david hicks raped and tortured,says father

Hicks claims need investigating: Labor
Tuesday Nov 1 11:05 AEST

Prime Minister John Howard must seek a full explanation from the United States over allegations terror suspect David Hicks was sexually abused, Labor MPs say.

Hicks' father Terry claimed On ABC TV's Four Corners program that his son was sexually abused during two, 10-hour beatings involving US military personnel.

The former Adelaide chicken processor has been detained since he was captured alongside Taliban forces in Afghanistan in late 2001 and has spent most of that time since at the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba.

The Australian-born convert to Islam has since admitted having attended al-Qaeda training camps, meeting terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and fighting on the side of Afghanistan's brutal Taliban regime, the report said.

A former Guantanamo Bay detainee Martin Munbanga told Four Corners that Hicks had told him he had been blindfolded, beaten, spat upon, sexually abused and assaulted.

Opposition legal affairs spokeswoman Nicola Roxon says the fresh allegations raised on the program require proper investigation.

"These are serious allegations," Ms Roxon told reporters in Canberra.

"Also, more material has come to light about what he was actually doing overseas and these are equally serious.

"We want there to be a proper process in place that can test both what he was doing overseas and the allegations that have been made about his treatment in detention.

"We hope that the government will be more active now in pursuing the full story and a full explanation from the Americans about this."

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said the allegations raised further concerns about Hicks' human rights.

He said Mr Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer must get to the bottom of the matter.

"We are concerned about each Australian's human rights - these allegations must be investigated fully," Mr Rudd said.

"Mr Downer and Mr Howard have been quite happy in the past just to roll all of these matters over into internal US investigations - we've never been happy with that.

"Our view is that we have to get to the bottom of how Mr Hicks has been treated and at the end of the day Mr Hicks rotting away (for) several years now in Guantanamo Bay is unsustainable.

"He deserves a fair trial, he's not been offered one and it's time the government handled this case with an appropriate foundation in human rights."

Mr Downer said Australian officials had met Hicks on several occasions and at no time did he raise allegations he had been sexually abused.

The government has said the allegations against Hicks are serious but that he would have to be released if he were repatriated to Australia because what he is accused of did not breach any Australian law at that time.