Australian Story - David Hicks

Thoughts on Australian Story tonight:

Watching the special edition of Australian Story on David Hicks tonight leaves me seething with anger and frustration at how such an injustice and abuse of power can be perpetrated and how there's nothing that we can do about it. That is was done by the USA and supported by Australia, nations which claim to value freedom and justice is all the more galling.

There are definitely holes in his story which appear to be him trying to whitewash some of his actions but there's nothing he's documented as doing which justifies what was done to him. The key things I took away from the programme are that:

* He was legally in Afghanistan at the time of invasion and that, following the invasion, he did not actively fight with the Taliban against the invading western forces.

* He was not captured as part of a fighting force but rather unarmed in the back of a truck by a warlord and then sold by his captors to the US army.

* He was physically and mentally tortured and sexually assaulted by the US army during his years of imprisonment.

* The 'crimes' he finally confessed to as part of his plea deal to gain release were not actually illegal at the time he was captured but were made illegal some years later.

* The Australian government of the day were content to let him rot in Guantanamo until it became politically expedient for them to pressure the US government to finalise his case.

* The US Supreme Court ruled that the Military Commissions being used to try the accused were illegal under the US constitution and the Geneva Convention. Rather than abide by this ruling, the court jester of a President, George Bush Jnr, signed a new act designed to get around this.

I realise many people would prefer to ignore the facts and argue based on emotion that he got everything he deserved but the facts of the case do not support this opinion. The above points have not been contradicted. To see Alexander Downer and Philip Ruddock continue arguing that what was done to him was fair and acceptable was disgraceful and an insult to all Australians who value freedom and justice. I'm glad that we're finally beginning to hear the other side of the story rather than the line pushed by the media for so long.