Retrospective criminal laws and Guantanamo Bay : digging a deeper 'legal black hole'

The continuing illegal detention of two Australians, David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib, together with more than 600 others in a United States military prison on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba raises crucial questions involving essential legal and democratic rights. The Australian Government has permitted the Bush administration to hold the pair as alleged 'enemy combatants' for three years without charge or trial. This is in violation of intemational law, including the Geneva Conventions on prisoners of war. The refusal of both the Howard Govemment and the Labor Opposition to challenge the US Govemment's actions has demonstrated their disdain for fundamental legal principles. This was highlighted early in 2004 when the Australian Labor Party (ALP) leader Mark Latham proposed the enactment of retrospective anti-terrorism laws to permit Hicks and Habib to be repatriated for trial in Australia.