Fed: Hicks betrayed by government: Fraser

AAP General News (Australia)
02-16-2007
Fed: Hicks betrayed by government: Fraser

By Danny Rose

MELBOURNE, Feb 16 AAP - Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser has accused the Howard
government of betraying Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks.

"However much the Blair (UK) government should be condemned for its participation in
the Iraq war, for its encouragement of a venture doomed to failure from the very outset,
it did not betray the basic legal rights of its citizens," Mr Fraser told a conference
on human rights in Melbourne today.

"The Australian government has."

Mr Fraser also said the military commission process that Hicks will face has been structured
to produce a guilty verdict.

He said it would allow a conviction based on evidence gained by torture, and hearsay
evidence also will be allowed.

The defence can be barred access to classified material and there also was a dramatically
reduced right of appeal.

"Does anyone really believe overall such rules can result in a fair trial?" Mr Fraser
asked the audience.

"Does the prime minister or attorney-general believe such rules can provide a fair trial?

"If they do, do they believe such rules be transferred to the Australian justice system?"

Mr Fraser said it was wrong for Australians to think that special laws should be created
for David Hicks and he again criticised the Howard government for its support of the military
commission process

"Those who allowed this to happen do not deserve public support."

Mr Fraser also praised the advocacy work done by Terry Hicks, father of David who has
remained in detention for more than five years.

"We must have grave sympathy and provide whatever support we can to Terry Hicks who
has behaved impeccably in the most extreme provocative and unfair circumstances."

Mr Fraser, a former Coalition prime minister, gave the keynote address this morning
at the Human Rights Education is a Human Right conference, staged at the University of
Melbourne.

AAP dr/szp/dk/it/bwl

KEYWORD: TERROR FRASER

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