The Australian Democrats today launched a petition calling for the Guantanamo Bay military facility to be closed and highlighting the injustice faced by South Australian citizen David Hicks.
"David Hicks has languished in the Guantanamo gulag for four years and still has no real prospect of receiving a fair trial," Democrats' Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Senator Natasha Stott Despoja said.
"The continuing incarceration of David Hicks is a disgrace for the United States Government and the Australian Government.
"Guantanamo Bay is saturated with breaches of international law and the facility must be shut down.
"There is much to hide: the United States recently refused to allow the United Nations full access to its facilities.
"The recent release of 133 detainees, 119 to detention in their country of citizenship, from Guantanamo Bay, has further highlighted the illegitimacy of the facility's operation.
"British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan and leading international jurists have condemned Guantanamo Bay, so why does our Government continue to offer its unquestioning support?
"Our Government must join other leading voices in the international community in opposing the ongoing operation of detention at Guantanamo Bay," Senator Stott Despoja said.
