http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/wit ... 41396.html
Documents support Hicks abuse fears
February 7, 2007 - 12:23PM
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A junior US officer reported witnessing Taliban prisoners of war being sexually abused in Afghanistan weeks after Australian terrorist suspect David Hicks says he was anally penetrated by his American captors.
Documents obtained by AAP show the officer reported a Taliban prisoner was abused on February 11, 2002.
"I noticed that one of the MPs (military police) was lubricating two of his fingers preparing to perform the anal probe instead of the medical person," says the officer's sworn statement, made in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
"Without warning the EPW (Enemy Prisoner of War), and in a cruel way, he push both his fingers into the EPWs anus.
"This caused the EPW to scream and fall to the ground violently."
Hicks has been held for five years without trial in the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay after being seized by Northern Alliance fighters in Afghanistan in December 2001.
He was handed over to US officials and later flown to the prison camp in Cuba, where he now faces new charges of attempted murder and providing material support for terrorism.
Hicks's supporters claim he was abused by US soldiers after his capture and before being sent to Guantanamo Bay.
The first suggestion that Hicks was abused aired in 2004, around the time of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, which severely damaged US credibility in Iraq.
Hicks's father Terry Hicks said last year the Australian "suffered beatings and anal penetration".
In 2004, Prime Minister John Howard cast doubt on the claims.
"I find it strange that these allegations of abuse against Mr Hicks . . . have arisen only since the prisoner abuse scandal erupted," Mr Howard said at the time.
Terry Hicks says the officer's report proves US officials were sexually abusing prisoners of war.
"If it was the doctor doing it then that's part of the process these prisoners go through ... but this was a thug."
Mr Hicks said he held out little hope of a reopening of any investigation into the alleged abuse
Now this is SICK.
A very similar article, also in the Age
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/ ... 64102.html
and a very interesting comment inside that should not be overlooked
"Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said yesterday that Canberra could easily have asked that David Hicks be brought home and, given Australia's close ties with the US, there would be a high probability such a request would be acceded to.
But the Government wants the US to try Hicks because his alleged offences cannot be tried under Australian law, he said."
They are contradicting themselves so often but I believe this statement to be the truth, and all the govt claims that they have been doing their best to extricate Hicks out of Guantanamo bay are just blatant lies.
Finally a statement by US Marine Major Michael Mori (The honor of America and apparently a great bloke):
10 November 2006 saw Mori present for the signing of the Fremantle Declaration by the Attorneys-General of the states and territories of Australia. The Federal Attorney General, Philip Ruddock, refused to attend. The declaration urges judicial fairness be applied in Hicks's case as this is needed to protect the legal rights of Australians at home and abroad. Mori said "It's disheartening that federal ministers won't fight for an Australian citizen to have the same rights as an American."[3]
Source: Wikipedia and The Age
Finally to Benny's referendum suggestion
, I would say that after Howard, Ruddock and co. have been voted out of office they should enjoy all the rights of an Australian Citizen and therefore due process in a legally constituted court, let's not make the mistake of following Bush very perverse destruction of the American habeas corpus tradition.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/ ... 64102.html
and a very interesting comment inside that should not be overlooked
"Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said yesterday that Canberra could easily have asked that David Hicks be brought home and, given Australia's close ties with the US, there would be a high probability such a request would be acceded to.
But the Government wants the US to try Hicks because his alleged offences cannot be tried under Australian law, he said."
They are contradicting themselves so often but I believe this statement to be the truth, and all the govt claims that they have been doing their best to extricate Hicks out of Guantanamo bay are just blatant lies.
Finally a statement by US Marine Major Michael Mori (The honor of America and apparently a great bloke):
10 November 2006 saw Mori present for the signing of the Fremantle Declaration by the Attorneys-General of the states and territories of Australia. The Federal Attorney General, Philip Ruddock, refused to attend. The declaration urges judicial fairness be applied in Hicks's case as this is needed to protect the legal rights of Australians at home and abroad. Mori said "It's disheartening that federal ministers won't fight for an Australian citizen to have the same rights as an American."[3]
Source: Wikipedia and The Age
Finally to Benny's referendum suggestion
, I would say that after Howard, Ruddock and co. have been voted out of office they should enjoy all the rights of an Australian Citizen and therefore due process in a legally constituted court, let's not make the mistake of following Bush very perverse destruction of the American habeas corpus tradition.Red and Black Forever