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LOS ANGELES - Australian terrorism suspect David Hicks does not believe he will receive a fair trial when military commission proceedings begin in a Guantanamo Bay courtroom next week.
Hicks will appear under heavy security before a court at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba on Tuesday.
The 31-year-old from Adelaide is expected to plead not guilty to the charge of providing support for terrorism.
Hicks' US military lawyer, Major Michael Mori, who met with Hicks at Guantanamo last week, said his client is confused about why the Australian government has left him in US custody for more than five years.
Hicks is also dubious of the new US military commission system set up to prosecute him.
"David has been through a illegal trial system once already," Mori told AAP today.
Hicks was charged, arraigned and his military trial was set to go ahead in November, 2005, but the US Supreme Court intervened and in June, 2006, ruled the military commission system was illegal and contravened the Geneva Conventions.
US President George W Bush and Congress responded last year by drawing up new military commission rules to try Guantanamo prisoners.
Lawyers for Hicks and 44 other Guantanamo detainees have asked the Supreme Court to rule on the revamped system, opening up the possibility Hicks' new military commission trial may again be delayed or derailed.
Mori said Hicks held out little hope for a fair military trial.
"He will be in the same room where the illegal trial was held," Mori said of next week's court appearance.
"It's the same room where the trial was held with a system that violated the Geneva Conventions.
"What hope does that offer him?
"How can he feel that he'll ever get a fair day in court?"
Mori said Hicks is also confused about the release from Guantanamo Bay of former Australian inmate Mamdouh Habib and of British prisoners freed at London's request.
"He's confused why he has been left there for five years," Mori said.
Hicks was taken into US custody in Afghanistan in December 2001.
The US alleges Hicks trained with al Qaeda and fought with the terrorist group when US and Coalition forces invaded Afghanistan in October, 2001, in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks.
- AAP
