US to lay fresh charges against Australian terror suspect: Howard

SYDNEY, Saturday (AFP)

Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Saturday said US military prosecutors were poised to lay fresh charges against the country's sole terror suspect jailed at Guantanamo Bay, David Hicks.

Howard did not specify the charges the 31-year-old Muslim convert will face, but Australian media said he would be accused of providing material support for terrorism and attempted murder, both charges carrying a possible life sentence.

Hicks has been jailed at the US base on Cuba for more than five years and Howard's government, facing an election later this year, has pressured the Pentagon to speed up the process amid public disquiet at the delays.

Howard said last month that while he believed it was correct Hicks face a US military trial, he had told Washington to charge him by mid-February at the latest.

"I'm glad that the charges are being laid and that the deadline I set has been met," said Howard, a staunch Washington ally who has committed troops to US-led military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. "They are very serious charges and that is why they should be dealt with as soon as possible."

Howard, who has resisted pressure to follow Britain's lead and demand the repatriation of its Guantanamo detainees, said the five-year delay faced by Hicks was "regrettable".

"Some of that has been due to objections by people, including Mr. Hicks' advisers, but a lot of it has been due to the slow process in the United States," he said.

"I'm glad that is has now finally come to a situation where charges are being laid and I would encourage, and in a very public way, and will be doing it privately, for the trial to be brought on as soon as possible." Hicks was captured fighting with the Taliban in late 2001 and allegedly received training from Al-Qaeda.

Howard said the charges showed Hicks, a former kangaroo skinner and ranch hand, from Adelaide, had a serious case to answer.

"They allege that in the full knowledge of what happened on the 11th of September he rejoined the Taliban, who were of course involved through al-Qaeda ... in the attack on the 11th of September (2001)," he said.

Hicks' supporters have accused Howard's government of abandoning an Australian citizen and the opposition Labor Party has threatened to make his plight an election issue if it is unresolved before a poll due late this year.