by Tim Witcher
GUANTANAMO BAY US NAVAL BASE, Cuba, Aug 25 (AFP) - Accused Australian Taliban fighter David Hicks met his father for the first time in five years on Wednesday, just hours ahead of his appearance before a US warcrimes tribunal, a military spokesman said.
Hicks, a 29-year-old former ranch hand and kangaroo hunter, will become the second detainee at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to appear before the military commissions set up to try the 585 Al-Qaeda and Taliban inmates.
He was to be charged with conspiracy to commit warcrimes, attempted murder and aiding the enemy by fighting alongside the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Hicks was allowed to be alone with his father, Terry, and stepmother, Bev, who arrived at Guantanamo on Tuesday.
"At the request of the Australian government, arrangements were made for David Hicks's family to meet with him for 15 minutes before this morning's proceedings began, in a secure room in the commission building," said a military spokesman.
"There were no guards in the room," he added.
"At the conclusion of proceedings, they will have another meeting for approximately 30 minutes."
The meeting took place just after Hicks was taken in a convoy of vans from Camp Delta, where detainees have been held in isolation for more than two and a half years, to the commission building.
His lawyers have said he will plead not guilty to all charges. His Australian lawyer, Stephen Kenny, said Tuesday a new attempt to launch civil action in US courts was also being prepared.
Terry Hicks said after his arrival it would be an emotional reunion. "We have got five years of catching up, so we will probably have a good session," he said.
He also criticised the US military commissions, which he said are not "honest and fair", and the Australian government, which he said "demonised" his son from the start of his detention in Afghanistan in late 2001.
Hicks is said to have gone to Pakistan after converting to Islam in 2000. Before that, he had fought with an Islamic-led militia in Kosovo during the Balkans war in 1999.
"David has been an adventurer all his life. He has always wanted to see what was over the next fence, and as he got older, the fence got taller," the father said.
The Australian government has faced criticism at home for supporting the military commission process started by the US authorities.
But Australian Prime Minister John Howard said his government would seek Hicks's immediate release if he is acquitted.
Howard, one of Washington's closest foreign allies, said in a radio interview: "I can tell you, if he is found innocent, he will be let go."
On Tuesday, Osama bin Laden's personal driver, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a 34-year-old Yemeni, was formally charged in the first hearing of the new military commissions.
He will make a plea at a new hearing expected in November, after a number of motions made by his lawyer have been ruled on.
Hamdan wore a traditional white robe and often smiled during the hearing. He did not have the shackles that Guantanamo detainees are forced to wear.
Hamdan's lawyer, Navy Lieutenant Commander Charlie Swift, said it had been a day of "mixed emotions" for his client.
"It's the first time that he has had clothes on other than an orange jumpsuit for nearly three years," Swift said.
Swift asked for the presiding judge and four of the panel members to be taken off the case.
The military-appointed lawyer said presiding officer Colonel Peter Brownback was not qualified to hear the cases.
He also objected to a marine lieutenant colonel who organised the transportation of prisoners from Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay and an air force colonel who was a senior intelligence officer in Afghanistan from November 2001 until around February of 2002.
Swift said the United States "appears to be meting out victor's justice" by letting the officers stay on the panel.