US refuses to lift gag on Hicks lawyer
Sydney Morning Herald May 25 2004
By Cynthia Banham
The United States had refused an Australian request to lift a gag on the lawyer representing the accused Taliban fighter David Hicks, the Federal Government said yesterday.
The order prevents Stephen Kenny from talking about Mr Hicks's treatment by the US military in its Guantanamo Bay prison camp.
The secretary of the Attorney-General's Department, Robert Cornall, confirmed the request had been refused.
Mr Kenny, who went public this month with allegations that Mr Hicks was abused in custody, said it was the first he had heard of the Government's request.
He confirmed he was in negotiations with the US for a plea bargain deal for his client, who has been held at the Cuban camp for more than two years, accused of having trained with al-Qaeda.
Mr Cornall said US authorities had assured Australia that Mr Hicks and another Australian, Mamdouh Habib, were being treated in accordance the Geneva conventions. But the US had been asked for an investigation into their treatment in light of Mr Kenny's allegations, and it was understood the inquiry would take place. Mr Cornall could not say who in the US would conduct the investigation, nor how it would be done, saying it was a matter for the US.
"My understanding is that we have asked the United States to make proper inquiries and to report to us on those inquiries," he said. "How they do that and who does it would be a matter for them."
Officials of the Attorney-General's Department also confirmed during a Senate estimates committee hearing that Mr Hicks and Mr Habib were kept in "open meshed cells" 2.5 metres wide, 5 metres long and 3.3 metres high.
Mr Cornall said Australian consular officials who had been allowed to visit the men had not been allowed to see the conditions they were kept in.
"When we have gone to Guantanamo Bay it has been under very strict conditions, and we have gone under the conditions in which the United States authorities have allowed us to attend."
The last visit by Australian officials to the men was nearly a fortnight ago.
Under questioning from the Labor senator Nick Bolkus about allegations that Mr Habib's brain might have been damaged as a result of his alleged beatings while in custody, Mr Cornall said that on their last consular visit officials had asked for a psychological assessment of Mr Habib. This would be carried out by US doctors.
Labor is calling for an independent medical observer to be sent to Guantanamo Bay to assess the two men.
Mr Cornall also said Australia had not asked that Mr Habib be allowed to have legal representation, despite Mr Hicks having been assigned a US lawyer and an Australian lawyer.
"The fact of the matter is that until Mr Habib is nominated as eligible for prosecution before a military commission he is not entitled under the American rules to have a lawyer have access to him," he said.
Unlike Mr Hicks, Mr Habib had not been listed for a military trial. But Mr Cornall admitted Mr Habib might never be, saying if he was not deemed eligible for trial he "may well be released".
With AAP