18 Feb CMCR Voids David Hicks’ Conviction for Material Support
Big news — and news I wasn’t expecting:
A former prisoner at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from Australia on Wednesday won a legal challenge to his terrorism conviction before a military court.
The U.S. Court of Military Commission Review struck down the March 2007 conviction of David Hicks in a unanimous ruling that reverses what had been one of the government’s few successes in prosecuting prisoners at Guantanamo.
Attorney Wells Dixon said he immediately called Hicks’ attorney in Australia, where it was the middle of the night, to pass on the news to his client.
“David is aware of the decision and he is thrilled,” Dixon said. “He is free to live his life without this conviction hanging over his head.”
Hicks, 39, pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorism. It was a plea bargain in which all but nine months of his seven-year sentence was suspended and he was allowed to return home by the end of that year.
In 2014, an appeal’s court ruled that material support was not a legally viable war crime for the special wartime court at Guantanamo known as a military commission. Prosecutors argued his conviction should still stand because he agreed not to appeal as part of the plea deal, an argument rejected by the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review.
Quite a journey for Hicks. When he was first charged, he was one of the most hated men in Australia. By the time the military-commission farce was through with him, he was a national hero.
Kudos to the CMCR for doing the right thing.
Would’ve been nice, and frankly appropriate, if Mr Hicks had acknowledged the role and work of his U.S. military defense counsel, USMC Lt Col (Ret) Dan Mori.
As Kevin knows better than I from his time in Australia, Mori did more to raise attention to and support of Hicks within Australia than perhaps anyone else. Textbook leveraging of the media and public opinion in support of a criminal defense client.