An Australian citizen held at Guantanamo Bay for more than four years has written a pleading letter to Prime Minister John Howard, insisting he is a "true blue Aussie" and not evil.
David Hicks, who was captured in Afghanistan in December 2001 after allegedly fighting alongside the fundamentalist Taliban regime, implores Howard to secure his release from the US military prison in Cuba as soon as possible.
"I am determined to fit back into society and be a model citizen," Hicks writes in the letter, a copy of which was obtained yesterday by the press. "I am not an evil person or a risk to the Australian public and it saddens me that some may think so."
His lawyer David McLeod said yesterday that Howard had not responded, or even acknowledged the letter, written on Jan. 21, 2005.
McLeod accused the Australian government of "demonizing, dehumanizing and vilifying" his client and said following the US Supreme Court's ruling last week, Howard should now push for Hicks' release.
In a major blow to US efforts to try "war on terror" suspects, the court ruled that the special military tribunals that Hicks and other Guantanamo detainees were due to face violated the Geneva Convention and US military law.
Hicks' description of himself in the letter is at odds with the charges laid by the US and the strong comments of the Australian government.
He stands accused of conspiracy to commit war crimes, attempted murder and aiding the enemy.
"On the contrary I like to think of myself as a true blue Aussie," Hicks wrote in the letter. "Australia is in my heart and forever will be."
After meeting McLeod on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer insisted Hicks must face justice in the US.
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