# David Hicks > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "David Hicks," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/david-hicks/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *Australian national captured in Afghanistan in late 2001 and held at Guantanamo, whose case John Kiriakou uses as the measure of what the Australian government can achieve for one of its citizens when it decides to act — and therefore as the indictment of its slowness over Julian Assange.* - **Nationality:** Australian - **Converted:** To Islam at 18, after what Kiriakou describes as a troubled adolescence - **Role in al-Qaeda:** Guard at the Kandahar training camp; given a gun because he spoke no Arabic - **Captured:** Almost immediately after returning to Afghanistan from Pakistan following the September 11 attacks - **Held at:** [Guantanamo](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/guantanamo-bay), where Kiriakou says he was tortured mercilessly - **Outcome:** Tried at Guantanamo, found guilty, sentenced to time served and transferred to Australian custody **David Hicks** is an Australian national captured by the United States in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks and held at [Guantanamo](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/guantanamo-bay). [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) recounts his case not for its own sake but as a control: it is the one instance he cites of Canberra forcing Washington's hand over a citizen in American custody, and he uses it to ask why the same effort was not made for [Julian Assange](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/julian-assange).[1] ## The route to Kandahar Hicks was, in Kiriakou's account, a troubled teenager who converted to Islam at eighteen and then made his way to Afghanistan to fight alongside the [Taliban](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/taliban). He was recruited into al-Qaeda, but *"because he didn't speak Arabic, they just gave him a gun and told him to stand guard at the Kandahar Al-Qaeda training base."*[1] He happened to be in [Pakistan](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/pakistan-station-2002) on the day of the attacks, and *"as soon as he saw the news, he ran back to Afghanistan to help Al-Qaeda fight the Americans."* He was captured almost immediately and sent to Guantanamo, *"where he was tortured mercilessly."*[2] ## What Canberra did The Australian government intervened directly, on the specific ground of the alliance: *"Whoa, wait a minute. You can't torture an Australian citizen. This is a [Five Eyes](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/five-eyes) citizen. You have to let him go."* The result was a trial at Guantanamo, a conviction, a sentence of time served, and transfer into Australian custody.[3] ## The comparison Kiriakou draws Kiriakou does not present Hicks sympathetically. Having described the outcome he adds, flatly, *"Well, he was a genuine bad guy. What about Julian Assange? Why aren't the Australians in the streets over Julian Assange?"* He allows that the position had improved by the time of this 2023 conversation — *"it's getting better than it was 6 months ago even"* — while insisting that *"more needs to be done to impart to the White House that this is an issue worth falling on the sword for."*[3][4] ## See also - [Guantanamo Bay](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/guantanamo-bay) - [Julian Assange](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/julian-assange) - [Five Eyes](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/five-eyes) - [Kandahar](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kandahar) ## Sources 1. Ex-CIA Officer Exposes the Torture Program (2023-09-22), at 59:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72EuwXMxSAQ&t=3543s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-09-22-ex-cia-officer-exposes-the-torture-program/ 2. Ex-CIA Officer Exposes the Torture Program (2023-09-22), at 59:34. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72EuwXMxSAQ&t=3574s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-09-22-ex-cia-officer-exposes-the-torture-program/ 3. Ex-CIA Officer Exposes the Torture Program (2023-09-22), at 1:00:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72EuwXMxSAQ&t=3605s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-09-22-ex-cia-officer-exposes-the-torture-program/ 4. Ex-CIA Officer Exposes the Torture Program (2023-09-22), at 1:00:36. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72EuwXMxSAQ&t=3636s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-09-22-ex-cia-officer-exposes-the-torture-program/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/david-hicks/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt