google news - The Australian Guantánamo Bay detainee David Hicks was today formally found guilty of terrorism charges, becoming the first prisoner convicted since the detention centre was set up in late 2001.
The tribunal judge, Marine Colonel Ralph Kohlmann, accepted a guilty plea entered by Hicks on Monday as part of a deal limiting his sentence to seven years in prison in addition to the five years for which he has already been detained at Guantánamo.



The arrangement allows for at least part of that sentence - which will be served in Australia - to be suspended.
The 31-year-old former kangaroo skinner pleaded guilty to providing material support for terrorism. His father, Terry, said he made the plea only so he could return home after "five years of absolute hell" in the detention camp.
Today's hearing was called to decide whether the tribunal would accept the plea as genuine.
Hicks admitted he trained with al-Qaida and fought with its forces in Afghanistan in December 2001 for two hours before selling his gun so he could raise a cab fare and flee.
A Muslim convert who has since abandoned the faith, Hicks was not accused of shooting anyone. He was captured trying to escape to Pakistan by taxi.
Showing little emotion, he told the judge that he had carried out surveillance work on the former US embassy in Kabul, and that the US government could prove its case against him.
Asked what evidence he had seen, he said: "Notes taken by interrogators from me."
He is the first person tried before the revised tribunals, which were created by Congress after the supreme court struck down an earlier version. Rights groups have condemned the tribunals as unfair, arbitrary and reliant on confessions obtained through torture.
Prior to today's hearing, military prosecutors said they would seek a jail term "substantially less" than the theoretical 20-year maximum.
It remains to be seen how much time Hicks will spend in any Australian jail.
While the Australian prime minister, John Howard, has long resisted pressure for him to be repatriated, his continued detention has become an increasing political liability with elections due to take place later this year.
A member of Mr Howard's cabinet, the employment minister, Joe Hockey, today said he expected the five years Hicks had spent in Guantánamo to be taken into account and predicted he could soon be freed.
"There might not be a custodial sentence that comes out of it, so he might come back here and be set free," he told Seven Network television.
The Sydney Morning Herald today cited unnamed Australian government sources as saying Hicks would most likely serve no more than a year in jail in Australia before being freed.
In a nine-page charge sheet, the Pentagon alleged that Hicks began his journey to militancy when he converted to Islam in 1999.
The charge sheet claimed he fought in Kosovo and Kashmir before receiving training from al-Qaida in Afghanistan in early 2001.
He watched the September 11 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington from a friend's house in Pakistan "and expressed his approval", it added.