Laurie Ferguson (Reid, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I speak about the continued treatment of David Hicks. In recent weeks, there has been greater criticism of US policy on Guantanamo Bay, with conservative European leaders such as Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Germany’s Angela Merkel, a far more pro-US leader than her predecessor, speaking out against it. Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney-General of the United Kingdom, has said that the continued existence of Guantanamo Bay is undermining US credibility internationally. This elaborates on comments made by Tony Blair in February this year that Guantanamo Bay is ‘an anomaly’ that sooner or later has to be dealt with.

The more recent focus on Hicks has occurred following the suicide of three detainees last week. It is disheartening to read the comments of the camp’s commander, Rear-Admiral Harry Harris, who said of those deaths:

They have no regard for life, neither ours nor their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us.

This was in contrast to those of US President Bush, who said that there was ‘serious concern’. The situation is such that one could well understand the desperation of these people. David Hicks is one of 460 prisoners who have not been brought to trial. He has spent 244 days in isolation. Even now his lone contact is with the military chaplain. Recently the Guardian Weekly wrote of the situation:

In one sense the three deaths change nothing: international law and opinion have already condemned Guantanamo Bay as a disgrace to a country that claims to fight its battles on behalf of freedom. In practical terms the policy of extracting suspects from around the world and holding them indefinitely without legal process has been established as a shameful failure: most of the prisoners have had minimal or no connection to terror and the US’s claim to hold an al-Qaida hardcore has never been tested in court.

Australia has observed Britain’s success in gaining the release of its nationals. Even France, which has been so critical of US policy in Iraq, in February 2004 succeeded in gaining the release of its last national. Australia’s David Hicks remains incarcerated and, as I said, he has still not faced trial. His military lawyer spoke recently of his desperation and extreme pessimism.

On Lateline last week, Professor Alfred McCoy made other broad comments of practices of the CIA in Guantanamo Bay. It is interesting to note where these criticisms are coming from. The International Red Cross, a body that I do not think we would be too critical of, has said that there is torture per se. There is no qualification, no ‘tantamount to torture’ phraseology—‘torture is being practised there’. The FBI has also been highly critical of practices there. In an investigation of Guantanamo detainees, it described them as ‘huddling, quivering and with signs of extreme psychological stress’. The FBI also noted that the degree of torture in Guantanamo Bay is such that evidence gained is often unreliable because of the sheer desperation of those who seek release.

Australia’s inability to take on the United States over the detaining of its citizen is, as I say, in contrast to the actions of many Western nations. It is also in contrast to the experience of US national John Walker Lindt, who obviously had far greater contact, far greater involvement and a far greater knowledge of terrorist operations. Because of the sheer reality that he is an American, he has not been held there for four years. As I say, there is mounting international criticism of the situation there. A country which stands over Romania and other eastern European countries to avoid international justice being dispatched to American citizens itself seeks to go above the rest of the world in maintaining this place of incarceration and torture.

As we all know, two British High Court judges ruled last month that there was a powerful case for the closure of Guantanamo Bay. International criticism is mounting. But in the last week we have even seen an inability of Australia to urge the United States to give access to British diplomats so that an oath can be taken. Australia will not act on it, but they are now also getting in the way of Britain formalising the rights of David Hicks.