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ABC1 to air David Hicks: Australian Story Special

Updated: Australian Story has filmed a special with David Hicks talking about his six years detention at Guantanamo Bay and the preceding events.

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ABC has amended its schedule to bring forward an Australian Story special on David Hicks.

This week Hicks made a 10 second statement to 6:30 with George Negus this week (declining any interview) in which he said any prizemoney from a new book he has written would be given to victims of torture.

The ABC has told TV Tonight it has not paid him any money for its Australian Story special. ABC will also keep the content under wraps, with no previews available for media.

Over several months, award-winning Australian Story reporter/producer Helen Grasswill has explored the Hicks case, encouraging him to reflect on his past and the actions that resulted in six years detention at the controversial US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

In this revealing hour-long program, Hicks sheds light on his childhood and the steps that brought him to embrace Islam and become involved with fundamentalist groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Grass will also poses the difficult questions, pressing Hicks about his now infamous letters to his family after he spent time in a militant training camp in Pakistan and his differing explanations about why he returned to Afghanistan after the events of September 11, 2001.

As well, the program features interviews with members of Hicks’ family, key representatives of the Australian government of the day, and a number of experts who give their view on the veracity of Hicks’s claims about his time in Guantanamo and the legal case against him.

Updated: It will air Tuesday, August 30 at 8:30pm. Fake Or Fortune? resumes Sept 6 – 20.

23 Responses

  1. How can such a credible program as Australian Story which has presented so many wonderful stories give this person air time. If all young men who didn’t finish school and had no direction joined such group the world would be in such a mess. Wake up ABC! I certainly lost a lot of respect for Australian story tonight.

  2. How about everybody take a chill pill, sit down and see what this bloke has to say. I have no real opinion of him but i am not over trusting of polititians to tell the truth either. I, like most Australians just want to know the truth,whatever it is. I am glad he has given it to Australian story rather than a shock jock or Today Tonight who have the answer before they ask the question. I don’t think it will be a puff peice. Australian Story has been given the biggest exclusive for years so i hope they do it right. I want to hear about Hicks’s suspicious actions as well as the Howard governments suspicious actions.

  4. @Secret Squirrel, yes as a rule, those on the far-right usually lack compassion for their fellow man. Far-right politics usually emphasises the rights of the individual over the group, hence their contempt and almost complete inability to empathise with the underprivileged and those who are less successful than themselves. Witness the current Tea Party political movement in the United States, a group who are so open in their far-right ideology that they are scary, with Sarah Palin as their poster girl. Yikes!!!

  5. Yeah I agree with most of the comments regarding Guantanamo and the Aus Govt response.. Both were huge errors and have given this individual far too much underserved credibility. He is not a great character, but he has been treated appallingly. I hope in the future the lessons have been learnt and that all govts apply the 4B solution. Bullets Battlefield Body Bag

    Then we don’t have to put up with these lost causes

  6. @Dr_Rudi and Charlie Kelly – spot on.
    @Jen13 – “pinko”? As in “commy”? What are you smoking? Why is it that the far-right (who misleadingly call themselves conservatives) are so lacking in compassion?

  7. @ Charlie Kelly & Dr. Rudi, It is nice to see that some people empathise with Hicks and the massive injustice that he was dealt at the hands of the U.S. There are so many other commenters here that seem very narrowminded and have decided that Hicks is guilty based on the few facts they know about the case. Because David Hicks never had a trial, none of us really know exactly what he was accused of, so let’s all just make it up shall we, or assume that what others have said must be true. I trust Autralian Story to tell us the whole story, give us the big picture, and perhaps dispell a few myths that have surrounded this case. And even if Hicks was guilty of anything, he has served more than enough time in terrible conditions, and should now be left in peace to get on with his life.

  8. @Charlie and Dr Rudi, hear, hear, well said the both of you. The way the Australian government handled Hicks’s incarceration in Cuba was scandalous, absolutely disgusting. Hicks’s character (or even lack thereof) is not relevant here. As an Australian citizen he was denied assistance by his country for six years for purely political purposes, without charge or trial. Disgraceful.

  9. David – who knew there were so many conservatives reading your blog?

    So, why should this man be denied his earnings from his book as proceeds of crime; when other criminals convicted in fair trials in Australian courts all profit? Messrs Hinch, Wheatley, and Miller, I’m looking at you.

    @ most of you
    After Hicks was captured in Afghanistan and sold to the US by the Northern Alliance, he spent six years in Guantanamo Bay without trial or charges. He alleges that, during his detention, he was tortured. He spent much of his captivity in 24-hour solitary detention. His country did not help him. And it interfered with his claim to British citizenship. The UK government repatriated all of their citizens because the US process was clearly a sham. Our government (the Howard government) did nothing for one of our own. Hicks was eventually brought before a military commission, in a procedure condemned by the Australian Law Council. With no other way to get home, he accepted a deal, under which in return for pleading guilty, he served a short sentence in Australia.

    The deal, referred to as Alford plea, called for Hicks to sign an agreement accepting the single charge of providing material support, which was not deemed a war crime prior to the passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2006. In an Alford plea, the accused does not admit to the act for which he is charged, but admits that the prosecution could likely prove it. The government dropped the attempted murder charge against Hicks. Under the terms of the deal, Hicks would serve nine months in prison in Australia and would be prohibited from speaking to the media for a year. Grrr. He hasn’t committed any offence under Australian or International Law . People might do well to remember that the first charges in 2004 failed because the US Supreme Court recognised the Military Commissions as unconstitutional. So the conservative US Government created an act of (parliament) to re-establish a crooked system, which dealt with Hicks. Outrageous from go to whoa.

  10. @ Charlie.

    I agree with a lot of what you say, Guantanamo was a PR disaster for the US and the west in general. However we may differ on what should have happened. I would advocate dealing with these people on the battlefield, then the problem of detainees would not exist. Its not like there appears to be much intel gained and when OBL was found, they got it absolutely spot on, a few bullets, funeral, ashes scattered at sea…….gone

    The other thing not to forget here is that Hicks was aligned to groups that simply do not share your beliefs. You are an infidfel and there is only outcome you are worthy of, how do you reconcile with that? These are extreme religious zealots and not your usual freedom fighter who can reform when in power.

  11. The amazing thing is, people seem to ignore the issue of, it’s not about what hicks did or didn’t do. About where he was hanging out when a war started, why he was there or not.

    The fact remains there is no excuse for his torture and lack of access to any for of legal rights for years after his capture.

    Then never getting a fair trial, or access to any sort of Justice, because he didn’t actually commit a crime. Then our PM back here refusing to help him, and insisting the US charge him with War Crimes. Which he ended up being charged with a crime created after the fact because people like Hicks didn’t actually break any laws.

    It’s not justice. It’s not right.

    That is the issue. What you personally think of Hicks is irrelevant, everyone deserves Justice, access to a fair, independent trial. No matter who they are.

    That is the issue. The fact that this was not allowed and insisted upon by our government is a huge scandal. However people just pre-judge hicks and say he deserved it. That is a completely break down in human rights and any sort of fair legal system. You can’t change the rules for different people.

  12. @Jen13, As I recollect Hicks was never found guilty of a crime. He pleaded guilty in order to get out of Guantanamo Bay. Also, it was an election year (2007) and the then Coalition government had to do something about him, as Hicks’s continuing detention was fast becoming an electoral liability for Howard.

    @The Other Adam, totally agree.

    @Tony H, LMAO!!!

  13. I will watch this to see how a traitor who became involved with extremist islamist groups, hell bent on killing anyone who does not share their beliefs, justifies himself. It will also be interesting to see how the ABC portrays him. I am not a big fan of Guantanamo, it was yet another huge tactical error by the US as it gave opponents way too many propaganda victories. The US should have dealt with all the inmates in the field of battle…got the info they needed and then…….no prisoners….

    I would like to know Hicks’ views on democracy, freedom of worship and the current big political issue..gay marriage. All of these do not sit well with islamists, perhaps he will not be such a leftie hero if he expresses his views.

  15. @wunderbeast,

    My guess would be because Hicks’ book has been nominated for the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards, and the winners are announced on 6 September.

    Four one-hour episodes must be some kind of Australian Story record.

    And there’s nothing else to watch on Tuesday.

  19. Clearly Jen 13 has been avoiding education for too long. Have you ever watched an Australian Story? Who says he is a terrorist? Id be interested to hear what you’d admit to after 5 years of confined in humane torture.

  22. so have they brought it forward by much? and all because of a line he gave negus? do they think he will say more? which he obviously stated he would not… Seems like a knee jerk reaction or have i missed something?

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