News

US Supreme Court rules Guantanamo Bay illegal

July 7, 2006

The trade union movement is now putting its weight behind the right of Australian citizen David Hicks to a free and fair trial after the US Supreme Court last week ruled that the Guantanamo Bay maximum security prison is unconstitutional under US law. The court also ruled that the Bush regime’s military tribunals violate both the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners.

Hicks has now been held in solitary confinement for over four years in a prison condemned by the Red Cross for carrying out the systemic torture of inmates. As a result the governments of Britain, Denmark, France, Russia, Canada and even Afghanistan have all demanded the return of their citizens.

Regardless of your view of Hicks’ guilt or otherwise, he is an Australian overseas and in trouble, and guilty or not he has the right to expect that his Government will fight on his behalf for his right to a free and fair trial, as it should for every Australian. In accordance with our Registered Rules, the FBEU has always stood up for a just and fair society and as such has indicated its support in both these campaigns.

 

Simon Flynn

State Secretary