(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
Lawyers for David Hicks have launched an appeal in the United States against his conviction for supporting terrorism.
The 37-year-old South Australian spent more than five years in Guantanamo Bay before admitting in 2007 to providing material support to terrorists as part of a plea deal facilitating his transfer to Australia.
As Thea Cowie reports, Mr Hicks says he wants to clear his name.
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David Hicks was transferred out of the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in May 2007 to serve the final months of his prison sentence in Australia.
He was released from prison in December of that year, but says he still can't get on with his life.
"To be able to get out of Guantanamo Bay it wasn't just a matter of being forced into the position to say "guilty" to this crime that the invented for that occasion. There were a lot of another situations I had to agree to. One example is that if I ever leave Australian jurisdiction for the rest of my life I can be re-detained by the US as an enemy combatant. So that means I don't need to be charged, I'll never go in front of a court, I'll never go in front of a judge, they'll never need to give an excuse or a reason or a justification in why I'd been re-detained except as an enemy combatant."
Lawyers for Mr Hicks have lodged an appeal with the US Court of Military Commission Review, arguing his conviction on a charge of providing material support for terrorism should be quashed.
They say the offence for which he was convicted was not a crime when he was taken into custody in Afghanistan in 2001, only being created by the US Congress in 2006.
The appeal follows a landmark decision from the US Court of Appeals last year stating such charges could not be applied retrospectively, and dismissing a charge against Osama bin Laden's former driver Salim Hamdan.
One possible impediment to Mr Hicks' court challenge is the fact that as part of his plea deal, he signed a document waiving his right to appeal.
But Mr Hicks' lawyer Stephen Kenny says that's irrelevant.
"No matter what the deal is, if the crime did not exist then everything else falls away. You cannot convict somebody of a crime that does not exist and then say 'oh no, you agreed not to appeal it.' If there is no crime, then there can be no conviction."
Mr Hicks' US lawyer Wells Dixon will also argue the guilty plea should not stand because it was made under duress, and in a desperate attempt to be released from Guantanamo Bay after more than five years in detention.
Mr Dixon has told the ABC Mr Hicks suffered violence and threats in Guantanamo.
"Mr Hicks was held for several years under horrific conditions at Guantanamo. Mr Hicks was tortured and abused for years by the United States government and in no sense can his guilty plea be considered voluntary."
The US appeal documents say Mr Hicks was repeatedly beaten, sexually assaulted, threatened with more violence, and injected with unknown substances.
Mr Hicks says he doesn't want to go through the rest of his life with the conviction.
"It will help with closure and moving forward for sure. I just try to live a normal life but this keeps flowing along with my life so I've got to do something to put an end to it I suppose and put it behind me."
Lawyer Stephen Kenny says he's confident the appeal will ultimately be successful, even if it fails first in military courts and has to go before US civil courts.
He says he's also considering the possibility of mounting legal action against the Australian government for its role in Mr Hicks' incarceration in Guantanamo.
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