Editing David Hicks (section)

==Religious and militant activities==
Hicks converted to [[Islam]],<ref name="TheAge20061202_BringHicksHome">{{Cite news
 | author1=Munro, Ian
 | author2 = Debelle, Penelope
 | url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/bring-hicks-home/2006/12/02/1164777845596.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap3
 | title=Bring Hicks home
 | work=[[The Age]]
 | publisher=Fairfax Media
 | date = 2 December 2006
}}</ref> and began studying [[Wahhabism]] at a [[mosque]] in [[Gilles Plains, South Australia|Gilles Plains]], a suburb north of [[Adelaide]]. The president of the [[Islamic Society of South Australia]], [[Wali Hanifi]], described Hicks as having "some interest in military things", and that "after personal experience and research, [found] that Islam was the answer".<ref name= GC/>

In 2010, Hicks explained his motivation to convert to Islam:
<blockquote>My motivation was not a religious search for spirituality; it was more a search for somewhere to belong and to be with people who shared my interest in world affairs. In my youth I was impulsive. Unfortunately, many of my decisions of that time are a reflection of that trait.<ref name="smh12122010_toughquestions">{{Cite news
 | author=Duff, Eamon
 | url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/at-last-hicks-answers-the-tough-questions-20101211-18tgr.html
 | title=At last, Hicks answers the tough questions
 | work=The Sydney Morning Herald
 | publisher=Fairfax Media
 | date = 2 December 2010
 }}</ref></blockquote>

He renounced his faith during the earlier years of his detention at Guantánamo.<ref name="UsaToday20070910">{{Cite news
 | url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-09-10-hicks_N.htm
 | title=Father: Hicks focuses on his future
 | author=Wiseman, Paul
 | work =[[USA Today]]
 | date=10 September 2007
| access-date =11 September 2007
| author-link= Paul Wiseman}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=286070 |title=David Hicks inside & out |author=Eccleston, Roy |publisher=[[ACP Magazines]] |work=[[The Bulletin (Australian periodical)|The Bulletin]] |date=17 August 2007 |access-date=19 September 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070903160704/http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=286070 |archive-date=3 September 2007 }} [http://old.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=21511 mirror] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821103613/http://old.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=21511 |date=21 August 2014 }}</ref> In June 2006, [[Moazzam Begg]], a British man who had also been held at Guantanamo Bay but was released in 2005, claimed in his book, ''Enemy Combatant: A British Muslim's Journey to Guantanamo and Back'', that Hicks had abandoned his Islamic beliefs, and had been denounced by a fellow inmate, Uthman al-Harbi, for his lack of observance.<ref name="smh-2007-02-28">{{Cite news
 | url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hicks-no-longer-a-muslim-exdetainee/2006/06/23/1150845378125.html
 | title=Hicks no longer a Muslim: ex-detainee
 | author=Debelle, Penelope
 | work=The Age
 | publisher=Fairfax Media
 | date = 24 June 2006
}}</ref> This has also been confirmed by his military lawyer, Major [[Michael Mori]], who declined to say why Hicks was no longer a Muslim, saying it was a personal issue.<ref name="Ref_a">{{cite news
 | url = http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21298791-662,00.html
 | title = Hicks drops Islamic faith
 | work = [[Herald Sun]]
 | publisher = News Limited
 | date = 28 February 2007
 | author = Dunn, Mark
 | access-date = 13 March 2008
 | archive-date = 10 September 2012
 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20120910072817/http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21298791-662,00.html
 | url-status = dead
 }}</ref>

===Kosovo Liberation Army===
Around May 1999, Hicks travelled to Albania in order to join the [[Kosovo Liberation Army]]. The US military alleged that he undertook basic training and hostile action before returning to Australia and converting to Islam.<ref name=SBSNews2015-02-24>{{Cite news |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-case-against-david-hicks |title=The case against David Hicks |work=SBS news |date=24 February 2015 |access-date=29 April 2018 |archive-date=29 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180429093244/https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-case-against-david-hicks |url-status=dead }}</ref> The KLA did not accept Islamic fundamentalism, and many of its fighters and fundraisers were [[Catholic Church|Catholic]].<ref name="Perritt2010">{{cite book|author=Henry H. Perritt|title=Kosovo Liberation Army: The Inside Story of an Insurgency|date=1 October 2010|publisher=University of Illinois Press|page=3}}</ref> In June 1999, the [[Kosovo War]] ended and the [[Kosovo Liberation Army|KLA]] disbanded as part of [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244|UNSCR 1244]].  Hicks described his time with the [[Kosovo Liberation Army|KLA]] as a life-changing experience and on his return to Australia, converted to Islam and began studying at a mosque in [[Gilles Plains]] in Adelaide.<ref>{{cite news |title=David Hicks: Former Guantanamo bay detainee, foreign fighter, author |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-23/david-hicks-profile/6032056|access-date=15 June 2018 |work=ABC News |language=en-au}}</ref>

===Lashkar-e-Taiba===
On 11 November 1999, Hicks travelled to [[Pakistan]] to study Islam<ref name="ABC20051031_4Corners">{{Cite news
 | url=http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2005/s1494795.htm
 | title=The Case of David Hicks
 | author=Whitmont, Debbie
 | work=[[Four Corners (Australian TV program)|4 Corners]]
 | publisher=ABC
 | date = 31 October 2005
}}</ref><ref name="amnesty1">{{cite web
 |url         = http://action.amnesty.org.au/hrs/comments/david_hicks_the_story_so_far/
 |title       = David Hicks: The story so far
 |publisher   = [[Amnesty International|Amnesty International Australia]]
 |work        = Our work: torture and terror
 |date        = 23 October 2006
|access-date  = 15 April 2011
|url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://archive.today/20121129181500/http://action.amnesty.org.au/hrs/comments/david_hicks_the_story_so_far/
 |archive-date = 29 November 2012
|df          = dmy-all
}}</ref> and allegedly began training with [[Lashkar-e-Taiba]] (L-e-T) in early 2000.<ref name="ABCPM_20040513">{{Cite news
 | url=http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2004/s1107792.htm
 | title=Is Lashkar-e-Taiba still operating in Pakistan?
 | publisher=ABC
 | author=Thompson, Geoff
 | work=[[PM (ABC Radio)|PM]]
 | date=13 May 2004
}}</ref><ref name=smh>{{Cite news
 | url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/11/1086749867034.html
 | title=The US charges David Hicks
 | work=The Sydney Morning Herald
 | publisher=Fairfax Media
 | agency=AAP
 | date=11 June 2004
}}</ref> In the US Military Commission charges presented in 2004, Hicks is accused of training at the [[Mosqua Aqsa]] camp in Pakistan, after which he "travelled to a border region between Pakistan-controlled [[Kashmir]] and Indian-controlled Kashmir, where he engaged in hostile action against Indian forces.".<ref name="MCC2004">{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.defense.gov/news/Jun2004/d20040610cs.pdf
 |title       = Sworn charges: conspiracy; attempted murder by an unpriviledged belligerent; aiding the enemy
 |type        = PDF
 |publisher   = US Department of Defense
 |work        = Military Commissions: David M. Hicks
 |year        = 2004
 |access-date  = 29 May 2011
|url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110608034249/http://www.defense.gov/news/Jun2004/d20040610cs.pdf
 |archive-date = 8 June 2011
|df          = dmy-all
}}</ref>

In a March 2000 letter to his family, Hicks wrote:
<blockquote>don't ask what's happened, I can't be bothered explaining the outcome of these strange events has put me in Pakistan-Kashmir in a training camp. Three months training. After which it is my decision whether to cross the line of control into Indian occupied Kashmir.</blockquote>
In another letter on 10 August 2000, Hicks wrote from Kashmir claiming to have been a guest of Pakistan's army for two weeks at the front in the "controlled war" with [[India]]:
<blockquote>I got to fire hundreds of bullets. Most Muslim countries impose hanging for civilians arming themselves for conflict. There are not many countries in the world where a tourist, according to his visa, can go to stay with the army and shoot across the border at its enemy, legally.<ref name="TheAust20070210_Kashmir">{{Cite news |url=http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21200396-2,00.html |title=Hicks facing Indian probe over Kashmir shooting |author1=Merritt, Chris |author2=Loudon, Bruce |work=The Australian |date=10 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070728091913/http://www.news.com.au/story/0%2C23599%2C21200396-2%2C00.html |archive-date=28 July 2007 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref></blockquote>

During this period, Hicks kept a notebook to document his training in weapon use, explosives, and military tactics, in which he wrote that guerrilla warfare involved "sacrifice for Allah". He took extensive notes on, and made sketches of, various weaponry mechanisms and attack strategies (including [[Heckler & Koch]] submachine guns, the [[M16 rifle|M16]] assault rifle, [[RPG-7]] grenade launcher, anti-tank rockets, and VIP security infiltration).<ref name="AUS20080220_LETDiary">{{Cite news |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/archive/news/diary-reveals-hicks-terror-training/story-e6frg6p6-1111115595426 |title='Jihad' diary reveals David Hicks terror training |author=Walker, Jamie |work=The Australian |date=20 February 2008 |access-date=20 August 2014 }}</ref> Letters to his family detailed his training:
<blockquote>I learnt about weapons such as ballistic missiles, surface to surface and shoulder fired missiles, anti aircraft and anti-tank rockets, rapid fire heavy and light machine guns, pistols, [[AK-47]]s, mines and explosives. After three months everybody leaves capable and war-ready being able to use all of these weapons capably and responsibly. I am now very well trained for jihad in weapons some serious like anti-aircraft missiles.<ref name=HW>{{cite news
 | url = http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/defence/in-david-hickss-own-words/story-e6frg8yx-1111115167069
 | title = In David Hick's own words
 | work = The Australian
 | publisher = News Limited
 | date = 21 December 2007
 | access-date =6 February 2008
 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811182934/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/defence/in-david-hickss-own-words/story-e6frg8yx-1111115167069 |archive-date=11 August 2011}}</ref></blockquote>

In January 2001, Hicks was provided with funding and an introductory letter from Lashkar-e-Taiba. He travelled to Afghanistan to attend training.<ref name="MCC2004"/> According to Hicks' autobiography ''[[Guantanamo: My Journey]]'', he was unfamiliar with the name Al-Qaeda until after his detainment in Guantanamo Bay.<ref name="smh1"/>

===Afghanistan===
Upon arrival in Afghanistan, Hicks allegedly went to an al-Qaeda guest house where he met [[Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi]], a high-ranking al Qaeda member.{{dubious|Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi was a minor rival to al Qaeda|date=February 2015}} He turned over his passport and told them that he would use the alias "Muhammad Dawood" (to protect himself from attack).<ref name="MCC2004"/>
Hicks allegedly "attended a number of al-Qaeda training courses at various camps around Afghanistan, learning guerrilla warfare, weapons training, including landmines, kidnapping techniques and assassination methods."<ref name= smh/> He also allegedly participated "in an advanced course on surveillance, in which he conducted surveillance of the abandoned buildings that had formerly been the US and British embassies in [[Kabul]], Afghanistan." Hicks was sent to learn guerrilla techniques for the Pakistani L-e-T for use in disputed Kashmir.<ref name= smh/>

Hicks denies any involvement with al-Qaeda.  He also denies  any knowledge of links between the camp and al-Qaeda.  According to Hicks, he did not know of the existence of al-Qaeda until he was taken to Cuba and was interrogated by US military personnel.
{{Blockquote|There were three or four camps under the name of Camp Farouk at that time in Afghanistan.  I attended the open mainstream camp, not terrorist camps.  I would not have been there if there was any suggestion of terrorist activity or the targeting of civilians.  How would a white boy new to Islam, not understanding local customs or languages, largely uneducated in the ways of the world, get access to such supposedly secret camps planning acts of terror?  The camps I attended were not al-Qaeda.  I did not hear about such an organisation until my arrival in Guantanamo Bay.|David Hicks<ref name="smh1">{{cite news
 | url = http://www.smh.com.au/national/at-last-hicks-answers-the-tough-questions-20101211-18tgr.html
 | title = At last, Hicks answers the tough questions
 | work = The Sydney Morning Herald
 | publisher = Fairfax Media
 | author = Duff, Eamon
 | date = 12 December 2010
 | access-date =15 April 2011 }}</ref>}}

On one occasion when al-Qaeda founder [[Osama bin Laden]] visited an Afghan camp, the US Defense Department alleges<ref name= smh/> Hicks questioned bin Laden about the lack of English in training material and subsequently "began to translate the training camp materials from Arabic to English".  Hicks denies this and denies having had the necessary language proficiency, a claim supported by Major [[Michael Mori]]<ref name="ABCAM">[http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2004/s1129577.htm David Hicks charged] [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC Radio]]  11 June 2004</ref> and fellow detainee [[Moazzam Begg]].  The latter said that Hicks could not speak enough Arabic to be understood.<ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2005/s1494795.htm The Case of David Hicks] [[Four Corners (Australian TV program)|Four Corners]] 31 October 2005 (Transcript)</ref>  Hicks wrote home that he had met Osama bin Laden 20 times.  He later, however, told investigators he had exaggerated, that he had seen bin Laden about eight times and spoken to him only once.
<blockquote>There are a lot of Muslims who want to meet Osama Bin Laden but after being a Muslim for 16 months I get to meet him.<ref name = HW/></blockquote>
Prosecutors also allege Hicks was interviewed by [[Mohammed Atef]], an al-Qaeda military commander, about his background and "the travel habits of Australians".<ref name="Ref_b">{{cite web
 | url = http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun2004/d20040610cs.pdf
 | title = United States v. David Matthew Hicks
 | date = June 2004
 }}</ref> In a memoir that was later repudiated by its author, the Guantanamo detainee [[Feroz Abbasi]] claimed Hicks was "Al-Qaedah's 24 [carat] Golden Boy" and "obviously the favourite recruit" of their al-Qaeda trainers during exercises at the al-Farouq camp near [[Kandahar]]. The memoir made a number of claims, including that Hicks was teamed in the training camp with [[Filipino people|Filipino]] recruits from the [[Moro Islamic Liberation Front]] and that, during internment in [[Camp X-Ray]], Hicks allegedly described his desire to "go back to Australia and rob and kill Jews&nbsp;... crash a plane into a building" and to "go out with that last big adrenaline rush."<ref name="Time">{{cite magazine
 | author=Callinan, Rory
 | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1592997,00.html
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070226145036/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1592997,00.html
 | url-status=dead
 | archive-date=26 February 2007
 | title=David Hicks Under Fire
 | magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]
 | publisher = Time Inc.
 | date=22 February 2007
 | access-date =23 September 2007 }}</ref>

==== September 2001 ====
On 9 September 2001, Hicks travelled from Afghanistan to Pakistan to visit a friend.<ref name =GC/>  A [[US Department of Defense]] statement claimed that "viewing TV news coverage in Pakistan of the [[September 11 attacks|11 September 2001 attacks]] against the United States" led Hicks to return to Afghanistan to "rejoin his al-Qaeda associates to fight against U.S., British, Canadian, Australian, Afghan, and other coalition forces."<ref name="ABC20051031_4Corners"/><ref name= smh/>  Hicks denies this claim in his book.  Although the L-e-T offered to provide documentation to allow him to return to Australia, Hicks feared arrest for using false documents.{{citation needed|reason=specific reference|date=May 2011}}  Hicks returned in order to get his passport and birth certificate back so he could travel home to Adelaide.<ref name="ABC20051031_4Corners"/><ref name= smh/>

Hicks arrived in the southern Afghan city of [[Kandahar]] where he reported to [[Saif al Adel]], who was assigning individuals to locations, and "armed himself with an [[AK-47]] automatic rifle, ammunition, and grenades to fight against coalition forces." Hicks was given a choice of three locations and chose to join an alleged group of al-Qaeda fighters defending the Kandahar airport.  After Coalition bombing commenced in October 2001, Hicks began guarding a Taliban tank position outside the airport.  After guarding the tank for a week, Hicks, with an [[Lashkar-e-Toiba|L-e-T]] acquaintance, travelled closer to the battle front in [[Kunduz]] where he joined others, including [[John Walker Lindh]].<ref name="MCC2004"/><ref name= smh/>

Colonel [[Morris Davis]], chief prosecutor for the US office of Military Commissions, said, "He eventually left Afghanistan and it's my understanding was heading back to Australia when 9/11 happened.  When he heard about 9/11, he said it was a good thing (and) he went back to the battlefield, back to Afghanistan, and reported in to the senior leadership of al-Qaeda and basically said, 'I'm David Hicks and I'm reporting for duty.{{'"}}  Davis also compared Hicks' alleged actions to that of those who carried out terrorist attacks such as the Bali, London and Madrid bombings, and the [[Beslan school siege]].<ref name="AGE20070111_HicksCase">{{Cite news
 | url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/the-case-against-david-hicks/2007/01/10/1168105052462.html
 | title=The case against David Hicks
 | publisher = Fairfax Media
 | work=The Age
 | date= 11 January 2007
| first=Jane
 | last=Holroyd
 }}</ref>  Terry Hicks, said that his son seemed at first unaware, then sceptical,{{Clarify|date=September 2018}} of the 11 September attacks when they spoke on a mobile phone in early November 2001.  He also noted David Hicks commented about "going off to Kabul to defend it against the [[United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan|Northern Alliance]]."<ref name="bbc1" /><ref name="ABCRadioNational_BB20030713">{{Cite episode |title=David Hicks: Human Rights on Trial |author=Thomas, Helen |network=ABC |series=Background Briefing |date=13 July 2003 |url=http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/david-hicks-human-rights-on-trial/3550876 |access-date=20 August 2014}}</ref>

In October and November 2001, Hicks wrote multiple letters to his mother in Australia.  He asked that replies were to be directed to Abu Muslim Austraili, a pseudonym he used to circumvent non-Muslim spies he believed intercepted correspondence.  In these letters he detailed the validity of [[jihad]] and his own prospect of [[Martyrdom in Islam|martyrdom]].
<blockquote>As a Muslim young and fit my responsibility is to protect my brothers from aggressive non-believers and not let them destroy it. Islam will rule again but for now we must have patience we are asked to sacrifice our lives for Allahs cause why not?  There are many privileges in heaven.  It is not just war, it is jihad.  One reward I get in being martyred I get to take ten members of my family to heaven who were destined for hell, but first I also must be martyred.  We are all going to die one day so why not be martyred?<ref name= HW/></blockquote>

David Hicks wrote a number of anti Semitic letters during his time in Afghanistan which were published in ''[[The Australian]]'' with statements such as "The Jews have complete financial and media control many of them are in the Australian government" and "The western society is controlled by the Jews".<ref name="HW"/>

In November 2005, the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]'s ''[[Four Corners (Australian TV program)|Four Corners]]'' TV program broadcast for the first time a transcript of an interview with Hicks, conducted by the [[Australian Federal Police]] (AFP) in 2002, and other material, including a report that Hicks had signed a statement written by American military investigators stating that he had trained with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, learning guerrilla tactics and urban warfare.<ref name="ABC20051031_4Corners"/>  The program also reported that Hicks had met Osama bin Laden and that he claimed to have disapproved of the 11 September attacks but to have been unable to leave Afghanistan.  He denied engaging in any actual fighting against US or allied forces and states in his autobiography that he was made to sign the statement under extreme duress.<ref name="ABC20051031_4Corners"/>{{Page needed|date=April 2011}}