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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MELBOURNE 000244 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PROP PTER PREL PINS AS
SUBJECT: GUANTANAMO SUICIDES SPUR NEW CRIES IN AUSTRALIA 
FOR DAVID HICKS' RELEASE 
 
REF: CANBERRA 599 
 
MELBOURNE 00000244  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Three detainee suicides at the Guantanamo Bay 
Detention facility on June 10 unsurprisingly have brought 
renewed calls for the release of Australian detainee David 
Hicks.  An Australian Parliamentary motion calling for the 
closure of Guantanamo and the return of Hicks to Australia 
narrowly failed in the Senate on June 14.  The Charge 
responded to a separate inquiry from a Member of Parliament 
on allegations by University of Wisconsin Professor Alfred 
McCoy that psychological torture of Hicks at Guantanamo had 
left Hicks in a severely damaged mental state.  Despite 
growing public sentiment against the facility, Australian PM 
Howard and his Cabinet are steadfast in their support for USG 
policy and their belief that Hicks has been, and will 
continue to be, treated fairly as his case is processed at 
Guantanamo.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) In the wake of three detainees committing suicide at 
Guantanamo Bay on June 10, Australian civil rights groups, 
members of the media, criminal defense lawyers and opposition 
Labor Party politicians, as well as the Green Party Senate 
leader, have again called variously for the U.S. to 
immediately release Australian detainee David Hicks; for 
Guantanamo Bay to be closed as a detention facility; and/or 
for the Australian Government to do more to secure Hicks' 
release. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Hicks' Adelaide-based Australian lawyer, David 
McLeod, told "The Sydney Morning Herald"  newspaper on June 
12 that the news of the "successful suicides would go around 
the camp like wildfire and no doubt cause (Hicks) and other 
detainees to reflect on their own positions."  "David Hicks 
has stopped eating and is shedding weight at an alarming 
rate," reported one breathless news account.  According to 
Hicks' American military attorney, Hicks had stopped eating, 
not because he is on a hunger strike, but because he has 
"just lost the desire to eat.  He's not coping," U.S. Marine 
Corps Major Michael Mori affirmed.  On Australian ABC radio, 
Mori complained: "I found him very desperate for human 
contact.  He'd lost a lot of weight."  Hicks' father, Terry 
Hicks, told Channel Seven News that he was not surprised that 
the detainees had committed suicide given their conditions 
and treatment. 
 
¶4. (SBU) On June 14, Greens Party leader, Senator Bob Brown, 
was joined by Labor and Australian Democratic MPs in a motion 
calling on the U.S. Government to close Guantanamo Bay and to 
ensure a fair trial for Hicks.  After the motion failed 34 to 
28, Brown issued a media release alleging that Guantanamo Bay 
is "anathema to the rule of law" and "should be closed 
immediately," adding that, "No other government in the world 
has abandoned its citizens to this illegal system."  "John 
Howard alone remains subservient to the Bush Administration 
in this matter," he concluded. 
 
¶5. (SBU) On June 14, Australian Member of Parliament Michael 
Danby, who is strongly pro-Alliance, asked the Charge to 
comment on allegations by University of Wisconsin professor 
and author Alfred McCoy that David Hicks' was being held in 
extreme isolation, subjected to systematic psychological 
torture, and that Hicks' lawyer Joshua Dratel had found Hicks 
in a "severely damaged and stressed psychological state."  In 
a written response drawing on Washington guidance, the Charge 
rebutted the thrust of McCoy's statements, which were 
contained in the "Monthly" magazine and elaborated during a 
June 13 Lateline interview with McCoy.  The Charge cited USG 
denials that Hicks is kept in solitary confinement, and noted 
that Hicks has daily access to a reading room, exercise area, 
and hot showers, and can meet privately with his lawyers and 
representatives of the International Committee of the Red 
Cross. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Asked about the Hicks case after the suicides, PM 
Howard stated on June 12 that a recent consular visit to 
Guantanamo Bay by Australian officials raised no concerns for 
 
MELBOURNE 00000244  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
Hicks.  "I've been told that he received a consular visit 
about two weeks ago and the report from that consular visit 
was positive," the PM said.  FM Alexander Downer also 
publicly stated that he was satisfied that Hicks was not a 
suicide risk and that his only health complaint was a bad 
back which Hicks raised with consular officials when he met 
them on June 8.  "He complained about some back ailment that 
he's had for a long time," Downer told ABC radio and added, 
"but he didn't seem particularly depressed according to the 
reports I've read."  After commenting that Hicks was not held 
in solitary confinement, was able to read, exercise, and 
could mix "with other detainees from time to time," Downer 
concluded: "I'm satisfied that his health and welfare are 
fine."  Attorney General Phillip Ruddock told reporters that 
the Australian government has spent in excess of AUD250,000 
(approx. USD186,000) representing Hicks and said that 
officials have visited him at Guantanamo Bay on at least 14 
occasions. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Media attention to the Hicks case follows a wave 
pattern over time.  We are currently observing a peak.  The 
suicides of the three Guantanamo detainees provided an 
opportunity to Hicks' defense team, which has generated 
public antipathy to his continued detention with the 
assistance of sympathetic media.  John Howard and his 
Government have taken pains to defend our actions 
consistently, even if it costs them short term political 
points.  End Comment. 
 
¶8. (U) This message has been coordinated with Embassy 
Canberra. 
 
IRVING