Australia will investigate claims of sexual abuse against one of its nationals after claims he was taken from a US warship and abused in beatings before reaching Cuba.
Guantanamo Bay prisoner David Hicks has spent three-and-half years in US military custody at Guantanamo Bay after being captured alongside Taliban forces in Afghanistan in late 2001.
Mr Hicks's father, Terry, told Australian Broadcasting Corp that his son was blindfolded and beaten by Americans after being taken off a US warship in the Arabian Sea.
"He had two 10-hour beatings from the Americans," Mr Hicks told the Four Cornerscurrent affairs programme last night.
"I said to David: 'Sure they were Americans?' cause he said he had a bag over his head. He said, 'Oh look . . . I know their accents, they were definitely American'," he said.
A former Guantanamo Bay detainee, Briton Martin Mubanga, told the Four CornersMr Hicks had told him he was helicoptered off the USS Peleliuaircraft carrier, blindfolded, beaten, spat upon, sexually abused and assaulted.
"Our embassy in Washington will endeavour to follow up the credibility of these claims," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today.
"We've had claims that he was tortured. We've had two American teams investigate those claims and they have come back with nil returns," said Mr Downer; he urged those making the allegations to provide evidence.
Mr Downer said Australian consular officials had met Mr Hicks several times and he had never raised the issue with them.
Mr Hicks, accused of fighting for the al-Qaeda network, has pleaded not guilty to charges of aiding the enemy and conspiring to commit war crimes. His US military commission trial is set to start on November 18th.