GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, March 31 (UPI) -- An Australian locked up in the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will serve nine more months in a Down Under prison under a plea agreement.
David Hicks could have wound up with seven years or even life in prison but was allowed to plead guilty before a U.S. military panel to charges he was prepared to fight with al-Qaida as an enemy combatant against U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
The New York Times said the panel of officers at the prison came back with a sentence of seven years; however, the plea deal provided that Hicks server the lesser term of nine months.
The Times said Saturday that the deal gets Hicks off of the U.S. government's hands and gets rid of a source of friction between Washington and the Australian government. The Aussies have been a strong supporter of the Global War on Terrorism, but the five-year incarceration of Hicks had become an election issue in Australia.
At the same time, Hicks promised under the deal not to file any lawsuits and stated he was never treated illegally during his stay in Cuba.
