Australian prisoner David Hicks stood before a US military judge at the Guantanamo naval base this evening to answer a charge of providing material support for terrorism by fighting for al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
The 31-year-old former kangaroo skinner is the first prisoner charged in the revised military tribunals created by the US Congress after the Supreme Court struck down an earlier version that President Bush authorised to try foreign captives on terrorism charges.
Hicks is accused of fighting for al Qaeda in Afghanistan during the US-led invasion in 2001 and has been held at Guantanamo for more than five years.
Hicks faces life in prison if convicted and was expected to plead not guilty after the charges were read at tonight's hearing.
Hicks wore a khaki prison uniform and was unshackled as military guards escorted him into the flag-draped courtroom.
He had grown his hair to chest-length so he could use it to cover his eyes from the lights that shine in his cell all night, said one of his Australian attorneys, David McLeod.
At the hearing the short and stocky Hicks appeared to have gained considerable weight since his last hearing in 2004.
The US military flew Hicks' father and sister to the base and allowed them to meet privately with him in the court building before the hearing started.
Hicks faces life in prison if convicted and was expected to plead not guilty after the charges were read at Monday's hearing. But he is convinced he will not get a fair trial and has not ruled out a guilty plea if it would get him home sooner, McLeod said.
The United States has agreed to send him to Australia to serve any sentence.