Daily pain a lasting legacy for Hicks, father says

The ordeal that David Hicks went through affected more than just a wrongly convicted man. Terry Hicks spoke to SBS about the years of uncertainty.

Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks (left) with his father Terry Hicks

“He's in pain most of the time.”

Terry Hicks takes a deep breath as he reflects on his son’s ordeal – five years in the notorious Guanatanmo Bay US Military prison following his arrest in Afghanistan in late 2001 as a suspected Taliban terrorist. Five years of alleged torture and cruelty for a man now cleared of any crime.

”The weight's been taken off the shoulders,” he told SBS.

“It's a good feeling now to know that he's got no commitments against him through the commissions - the commissions were wrongly set up in the first place so it’s good that they’ve come to this decision now to say that he’s now not guilty.

“After all this he'll probably have to feel a bit better.”

Mr Hicks said that as far a physical and mental issues, his son can at least move on.

“He's had pressure on him all these years and the torture and everything else he was under,” he said.

“So now that's behind him and can virtually move on with his life, but as I say he still has the physical side of things to deal with, his body and what happened to that. But I suppose he’s got to learn to live with it.”

Mr Hicks stood resolutely by his son during what’s proved to be 14 years of false allegations, mistreatment, legal errors and demonization of an ultimately innocent man.

“We still have people out there who think he's guilty anyway, (who ask) what was he doing over there?” he said.

“That has nothing to do with the issue, the torture and everything else he was submitted to.  That was our concern, not why he was there, but afterwards how he was treated. And the way the military commissions handled it.

“It was quite a flawed process and imploded on itself on six occasions I believe, and still didn't get it right.”

Overnight, the United States Court of Military Commission Review set aside Mr Hicks’ guilty plea, which his legal team always maintained was made under duress.

It ruled that “both parties agree that the appellant’s conviction cannot stand on its merits.”

“The findings of guilty are set aside and dismissed, and the appellant’s sentence is vacated.”