Documentary about David Hicks to be screened on ABC (Oz) this week

AM - Tuesday, 16 March , 2004 08:24:00
Reporter: Tanya Nolan

TONY EASTLEY: A documentary to be aired on Australian television this week, attempts to reveal, for the first time, what led Australian David Hicks to become a Taliban fighter.

The President versus David Hicks tracks his life from Adelaide on to Pakistan and then on to Afghanistan. In the film his father, Terry Hicks examines his son's letters to try and find some answers.

Along the way, Terry Hicks meets the man who was in the cell next to his son in Guantanamo Bay. The film is produced and co-directed by independent film-maker Curtis Levy.

Tanya Nolan reports.

TANYA NOLAN: The president versus David Hicks shows how David Hicks found purpose and identity in the teachings of Islam. It charts his service with the Kosovo Liberation Army, then his travels to Pakistan and Afghanistan where he documents his conversion to Islam through numerous letters to his family.

His father Terry Hicks makes those private letters public for the first time. LETTER EXCERPT: 4th of March, 2000. Dear Family, Hello again... Happenings here in Pakistan seem to be way out of my control…

TERRY HICKS: I don't what he's talking about, which is out of his control, whether he's heavily influenced by other people at this stage, on his decision to turn around and go back into Kashmir, I don't know… we're not sure. I think it's a bit confusing here at this stage.

TANYA NOLAN: From his training and fighting with the Islamic fundamentalist paramilitary group Lashkar-e-Toiba in Kashmir, it's not quite clear what drew David Hicks to Afghanistan and the Taliban.

LETTER EXCERPT: Afghanistan is in the middle of a very, very heavy war in the north, no waiting here. I have arranged to go directly to the front.

TANYA NOLAN: What is clear is that he was considered by those who knew him, to be a good Muslim, something Terry Hicks was able to hear first hand from Jon Mohammed, the man who occupied a cell next to his son, at Guantanamo Bay.

Upon their capture the US stated that the detainees were significant members of the Taliban.

Jon Mohammed disputes that and says members of the group that was at war with the Taliban, the Afghani Northern Alliance, overstated their importance so they could get hold of a larger bounty.

JOH MOHAMMED (translated): The fact is, that our own people, our own Afghans handed us over, saying we were the leaders. For the sake of money, they'd arrest you and say that you were a leader. Anyone they catch is accused of being a Taliban leader.

TANYA NOLAN: The film maker Curtis Levy says he found a witness to the transaction that took place when David Hicks was handed to US authorities

CURTIS LEVY: One of the translators who worked on our film was travelling in the area where David was captured, and met a policeman who had been working in the garrison when David was arrested and claims that he saw this transaction happen, and that he said it was a common practice, but that in David's case, the figure was $15,000.

But I think the practice of handing over bounty for suspected Taliban fighters, or al-Qaeda or whatever, was quite common, and I think the American military makes no secret of that practice.

TANYA NOLAN: These claims are not verified in the film, although it does show an interview with members of the Northern Alliance about David Hicks' capture, but like much of the documentary, it leaves more questions than answers. ...........