Fed: Downer says no regrets over Hicks case

AAP General News (Australia)
12-30-2007
Fed: Downer says no regrets over Hicks case

SYDNEY, Dec 30 AAP - Former foreign minister Alexander Downer says he has no regrets
over the way the Howard government handled the case of confessed terrorism supporter David
Hicks.

While Mr Downer conceded the US government had mishandled the Hicks case, he had no
regrets about the actions of the former Australian federal government, ABC reported.

"I have no regrets about what we've done in relation to Hicks," Mr Downer told ABC television.

He described Hicks' acts as evil and treacherous.

"Well, I think what he did was evil. It was an act of real treachery to take up arms
against the coalition in Afghanistan, to train with al-Qaeda."

Hicks remains in hiding at a secret location in Adelaide following his release from
jail yesterday.

He was freed from custody for the first time in more than six years after completing
a sentence struck in a plea bargain with the US military commission.

The 32-year-old father of two is now subject to a control order that involves a night-time
curfew, restricted use of phones and the internet, and a requirement to report to police
three times a week.

The control order has been criticised by some groups, including Amnesty International,
but Mr Downer said he supported the order.

"I think it'd be reckless to ignore his history," he said.

Hicks' guilty plea in March to a charge of providing material support for terrorism
was trumpeted by US President George W Bush's administration as a significant milestone
in America's war on terror.

The Australian's conviction was the first under the president's new Military Commission
Act and was America's first war crimes conviction since World War II.

AAP mn/jl/mn

KEYWORD: HICKS DOWNER

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