Hicks was a complete fool says Downer
AAP
Canberra Times
LONDON, Wednesday: Alleged Australian al-Qaeda fighter David Hicks deserved to suffer harsh American retribution for his involvement in the terrorist organisation, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday.
Hicks is one of almost 200 Taliban and al-Qaeda members being held by United States forces in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba after being captured in Afghanistan.
Mr Downer said the Australian public would have no sympathy for the 26-year-old from Adelaide.
"We have no illusions about this - he was a very, very foolish person to have got involved with an organisation like al-Qaeda," Mr Downer said.
"It was an extraordinarily foolish thing to do. Inevitably, the Americans are going to take a strong stand against anyone who has been involved with al-Qaeda because this is an organisation which is openly, not just by practice but by rhetoric, committed to killing Americans.
"We are an ally of the United States and we agree with them. They're perfectly entitled to take very tough action against organisations that are committed to killing their citizens and David Hicks was a complete fool to get wound up in an organisation like al-Qaeda, a complete fool."
It was still uncertain what fate awaited Hicks and whether he would be tried under US or Australian law but Mr Downer, in London for a Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group meeting, was sure he would not face the death penalty.
"We in Australia oppose the death penalty in any circumstances," he said.
"But there's no indication that he faces the death penalty. I don't think that is likely at all.
"What happens to him is still depending on obtaining the precise details of what he has done and making judgments on whether to prosecute and under what jurisdiction to prosecute."
Mr Downer said there were still some cloudy legal issues over whether Hicks should be treated as a prisoner of war under the Geneva convention.
"It depends very much on the circumstances in which they were detained and what they were doing when they were detained," he said.