THE Howard Government insists it did not speak to the United States about the sentence that gags David Hicks until after the federal election, even though ministers knew the penalty before the deal on his fate was made public.
Senior Government figures were aware of the nine-month sentence at least as early as Tuesday, the Herald understands, even though it was not announced until Friday.
Asked whether the Government had spoken to the US Government about the length of the sentence or the 12-month media gag order imposed on Hicks, a spokesman for the Prime Minister, John Howard, said yesterday: "No. It was entirely a matter for the Americans."
But The Washington Post reported on Saturday that the outcome was the result of "a highly politicised situation involving the Australian Government". The Post said Australian officials had denied any direct involvement in plea negotiations. Hicks's military lawyer, Major Michael Mori, had declined to answer questions about what influence, if any, the Australian officials had, the Post reported.
At a peace rally in Melbourne yesterday, the Greens Senator Bob Brown described the sentence as a "tawdry" deal. "Of course it's a fix. The message has gone very clearly from Canberra to Washington to Guantanamo Bay: don't allow Hicks to be released until after the elections and certainly don't allow him to speak. It's tawdry, it's despicable, it's a political fix overriding what should have been an Australian justice matter right from the outset."
But Mr Howard said it was "ridiculous" to suggest the sentence had been framed with the election in mind. "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 Mr Hicks's lawyers, and the suggestion that it's got something to do with the Australian election is absurd."
The Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer, said it was a coincidence that Hicks would be released and the gag order would expire soon after the federal election. The sentence was "a deal between the prosecution, the defence and the so-called Convening Authority. It is not that the Australian Government said to the defence, 'well, no, you should take a nine-month period until we are after the election' or anything like that."
The Government has acknowledged it lobbied the US Government at high levels for several months to have the Hicks case resolved quickly. This included a crucial meeting between Mr Downer and the US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, in February.
David Hicks supporterPhoto by Karen Eliot
Australia Guantánamo Bay prisoner David Hicks was sentenced Friday by a special military court after pleading guilty to providing material support to the Taliban. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, but will only need to complete nine months of his penalty, most of it back in Australia, under the terms of his plea agreement.

Hicks, who has been detained for more than 5 years, is to be transferred to Australia within 60 days. The plea bargain also forbids Hicks from speaking to the media for one year after his sentence, suing the U.S. government for alleged abuse during his imprisonment, or appealing his sentence. The deal also mentions that he should not profit from selling his story. These terms were criticised by Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, as a "modern cutting out of his tongue", with prosecutors using the leverage of a plea deal to stifle information and public debate about the controversial detention process.

David's father, Terry Hicks, responded that he was glad that his son was returning home, but also told Australian Broadcasting Corp.: 

Prosecutor Marine Lt. Col. Kevin Chenail asked for the maximum sentence, referring to Hicks by his pseudonym 'Muhammad Dawood'. He told the panel of military officers that, "Today in this courtroom, we are on the front lines of the global war on terror... The enemy is sitting at the defense table. We are face to face with the enemy... who was trying to kill Americans."

Australian Prime Minister John Howard told reporters in Sydney  that:


Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown suggested yesterday that the speech restrictions in the plea deal were put in place as a deliberate attempt to meddle in upcoming elections. "Of course it's a fix," said Brown. "The message has gone very clearly from Canberra to Washington to Guantanamo Bay: don't allow Hicks to be released until after the elections and certainly don't allow him to speak."

Howard disputed that interpretation of events. "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 Mr Hicks's lawyers, and the suggestion...that it's got something to do with the Australian election is absurd."