainees' interrogations at the trial.
"The notion that their statements could be read into the record by interrogators, which I think is the US Government's intention, would deny David some fundamental rights in terms of cross-examination of the witnesses," Mr Dratel said. He was particularly worried it would prevent the defence lawyers from testing in the military court whether the detainees' statements about Hicks had been given voluntarily.
Hicks faces charges of conspiracy to commit war crimes, attempted murder and aiding the enemy. In Sydney, Mr Habib said through his lawyer, Stephen Hopper, that he had "no conscious knowledge of ever signing a statement that had any incriminating evidence about Mr Hicks".
Shortly after Mr Habib's release unnamed government officials leaked claims that he had been in a propaganda training camp with Hicks in Afghanistan before September 11, 2001.
Mr Habib was released from Guantanamo Bay in January after the US decided not to go ahead with charges against him. That decision followed claims in a US court that Mr Habib had been tortured after he was allegedly abducted to Egypt by US intelligence officials.
Mr Dratel said he hoped to discuss with Mr Habib's lawyer his client's interrogation at Guantanamo Bay and any evidence he might have given about Hicks. But Mr Dratel, who is Hicks's lead counsel for the military trial, said even if Mr Habib denied giving evidence against Hicks it might not sway the military judging panel. A "recantation across the ocean" would not have the same weight as Mr Habib's testimony from the witness stand, said Mr Dratel, but he conceded: "I don't think we're going to have much success in getting him to come back to Guantanamo."
The Australian Government maintains that Hicks will get a fair trial before the US military commission but Mr Dratel and other defence lawyers strongly disagree and are challenging the fairness of the trials in the US courts. The US Government is fighting in the Court of Appeal in Washington to ensure the military trials go ahead.
Hicks's lawyers and family are worried that as the cases drag on, Hicks will remain at Guantanamo Bay indefinitely. He has already been there for more than three years since being picked up in Afghanistan while allegedly fighting with the Taliban.