Jeremy Roberts | December 21, 2007
DAVID Hicks's professed affection for terrorist
mastermind Osama bin Laden has been turned against
him, with the Australian Federal Police arguing
yesterday the Adelaide jail inmate remained a threat
to national security.
The AFP produced a series of letters from Hicks - one
describing bin Laden as a "lovely brother" - to
persuade a federal magistrate that the confessed
terrorist should become only the second Australian
subject to a terrorism control order.
Barrister Andrew Berger, for the AFP, outlined the
sophisticated terrorism training Hicks underwent at
camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he learned to
use shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft missiles capable of
bringing down airliners.
Hicks was also taught covert surveillance and disguise
techniques, urban warfare and how to operate a
high-powered sniper rifle.
Mr Berger quoted Hicks writing in glowing terms about
what awaited him in heaven as a Muslim martyr.
"There are many privileges in heaven," Hicks wrote in
a letter to his mother, Sue King, in 2001 while he was
training with al-Q'aida in Afghanistan.
"One reward I get in being martyred - I get to take
ten members of my family to heaven who were destined
for hell. But first I also must be martyred."
Other letters written by Hicks to his parents in
Adelaide detailed claims that he had met bin Laden
"about 20 times".
Mr Berger said the evidence repudiated any suggestion
that Hicks was "all talk, no action". "Rather than a
dog whose bark was worse than his bite, (Hicks) has
demonstrated a willingness to take action," Mr Berger
said.
While there was no evidence that Hicks had threatened
Australians, Hicks's anti-Semitism and fervour made
him a risk to the governments and people of Israel and
the US.
Outside the court, Hicks's father, Terry, said the
letters were "storytelling" and a compilation of
"other people's thoughts".
Mr Hicks said his son had turned his back on Islam in
2002 after becoming a prisoner of the US in Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba.
Hicks was transferred from Guantanamo Bay to
Adelaide's Yatala prison in May to serve his
seven-month sentence, which was secured as part of a
plea bargain with US military prosecutors that
involved a guilty plea on a single terror offence.
Barrister Larissa Detmold, for Hicks, told the court
that Hicks's co-operation with the US and Australian
governments following his capture in Afghanistan in
December 2001 showed that he had turned his back on
his former beliefs.
Federal magistrate Warren Donald will decide today
whether to issue the control order. Melbourne man Jack
Thomas is the only other Australian to be subject to a
control order.
The AFP has asked for conditions including that Hicks
must report to a police station three times a week,
comply with a midnight-to-6am curfew and not leave the
country. Hicks does not have a passport.
The AFP has also asked that Hicks be limited to a
single email account and single land and mobile phone
numbers.
Ms Detmold said she did not oppose the application,
but she asked that Hicks be required to report to
police only weekly.
If the order is granted, Hicks will have the chance to
respond to the AFP evidence after his release from
Yatala prison on December 29, at a "confirmation
hearing" yet to be scheduled.
He declined the right to attend yesterday's hearing,
on the fifth floor of the Federal Court building in
central Adelaide. Sitting in the public gallery was
the AFP's head of domestic counter-terrorism, Ramzi
Jabbour. Mr Jabbour wrote the affidavit on which the
application relies.
Mr Berger painted Hicks as a man prepared to die for
his cause. "In a lengthy letter to his mother he
previously expressed attraction to the idea of
becoming a martyr - almost a desire to do so - so that
he could enter heaven and take members of his family
with him," Mr Berger said.
Hicks wrote: "Islam will rule again but for now we
must have patience ... we are asked to sacrifice our
lives for Allah's cause - why not?"
Hicks also described himself as a "fit, young Muslim,
ready to defend Islam", and in another letter wrote of
the "poison" of the West, which he said was trying to
crush Islam. "Jihad is still valid to this day," he
wrote.
And he described crossing the border from Pakistan
into Indian-administered Kashmir and firing
rocket-propelled grenades at Indian soldiers.
"That night we crossed the LOC (thought to be Line of
Control in Kashmir) - four people each with rocket
propelled grenades - 200m from a bunker holding two
soldiers," he writes in 2000.
In another he says: "Dear family ... I spent around
three months in a Muslim military training camp in the
mountains. I learnt about weapons such as ballistic
missiles, surface to surface and shoulder fired
missiles, anti aircraft and anti-tank rockets, rapid
fire heavy and light machine guns, pistols, AK47s,
mines and explosives. After three months everybody
leaves capable and war-ready being able to use all of
these weapons capably and responsibly."
In another he describes himself as "very well trained
for jihad in weapons - some serious like anti-aircraft
missiles".
Commenting on the requirements for granting a control
order, the magistrate, Mr Donald, admitted that "the
bottom line is that he has trained for an organisation
subject to (anti-terrorism legislation)". But the AFP
also claims that the order would assist in the
prevention of a terrorist act.
Outside court, Hicks's lawyer David McLeod said
whatever the outcome, the 32-year-old would abide by
the conditions of the control order. "It has to be
said he's disappointed that the authorities have taken
the view that it's necessary for the application to be
brought," he said.
"But that said, he's grateful for the first time in
six years to be before a regularly constituted court
and he respects the court."
Hicks was arrested by the Northern Alliance in
Afghanistan in December 2001, three months after the
September 11 attacks in the US, and handed over to the
US military. His long detention in Guantanamo Bay from
2002 triggered an extraordinary public campaign, with
former prime minister John Howard raising the issue
with Washington.
---------------
Jusfiq Hadjar gelar Sutan Maradjo Lelo
Allah yang disembah orang Islam tipikal dan yang digambarkan oleh al-Mushaf itu
dungu, buas, kejam, keji, ganas, zalim lagi biadab hanyalah Allah fiktif.
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