Five Years for David Hicks

Last Saturday I went to a vigil to commemorate the 5th anniversary of David Hicks being held in detention uncharged and untried. With many impassioned speakers I was struck by the simplicity of clarity of Anglican Arch Bishop Roger Herft. This is what he said...

The court case in Iraq with all its weaknesses, was seen as a fledgling democracy bringing the rule of law to bear on a tyrant who ruled with great brutality.

At the time of the court decision our Prime Minister John Howard rightly acknowledged that nature of democracy within this system and noted that ‘a monster like Sadam Hussein was bought to justice by due process.’

It is a matter of real regret that the same logic does not apply to David Hicks- he obviously must be more of a monster than Sadam.

However, it is highly unlikely that David Hicks is as culpable as Sadam Hussein was in terms of the brutality he meted out on people.

Surely vibrant democracies found in Australia and the United States should enable David Hicks to be tried with the due process of law.

The issue for me is not whether David Hicks is guilty or innocent. It is that five years is far too long to be held in such extreme conditions of detention being both uncharged and untried. Surely if evidence of someones guilt is not available after even one year it is not going to be available after five or five and a half years. Guilt or innocence aside It has been painful and embarrassing to see our government acquiescent in letting an ally treating one of our citizens like this. We certainly wouldn't have let the Indonesian government hold Schappelle Corby for five years without charging her or putting her on trial.