KEY POINTS:
The father of confessed Australian terrorist David Hicks says news that his son will serve nine months in jail is a bittersweet victory and that he should have had a fair trial.
"It's a lot better than 12 years or seven or two or whatever they were touting," Hicks said yesterday after his son was sentenced to seven years' jail, most of which was suspended as part of a plea bargain.
The deal means David Hicks will serve only nine months of his sentence, and will do so in Australia, where he must arrive before May 29.
In return, Hicks agreed to withdraw allegations of abuse at the hands of US authorities before or after his arrival at Guantanamo Bay.
He also agreed not to speak to the media about the case for a year and to co-operate with US and Australian intelligence agencies.
Hicks' father said his son was forced into the plea bargain so his case was never properly tested in court.
"Nobody will ever know what the evidence was," he said. "It's a real shame David had to go through this way to get released when he should have had the Australian government standing up for Australia's citizens' rights."
But Prime Minister John Howard pointed out that Hicks has admitted to training with al Qaeda.
"He pleaded guilty to knowingly assisting a terrorist organisation... He's not a hero in my eyes and he ought not to be a hero in the eyes of any people in the Australian community."
The outcome was a stunning reversal of fortune for the former kangaroo skinner, who spent more than five years at the Guantanamo camp.
The plea deal, kept secret until yesterday, was worked out between Hicks' defence lawyers and the judicial chief of the new tribunal system.
Human rights monitors and opposition politicians questioned the nine-month prison term as convenient for the Australian Government to ensure Hicks will be in prison and not allowed to speak to the media before an election expected this year. But Howard rejected the assertions.
"We didn't impose the sentence, the sentence was imposed by the military commission and the plea bargain was worked out between the military prosecution and Hicks' lawyers."
The Hicks case marks the first conviction by the military tribunals and the first conviction in a US war crimes trial since World War II.
The chief prosecutor for the tribunals, Colonel Morris Davis, said the outcome showed the tribunal system operated in an open, fair way and was not skewed in favour of prosecutors.
"I think David Hicks is very fortunate, he's getting a second chance," said Davis. Asked if the case would set a precedent for terror suspects, he said: "I hope not."
Hicks earlier pleaded guilty to attending al Qaeda training camps and volunteering to fight in support of the Taleban during the invasion of Afghanistan.
During the sentencing hearing, Hicks' lawyer, Major Michael Mori, called his client a "wannabe" soldier whose heart was not in al Qaeda but who sought out training where he could, "because he didn't have an education to be a real soldier."
Lead prosecutor Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Chenail told the tribunal Hicks had knowingly sought out an organisation bent on attacking the United States and acquired dangerous skills. "The enemy is sitting at the defence table."
- AGENCIES
