The New York Times reports that Australian David Hicks has to serve nine (additional) months in custody. Nine months… That’s, as the NYT’s William Glaberson notes is “remarkable for a detainee who, before the plea negotiations, had faced a potential life term.”
Furthermore, he is “is to be returned to Australia within 60 days to serve the balance of the sentence there.”
So, what did, as Jeralyn notes, Hicks have to give up?
The deal included a statement by Mr. Hicks that he “has never been illegally treated� while a captive, despite claims of beatings he had made in the past. It also included a promise not to pursue suits over the treatment he received while in detention and “not to communicate in any way with the media� for a year.
As Jeralyn comments, one could argue that “the fact that the military forced him to make those concessions is in itself suspect.”
I have said it before: the way the U.S. is treating terrorism suspects is hurting the Global War on Terrorism.
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