Ex-Gitmo detainee book case dropped
Source: Agencies |
July 25, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Australian government yesterday dropped its court battle to seize profits from a book written by a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, saying his guilty plea before a United States military commission could not be relied upon.
David Hicks, an ex-kangaroo skinner and Outback cowboy, said he felt vindicated by the decision. He was captured in Afghanistan in 2001 and spent more than five years at the US prison camp in Cuba. A plea deal in 2007 allowed him to return to Australia to serve a nine-month prison sentence for providing material support to al-Qaida.
Last year, the government launched court action against Hicks, arguing that he should not be allowed to profit from his autobiography, "Guantanamo: My Journey," because he is a convicted criminal. Hicks is said to have made about 10,000 Australian dollars (US$10,300) from sales of the book.
Yesterday, prosecutor Lionel Robberds told New South Wales state Supreme Court Justice Peter Garling that the government had decided to drop the case. In a statement, the prosecutor's office said there wasn't enough evidence.
In Australia, criminals can be sued for money that a federal court determines is proceeds from their crimes, including indirect profits from book and movie deals.
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