[JURIST] Australia [JURIST news archive] has disputed suggestions by the US Department of Defense [official website] that the four years terror suspect David Hicks [advocacy website] has been detained at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] should not count toward any sentence he receives if convicted. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer [official profile], in a rare break with US policy in Guantanamo, said he would oppose the US [interview transcript] if it chose to ignore the time served by Hicks. Downer's comments came after a US military legal advisor said that sentences issued to Guantanamo detainees would begin at the point of their conviction. Hicks is expected to stand trial beginning Nov. 18 on charges that he fought for the Taliban against US forces in Afghanistan in 2001. AFP has more.

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