Australia: Political vendetta resumes as David Hicks leaves prison

Wednesday, January 2, 2008 :Terry Hicks, the father of former Guantánamo Bay prisoner David Hicks, spoke with the World Socialist Web Site yesterday. His son, who was released from South Australia’s Yatala prison on December 29, has been barred from speaking to the media until the end of March. Terry commented on the political vendetta now being conducted by the Murdoch press and the imposition of a 12-month control order by the Rudd Labor government.

Richard Phillips: How is David coping with the media campaign?

Terry Hicks: Obviously he’s a bit nervous about all the media attention but he’s out of jail at last and that’s good. Of course, the pressure is going to be on us for a while, especially here in our home state when you have statements from the South Australian premier and the ex-foreign minister Alexander Downer. Their comments are absolutely ridiculous.

Downer even claimed when the Age newspaper found me and David in the park together the other day, and took a photo, that we’d been paid for it. Nothing like that happened, but this is the mentality of people like Downer.

RP: Were you surprised when the Rudd Labor government backed the control order on David?

TH: I wasn’t surprised but I was certainly disappointed. All the so-called evidence in the court hearing was so old and nothing was proven about these allegations. Yet they still decided to impose the curfews and all the other restrictions. This is going to make it hard for David, but he has said that he would wear that—to adhere to it—which is what he wants to do.

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