David Hicks an Australian formerly detained in Guantanamo Bay as a terrorist recently said he was pleased the authorities seemed to have concluded that his conviction at Guantanamo was ‘unfair’ and ‘obtained through duress’. He said ‘I feel like this acknowledges Guantanamo Bay and everything is illegal.’ Critically evaluate David Hicks’ ENTIRE statement in light of whether or not Human Rights are adequately provided for in the Australian legal and political system.

David Hicks an Australian who was detained in Guantanamo Bay as a terrorist, recently Hicks said ‘he was pleased the authorities seemed to have concluded that his conviction at Guantanamo was ‘unfair’ and ‘obtained through duress’, he went on to say ‘I feel like this acknowledges Guantanamo Bay and everything is illegal.’ The question here is are David Hicks assumptions correct and does the government believe that his ‘Human Rights’ were violated in Guantanamo Bay and also under Australia’s current legal and political system, would those same Human Rights issues be adequately provided for?

David Hicks made a personal choice to embrace the Islamic faith, which lead him to Afghanistan where he chose to take up arms and train in the Taliban and Al Qaeda training camps. In December, 2001, David Hicks was captured by the Northern Alliance, who were searching for foreign nationals believed to have been involved with the Taliban. Hicks when captured had already discarded his military uniform for civilian clothes and he was making for the border of Pakistan. He was handed over to the US Military; transferred to Guantanamo Bay, where he was held for almost six years without a trial. It was this incrassation and his accusations of mistreatment at the hands of the American Military, that have sparked much debate in Australia as to his “human Rights’ whilst in detention of suspected terrorists.

There is no doubt that Federal laws passed since the 11 September 2001’ due to the ‘War on Terror’, which escalated with the bombing of the World Trade Centre in New York City, have represented an extraordinary challenge for human rights protection in Australia. This outright act of aggression followed by the Bali bombings on the 12th October, 2002, in which 88 Australians were killed, was to change many lives, terrorism was now considered a threat to national and personal security and it had also become a challenge to our legal system. Erosion of legislative rights is at the heart of this challenge; which traditionally was assumed to be the fundamental basis within Australia’s common law system. The critical challenge facing Australia is how to effectively respond to the threat of terrorism without abandoning the fundamental h...

-52 -8938 -9053 /2 /documentsummary; 0025 10 101 1072 11 1136 1176 11th 12/2007 12th 134 14 1449 2 2001 2002 2005 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 25 3 31 35 357 40 43.1 54 8.2 88 abandon abroad account accus acknowledg act action activ actual addit adequ admit afghanistan afp aggress aircraft airport al al-qaeda alford alleg allianc allow almost alon along alreadi also amass american ammunit analysi anti anti-terror anyth appli approv area arm arrest asio ask aspect assist assum assumpt atroc attack attempt attitud australia australian author avail awar away back bali ban base basi battl battlefield bay becam becom behaviour believ benefit beyond bill blast bomb border bought british broader camp captur care carri case catch catch-up caught censorship centr challeng chang charg choic choos chose citi citizen civil civilian claim closer cloth code collect commenc commerci commiss commit common commonwealth communiti conclud condit connect consid consider constru continu control convict correct could counter counter-terror countri court cover cri crime crimen crimin criminalis critic cth current custom daili david day deal dealt debat decad decemb decid decis declar deed defeat defenc defend deflect democraci democrat demonstr detain detent deviat difficult dilig direct director discard discharg discuss display document domest done doubt dpp due duress educ effect effort either embrac emot emphas enact engag engend enter entir equip eros escal essenti evalu even ever everyth evid exampl except execut exploit extraordinari face fact fair fairal faith feder feel felt fight financi first flaw flexibl focus follow foreign former found framework free freedom frisk fundament g gave general give given goal govern great guantanamo guard hallmark hand handbook hast hatr heart held hick higher hold home hous hu human hundr ideal ignor ill ill-equip illeg impact impli import impos impress imprison incid includ inclus incrass indict individu innoc instig instruct intellig intens intent interim intern introduc involv islam issn issu jail jock journal journey justic kill klein knew knowledg lacey later law lawfar lead leader learn leav lebowitz legal lege legisl letter liber liberti lie life light like list live lynch m made magistr mainten make mani matter meant measur melbourn memoir migrat militari mistak mistreat misunderstand month mr much must n name narrat nation natur need new nine non non-believ northern notorieti nulla nullum number obtain occas occur occurr octob odd offenc offic often onboard one onus open oper order ordinari organ organis origin outright outsid oxford p p159 p361 page pakistan palfreeman paramet parliament part pass past penalti peopl perpetr person physic place play plea pleas poena poenali polic polici polit port posit possess power pp praevia prepar present prevent principl prior privat proceed profit prohibit proper properti proportion prosecut protect protocol prove proven provid public punish pursuit qaeda question race rais ramif reach reason receiv recent reckless recognis refer region relat releas reli religion repres requir reserv respect respond respons restrain restrict result review right ruddock rule run rush safe safeti said sanction satisfi say scott screen search search.informit.com.au.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au search.informit.com.au.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/documentsummary; section secur sedit seem seen sentenc separ septemb serv ship sign similar sinc sine situat six societi soil sought south sovereignti spark specif speech spent state statement statut stern stood strategi strengthen stringent studi subject substanti suffici support surrend suspect system tactic take taliban ten territori terror terrorist therefor thought threat throw thrown time togeth toler tortur tourist trade tradit train training/thing/document/act transfer transport treat treatment trial turbul twin two ultim understand unfair uniform unit univers unpreced unpredict updat upon us use valu victori view vigil violat violenc vital vol volatil volum w wait war warrantless wartim way week well went western whether whilst william willing winter wit within without world would written year york