It will be interesting to see what (if any) fallout may occur here as a result of the reversal in the US' position.
David Hicks terrorism charges: US admits he is innocent
The US government has admitted that former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks is innocent and his conviction in 2007 for providing material support for terrorism is invalid.
Mr Hicks' appeal case against the "invented" crime had been told that the US government does not dispute that he is innocent of any offence and his conviction was not correct in fact or law, his lawyer, Stephen Kenny of Camatta Lempens, told Fairfax Media.
Mr Kenny said that the quashing of his conviction is now only one step away.
"We are hoping that the military commission will make a ruling within a month," Mr Kenny said.
Mr Kenny said the case mirrored that of a former Sudanese Guantanamo Bay detainee Noor Muhammed – who was also convicted of providing material support for terrorism who had charges against him dropped and his conviction withdrawn this month. Like Mr Hicks, he had signed an Alford plea which meant he did not make any admissions but would not be able to appeal his conviction at a later stage.
He said the Military Commission set aside Mr Muhammed's conviction and plea waiver and he expected the same to happen in Mr Hicks case.
Mr Hicks said he was hoping at last to see justice done.
"I did not commit any crime and I only pleaded guilty in an Alford plea agreement to escape the indefinite solitary confinement I was suffering in Guantanamo Bay. I am just sorry it has taken so long to clear my name."
Mr Hicks was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001 and turned over to the US, before being taken to Guantanamo Bay in the first batch of prisoners to be incarcerated there. He was held for five-and-a-half years before being convinced to give an Alford plea – which is not recognised in Australia.
The plea deal was that he would be convicted in the US of providing material support for terrorism but would be allowed to return to Australia and serve a seven-month prison sentence. He was also gagged from speaking for one year.
The news comes a week after the 13th anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo Bay. Mr Hicks was one of the first detainees transferred there.
The detention centre still holds 127 men who have not been charged or faced trial. Among them is Hambali, one of the men alleged to have been involved in the 2002 Bali bombings. He has been held since 2006 as a so-called high-value detainee but has not been charged.
Since it opened, the organisation Close Guantanamo said that 779 prisoners have been held there. Of those, 642 have been released or transferred, one was transferred to the US to be tried, and nine have died, the most recent being Adnan Latif, in September 2012. Of the 127 remaining detainees 55 men, were cleared for release five years ago by President Barack Obama's Guantanamo Review Task Force.
This article gives a little bit more context to the process.
David Hicks: US government agrees former Guantanamo Bay detainee is innocent, lawyer says
The United States has agreed that former Guantanamo Bay detainee, Australian David Hicks, is innocent, his lawyer has said.
Mr Hicks pleaded guilty in 2007 to providing "material support for terrorism" but his legal team claimed that he did so under duress and filed an appeal last year.
Mr Hicks's lawyer was confident his name was set to be cleared after the change of position by the US government.
Mr Hicks had appealed against his 2007 conviction for providing material support for terrorism.
Lawyer Stephen Kenny said they had been told the government did not dispute his innocence and also admitted that his conviction was not correct.
He expected to hear within a month whether the Military Commission would quash his conviction.
"I have no doubt, that whether or not the Military Commission clears David, he will certainly be cleared in the higher courts of the United States if we need to go there," Mr Kenny said.
There had been court rulings that the charge Mr Hicks pleaded guilty to was not actually a crime so the charge was "simply invalid", he said.
"[It is] a fact we've known for some time, but it's taken the court some time to come to that conclusion," Mr Kenny said.
The delay in agreeing to Mr Hicks's innocence stemmed from part of his plea bargain, in which he agreed he would never appeal his conviction, Mr Kenny said.
"This is unusual in Australia, but not unusual in the United States and so the United States government is saying 'although he's innocent he signed this agreement not to appeal and therefore the court has no jurisdiction to consider it and secondly, as a matter of contract law, the court should hold David to his bargain'," he said.
"Now the difficulty the government has is that contract law has nothing to do with this case and the second problem they have is the Military Commission can determine its own jurisdiction, and of course they have jurisdiction to consider this matter.
"So we have no doubts that the Military Commission, following the [former Sudanese Guantanamo Bay detainee] Noor [Muhammed] case, will make a ruling now that David Hicks' conviction should be set aside."
Mr Kenny hoped the Australian Government would apologise for its part in Mr Hicks's treatment.
"I think their support of holding David in Guantanamo Bay in those conditions for so long is a severe embarassment and he at least deserves an apology from those who were involved," he said.
"What it does show is what a significant failure the action the United States, with the support of Australia, took after September 11 was.
"Guantanamo Bay now stands out as a serious blight on a country that prides itself with its democratic rule."
Mr Hicks was captured in Afghanistan and held at the US naval base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 until May 2007.
In 2007, Mr Hicks pleaded guilty to charges, including attempted murder and providing material support for terrorism.
The deal saw him serve out the remainder of his sentence in an Australian jail.
