I’m on a lunch break at our Sacred Violence Conference (http://law.case.edu/lectures ), however I wanted to step out and post this breaking news regarding the Hicks plea agreement.
According to news reports Hicks confessed to 35 specified allegations, his plea agreement mandates that:
- He is forbidden from talking to the media for 12 months
- He will serve a jail term limited to seven years (actual term determined by the panel)
- A portion of his sentence may be suspended
- He admits he was never mistreated
- If he violates the terms of his agreement it may delay his release from jail
- He must agree to assist U.S. and Australian officials with information about his terrorist activities
Comment #1
MHunter said,
Greg,
Some feedback - all the way from Australia! Your online CV includes:
“Gregory S. McNeal is Senior Fellow in Counterterrorism and International Law and Assistant Director of the Institute for Global Security Law and Policy at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
He teaches the Case School of Law’s Counterterrorism Prosecution Course, and Advanced Counterterrorism Prosecution Course, instructing and advising students in the development of legal memoranda used by the Office of the Prosecutor for the Department of Defense Office of Military Commissions. The work relates to the Guantanamo detainees through the Institute’s relationship with the U.S. Department of Defense.”
Now my comment+question:
The Australian Government has stated: if Hicks breaches his plea agreement by “talking to the media” prior to April 2008, the US Government will FAIL if it applies for his extradition from Australia - because the Aust-US extradition agreement applies only in respect of conduct which in Australia is also unlawful. And the right to free speech is preserved by the Australian Consitution.
Now my questions: is ‘talking to the media’ a right which is preserved for ALL Americans under some US law? If so, on what basis and for what purpose did a media-contact gag become a condition of Hicks’ release after five years in Guantanamo?
Perhaps some of your students could prepare a legal memorandum on this issue for consideration by the Office of the Prosecutor.
I will login again in a week or so, to see if my contribution prompts a response from you or anyone else!
April 12, 2007 at 3:29 pm