Hicks 'silenced' before Australian election

Under the terms of Hicks' plea bargain, he will be returned to Australia by the end of May to serve the balance of the nine-month jail term he was given by the US military commission at Guantanamo Bay.

Under the deal, most of Hicks' recommended seven-year sentence was suspended.

The convicted terrorist also has agreed not to speak to the media for one year or to allege he was mistreated while in detention at the US' military prison on Cuba.

Speaking at a peace rally in Melbourne, Senator Brown was adamant the media gag had been specifically sought by the Federal Government.

"Of course it's a fix," Senator Brown told reporters.

"The message has gone very clearly from Canberra to Washington to Guantanamo Bay: Don't allow Hicks to be released until after the elections and certainly don't allow him to speak.

"It's tawdry, it's despicable, it's a political fix overriding what should have been an Australian justice matter right from the outset."

Senator Brown said America's guarantee of free spe

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