Detainee’s Military Lawyer Speaks Out

The Pentagon-appointed lawyer for David Hicks, an Australian captured during fighting in Afghanistan, said Wednesday that his client’s mental state is deteriorating after two years of near-solitary confinement at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In his first public comments on the case, Marine Corps Maj. Michael Mori also said his client’s case would be more fairly prosecuted in Hicks’ home country rather than before a special military tribunal that has weaker due process protections than international or U.S. courts.

Hicks, 28, is one of six prisoners designated by President Bush as candidates for trial before military tribunals. He is among only two of the hundreds of detainees at Guantanamo to be given access to a lawyer.

“Physically, he’s as fair as can be expected when you’re in the conditions he’s being held in,” said Mori, who visited with Hicks for the third time last week. “Mentally, he’s probably degenerated to the point where his main concern are basic human instincts. He desires what he needs -- food, shelter.

“Remember, two years, without touch, without outside world communication, it kind of creates a disorientation.”

U.S. authorities say Hicks was fighting with the Taliban when he was captured. He also allegedly threatened to kill an American at the base prison.

Neither Hicks nor any of the Guantanamo prisoners has been charged with a crime. Mori said that made it difficult for him to prepare a vigorous defense.

He also criticized the military tribunals, which he said would “not provide a full and fair trial” and were “created and controlled by those with a vested interest only in convictions.”