Howard 'unhappy' with Hicks case

Now your unhappy Howie, you have been alright with it all along for that last 5 years, what has changed your mind now.

February 11, 2007

PRIME Minister John Howard says he's very unhappy about the US handling of the case against Australian terrorist suspect David Hicks.

Australia has called on the United State to stick to a mid-February deadline to charge Hicks, a Guantanamo Bay inmate who has been detained for more than five years without trial.

Prosecutors have recommended the Adelaide father of two be charged with attempted murder and providing material support for terrorism.

Mr Howard said today Foreign Minister Alexander Downer had raised the case with US Defence Secretary Robert Gates in Germany overnight.

"Mr Downer spoke to me on the phone about an hour ago and reported on the discussion, and he drove home again to the Americans the concern that I've expressed to President (George W) Bush," Mr Howard told the Nine Network.

"I'm very frustrated about the length of time it's taken.

"We are pressing the Americans almost on a daily basis to bring this man before the military commission.

"I am very unhappy. We are unhappy, frustrated, at the amount of time it's taken. I don't think the Americans have handled that part of it well."

Even people who felt very strongly about terrorism were concerned that a person should not be held indefinitely without trial, Mr Howard said.

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