Hicks

The Australian Government did not request the controversial one-year gag imposed on David Hicks, says the man who negotiated the deal on behalf of the United States.

Brigadier-General Thomas Hemingway said the gag was his idea.

"I thought it appropriate, given all the rhetoric that was floating around, that it would be appropriate if he would agree not to talk to the press or other media for a while," he said.

General Hemingway is the legal adviser to the military tribunal convening authority, which can approve reductions in sentences.

He negotiated the deal with Major Michael Mori, Hicks' military defence counsel.

Australian detainee David Hicks has pleaded guilty at a military court at Guantanamo Bay to charges of providing material support for terrorism.

The 31-year-old Muslim convert was accused of attending al-Qaeda training camps and fighting with the Taleban. The plea means that Hicks, who has been at the camp for five years, will return to Australia to serve his sentence. Hicks is the first detainee at the detention camp to face terror charges under new US rules.

He was charged under the new Military Commissions Act, which human rights groups condemn. 'Earliest opportunity'Hicks appeared at the hearing wearing khaki prison fatigues and with hair down to his chest - grown, his lawyer said, to pull over his eyes at night to keep out the light and allow him to get to sleep.

The chief US prosecutor for David Hicks' upcoming trial says he would be "dumbfounded" if the Australian terror suspect's US military lawyer, Major Michael Mori, was court-martialled for outspoken comments.

Colonel Morris Davis said he had no power to charge Maj Mori for contemptuous comments made against US President George W Bush, the US Secretary of Defense or Congress.

The prosecutor also said he was not aware of any moves by US officials with that power to bring charges against Maj Mori.

There were fears that if Maj Mori was court-martialled it would delay Hicks's long-awaited military commission trial.

"I'm not aware of anybody, anywhere that has any intention of charging Maj Mori with anything," Col Davis said.

Col Davis created headlines on the weekend when he suggested Maj Mori may have breached Article 88 of the US Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).

Article 88 prohibits military officers from using "contemptuous words" against the president, vice president, US secretary of defense or Congress.

Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks could face life in prison if he's found guilty of new charges laid by the US military, his lawyer warns.

The 31-year-old Adelaide-born father of two has been held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for five years without trial.

Overnight, the US military prepared new charges against Hicks - including supporting terrorism and attempted murder.

Canberra's federal Labor MPs have sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Party speaker of the US Congress, asking for help in bringing home accused Australian terrorist David Hicks.

ACT Senator Kate Lundy together with lower house members Bob McMullan and Annette Ellis say the US military commission process set send Hicks to trial runs against basic American values.

"As members of the Australian Parliament, we ask that members of the US Congress take steps to bring about the return to Australia of Australian citizen David Hicks, - a detainee held at Guantanamo Bay for more than five years - for prosecution here," the letter says.