SYDNEY, Aug 25 (AFP) - Australia will seek the immediate release of terror suspect David Hicks if he is acquitted of war crimes charges by a US military tribunal, Prime Minister John Howard said Wednesday.
Hicks, a 29-year-old convert to Islam from Adelaide who was captured by US forces in Afghanistan in December 2001, was due to appear later Wednesday at a pre-trial hearing before the US military court in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Dubbed the "Aussie Taliban", the former kangaroo hunter is one of the first four suspected Al-Qaeda members held at Guantanamo to go before the controversial tribunal.
Howard, one of Washington's closest foreign allies, said he was confident US authorities would release Hicks if he was found innocent of charges of conspiracy to commit war crimes, attempted murder and aiding the enemy.
"If he's found not guilty, we will be saying that he should be let go," Howard said in a radio interview.
"I can tell you, if he is found innocent, he will be let go," he said.
The US has said that even if Hicks and other Guantanamo detainees are found not guilty by the tribunal, they could still be held indefinitely unless a separate military panel decides they are no longer a danger or possess no information that could be used to avert further terrorist attacks.
His lawyers have said he will plead not guilty to all charges against him.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australians would be dismayed if the United States refused to release Hicks even if acquitted.
"I think all Australians would feel that having been charged on very serious charges, and the case was heard, and evidence was brought forward, and he was found to be not guilty, in those circumstances we would regard it as natural justice that he would be released," he said.
Downer also expressed frustration that Hicks and a second Australian detainee at Guantanamo, Mamdouh Habib, had been held for so long without a trial.
"We have been urging the Americans to bring on the military commission trial as quickly as possible, and frankly it's taken a good deal longer than we would have wanted," he said.
Howard's government has been criticised by its political opponents for failing to follow the lead of Britain and other countries in pressing for the release of the Australian pair from Guantanamo Bay.
But Howard on Wednesday denied his government had abandoned the men, noting that he had reached an agreement with the United States that gave the two men access to lawyers and ensured they would not face the death penalty.
"Many other principles of the commission have been changed so that they accord with the criminal justice system in Australia," he said.
"If he is convicted, we will negotiate with the Americans for his sentence to be served in Australia."