The Australian National University will host a seminar tonight to mark the one year anniversary of David Hicks' guilty plea before the US military commission in Guantanamo Bay.
The seminar is being organised by the ANU's Centre for International and Public Law and the ACT Red Cross' International Humanitarian Law Committee.
International law professor Don Rothwell and the ANU Jessup international law moot team will examine the issues surrounding the case, including the gag order placed on the former detainee and the legality of the military commissions under international law.
Professor Rothwell said the plea bargain was still having an impact even though the gag order expired yesterday.
“Hicks remains subject to ongoing restraints with respect to his capacity to earn any profits or proceeds from media interviews under both US and Australian law," he said.
"In addition, he is subject to being called upon to appear as a witness in any future Military Commission hearings, which may occur as soon as mid 2008."
“However, it remains legally doubtful whether the US could ever enforce its orders against Hicks and compel him to give evidence before any future Military Commissions. If challenged, an Australian court would toss out any application by the US seeking to compel Hicks to testify as being an attempt to enforce a foreign governmental interest."
He said 'longstanding concerns' about the Commission process had been raised during a Supreme Court of Canada hearing last week.
The case had been brought by a Canadian citizen who had been held at the Bay since he was 15 after a military commission ruling on March 24 that Salim Hamdan was not subject to protection under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
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