Close Guantanamo, bring Hicks home, protesters say

SYDNEY, Jan 11 (Reuters) Protesters demanded today that Australia's only Guantanamo Bay detainee be brought home immediately as human rights groups called for the camp on Cuba to be shut down on the fifth anniversary of its opening.

A small group of protesters gathered outside government offices in Melbourne demanding the release of David Hicks, one of the camp's first inmates, while rights group Amnesty International planned global vigils.

''Bring David home, close Guantanamo now,'' protesters chanted.

More protests were planned for Sydney, Australia's largest city, later today.

''January 11, 2007, is a national day of shame,'' the Stop the War Coalition said in a statement, adding that the US and Australian governments had ''abandoned law and justice''.

Hicks, 31, was arrested in Afghanistan in late 2001 and accused of fighting for al Qaeda. He is among 395 suspected al Qaeda and Taliban fighters still being held in the U.S. enclave and is likely to be among the first to face trial.

The first detainees were flown to the heavily guarded camp five years ago, soon after the US-led war on Afghanistan was launched in response to the September 11, 2001, hijacked airliner attacks on the United States.

More than 770 captives have been held there since then, of whom only 10 have been charged with crimes.

Charges against Hicks of conspiracy, attempted murder and aiding the enemy were dropped when the US Supreme Court last June rejected the tribunal system set up by President George W Bush to try foreign terrorism suspects.

Terry Hicks said his son, who had pleaded not guilty to the charges, had been tortured and was suffering emotional stress.

''They've been bullying David for five years. This is the way they work, this is the way they extract information,'' Terry Hicks told TEN Network television.

''David has been incarcerated for five years and there has been no court procedures, no nothing. How easy is it for someone to be picked up and hidden away?'' he said.

Rules passed by Congress will take effect on January 17, clearing the way for trials to proceed.

Guantanamo Bay chief military prosecutor Colonel Morris Davis told Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) radio Hicks would be among the first to be charged within two weeks of the rules being cleared.

Davis accused Hicks's military-appointed lawyer, Major Michael Mori, of circulating ''half-truths'' to defend his client, who he said had been to al Qaeda training camps and had experience in Kosovo and Kashmir.

''I hope the Australian people aren't so gullible as to step in everything that Major Mori has been spreading, and if they do step in it, they need to wipe their feet before they go into the house,'' Davis told the ABC.

Australia has stood by close ally Washington. Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said he had spoken to his US counterpart, Alberto Gonzales, and there was an expectation that fresh charges would soon be brought against Hicks.

REUTERS SP KP1329