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CANBERRA - Defence Minister Brendan Nelson today said Australians should accept the outcome of the David Hicks case.
Dr Nelson said the the only pressure the Australian government had applied on the US was to have the Hicks case dealt with speedily and effectively.
"As everyone can see, that is exactly what has happened and a decision has been made in relation to the negotiations between Mr Hicks, his legal team and the military commission prosecutors," he told reporters.
"Australians need to accept the outcome."
Hicks, who spent five years in a US military prison after he was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001, last week pleaded guilty to a charge of giving material support to terrorists.
Under a plea deal negotiated between Hicks' lawyers and the US military commission, he will be returned to Australia from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and will serve just nine months in an Adelaide prison before being set free.
That sentence has drawn strong criticism both in Australia and the US.
Dr Nelson said the government pushed the US to deal with the Hicks case as soon as possible.
He said he was reassured while in Washington in December that Hicks would be one of the first cabs off the rank.
"The key influence that Australia has brought to bear has been that, after five years of not yet being brought to trial in military commissions, the government, through the prime minister, minister Downer, myself and others did express the very strong view that we wanted him brought to justice very soon," he said.
"And of course that has now occurred.
"Certainly the only pressure if you like that has been applied has been to see that Mr Hicks case has been brought to justice effectively."
- AAP
