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SYDNEY - Relations between Washington and Canberra will come under strain from today when Australia's only Guantanamo Bay prisoner faces an American military commission, accused of supporting terrorism.
David Hicks is a former kangaroo shooter and jackaroo who was captured by the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan in December 2001 and handed over to American forces.
Washington alleges that Hicks trained with al Qaeda and was fighting with the Taleban when US and coalition forces invaded Afghanistan in October 2001.
The 31-year-old Muslim convert from Adelaide has been imprisoned without charge at Guantanamo Bay since January 2002. He is expected to plead not guilty to one charge of providing support for terrorism.
There is a growing sense of outrage in Australia at the way in which Hicks has been treated.
When he was captured the national consensus was that he was a troublemaker who deserved everything he got.
But the interminable delays in bringing him to trial have stoked a feeling that he is a victim of US injustice.
Brett Solomon, the executive director of Get Up, an independent political movement that has been campaigning for Hicks' release, said unease at his continued incarceration touched both sides of politics.
"For the right, it's a question of nationalism - here is an Australian citizen who has been left to languish in a foreign prison and let down by his government.
"For the left, the intelligentsia and the legal community, it's a matter of basic human rights. All the principles that Australians and Americans hold dear - democracy, the right to a fair trial, the right not to suffer arbitrary detention - are being chucked away."
Solomon said the "glue" uniting both ends of the spectrum was a recent poll that found that 91 per cent of Australians thought that regardless of his alleged crimes, Hicks deserved a fair trial. Less than a quarter believed he was likely to receive one.
Hicks' outspoken American military lawyer, Major Michael Mori, says Hicks has already been through one "illegal" trial procedure. After being originally charged with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit war crimes and aiding the enemy, he was set to face a military tribunal in November 2005. But the US Supreme Court intervened and in June last year ruled the military commission system was illegal because it contravened the Geneva Conventions.
Mori says his client feared he had no chance of a fair trial.
Prime Minister John Howard has argued that were Hicks to be repatriated he would get off scot-free, because Australia's anti-terrorism legislation was introduced after the offences he is alleged to have committed.
US presidential candidate and former Vietnam POW John McCain said last week he would have "resolved the Hicks issue long ago".
The Republican's comments only add to pressure on Howard to allow Hicks to be brought home.
