Gitmo Detainee Remains In Limbo

5 Years After His Capture, David Hicks Is Still Waiting For His Day In Court

(AP)  This story was written by CBS News producer Phil Hirschkorn

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Today marks five years without a day in court for David Hicks, one of the first 20 detainees transferred on Jan. 11, 2002 — shackled, blindfolded, and wearing orange prison jumpsuits — from Afghanistan to the prison camp at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Like most of the 395 detainees who remain at Guantanamo, Hicks, a 31-year-old Australian, languishes in solitary confinement, spending 23 hours a day in his concrete cell.

In the past five years, more than 750 men, ranging in age from 10 to 80, have been rounded up in Afghanistan and sent to Guantanamo, where critics say, they have endured mistreatment tantamount to torture — isolation, sleep deprivation, stress positions, hooding, stripping, no Korans or any reading materials — and denied legal rights normally afforded terrorism suspects. Dozens of detainees went on hunger strikes. Three committed suicide.

FBI agents detailed to Guantanamo witnessed some mistreatment, as described in more than 200 pages of documents obtained last week by the ACLU in a Freedom of Information Act request. Detainees underwent interrogations in rooms either very cold or very hot and were observed in dark rooms with exposure to extremely loud rock music and strobe lights.

"I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor; with no chair, food, or water. Most times they had urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18, 24 hours, or more," wrote one agent in a 2004 report.

One detainee was seen almost unconscious on the floor with a pile of his own pulled out hair next to him, another with a full beard had his head covered in duct tape, according to the documents.

Hicks claims he was beaten before, during and after his interrogations, and that he was drugged and deprived of sleep. His open-ended captivity is an ongoing cause for public protest in Australia, where rallies press the government to demand his return. Prime Minister John Howard says he discussed the case again with President Bush yesterday.

"Our position on David Hicks is we want him tried as soon as possible," Howard told reporters in Sydney. "We are unhappy that that he's been held so long without trial."

After 30 months in Guantanamo, Hicks became one of only 10 detainees the U.S. military has actually brought charges against — accusing him of conspiracy, attempted murder, aiding the enemy for allegedly training with al Qaeda in Afghanistan and taking up arms with al Qaeda and the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The charges allege he guarded Taliban tanks at the Kandahar Airport and engaged in combat, along with American John Walker Lindh, near Konduz.

"Their case is weak," says U.S. Marine Major Michael Mori, appointed to defend Hicks in 2003. "There's no valid law of war violation that can be charged against David."

Hicks pleaded not guilty at a military commission hearing in 2004, but the process went on hold after the Supreme Court deemed the procedures unconstitutional. The Pentagon is due to submit new rules to Congress next week and hopes to resume the tribunals later this year. The government says Hicks will be one of the first detainees charged again and put on trial.

"After five years of litigation, no detainee has had a hearing in court. After five years, the government continues to argue the detainees have no rights," says attorney Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, who represents a number of detainees.

[laorendavid]

Guantanemo - What an embarrassment & stigma to our country's honor. I guess there's a reason that "Gitmo" in Chinese (%u6781%u7279%u6469)means "Particularly Evil Spirit."

[nishaboston]

What I do not understand is the US is always critizing Cuba yet we rent land (Gitmo Bay) from them to hold prisoners that have not been charge with anything....That makes no sense and if you support this hypocritsy then you have serious issues.

[klmetz_cbs]

Aw, poor baby. Went to fight a war on his own and got caught. Hold him till the war is over, then turn him loose.
Or, turn him loose now - right where they caught him.
Next time, SHOOT him, don't take him prisoner.
In any case, there are only two safe options for the rest of us: 1. Hold him prisoner... 2. try, convict, execute.
We do ourselves no favor by turning creeps like this loose.

[inventagod]

Will you be next?

Halliburton is building many new 'camps' at this moment....

Google: Halliburton camps

[random_radar]

The fact that our government is composed of people who do these kinds of things frightens me. What is being done in Gitmo today will be done to us tomorrow. Call it a practice session for how the public will be managed in the future.

[kpokey]

How can anyone calling him/herself an American not be mad as hell when someone doesn't get a timely trial? I guess you would have to be completely ignorant of what America is and how it was founded and what rules it was founded upon. That's the only explaination for any American not being outraged by people not getting a timely trial, no matter what the charges are against the person.

[grumpas]

bluestardad: You assume he was fighting against our troops! When all you have is the word of a government who is out of control! Who is capable of telling lies to further there own agenda! Either you believe in the Constitution or you don't! He still has a right to a fair trial to hear what evidence his accusers have against him! I personally don't believe half the people in Gitmo are there for the reason's our government claims they are! I think most of them are victims of circumstance. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Which is why they aren't being charged! There isn't much against them to try them with!

[gunnerv1]

Why was he where is was in the first place when he got cought, sorry, I don't feel sorry for the little vermin.

[mygramma]

Gitmo represents one of the darkest episodes of American history. We allow scuz balls like Bush and his cronies to trash the fundamental principles of equity and rule of law that have inspired the world -- until now. Shame on us. Shame!

What we did to the Japanese Americans in our concentration camps at places like Jerome and Rohwer Arkansas for the inhumanity, blind fear and racism the internments represent was bad enough. But Gitmo is worse. We can no longer hold our constitution up for the world to see as a beacon of freedom and fairness since we don't live by it.

[orthotox]

What a betrayal of the best that is America -by Bush. Kudos to CBS for the story. This is pre-9-11 professional standard journalism.

[antoniof123]

Weak case when will this country stop being afraid of its shadow. This is true injustice I hope that none of you are put in this situation no trial which is against the law. Our founding fathers are rolling over in their graves if they were alive today what would they say. For that matter what are so many of us here saying but the fools run the world that is why there is so much killing and fear the innocent suffer at there worthless expense.

[bluestardad]

If he fights against our troops his asscanrot in the Jail!

[feelfree1]

I wonder how many more people will be tortured, maimed, and murdered, by the the Bush regime and their enablers, before they are stopped?

[Jasonian18]

and as far as this guy being muslim or not if he is willing to train al quaeda then he is just as bad as radical muslims but how much info could he have?

[Jasonian18]

well sounds about right as long as we are sure with multiple sources then imprison and interrogate as needed but excess and necesary is hard to determine with radical muslims