Former Guantánamo inmate David Hicks faces fight to keep book profits

Australian prosecutors take action to seize profits of Guantanamo, My Journey under ‘proceeds of crime’ law Australian prosecutors have begun legal action to seize book profits from the former Guantánamo Bay inmate David Hicks, who was convicted of terrorism offences at a US military tribunal. Random House published Hicks’s book, Guantanamo, My Journey, last year. It is based on his time at Guantánamo Bay from 2001 until 2007. Under Australian law, a person cannot gain commercial benefit from a crime. This can prevent criminals receiving payment for writing books about their offences. A spokeswoman for the Commonwealth director of public prosecutions said Hicks had been served orders on Wednesday and that the case was set for 3 August in the New South Wales state supreme court. Hicks’s book has reportedly sold 30,000 copies, regarded as “solid” sales for a hardcover book in Australia. As a rule of thumb, an author can expect around 10% of sales, with Hicks’s book having a recommended price of A$49.95 (£33). Hicks was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001 and spent five years in Guantánamo before pleading guilty to supporting terrorism and becoming the first person convicted by the war crimes tribunals the US created to try non-American captives. Law professor Clive Williams said Australia’s “proceeds of crime” law favoured the prosecution, but Hicks may use the court case to publicly raise issues over his conviction. “He may well raise issues going to the nature of his plea, whether duress was involved, whether it was a plea that should be recognised under the Australian legal system,” Williams, from the University of New South Wales, told local radio. “For David Hicks to defeat the claim, the attempt to seize those assets, he will have to raise questions that go to the heart of his conviction.” Hicks, a former kangaroo skinner, admitted training with al-Qaida and meeting its then leader Osama bin Laden, whom he described as “lovely”, according to police evidence given to the US military court. Hicks returned to Australia in 2007 as part of his guilty plea, which also included a one-year gag order. Another Australian, Mamdouh Habib, was released from Guantánamo without charge in 2005. Australia, a close US ally, was an original member of the US-led coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003 and Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 airliner attacks. Australia Guantánamo Bay Cuba Autobiography and memoir Biography United States guardian.co.uk

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