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Julian Assange
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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.
David Hicks is an Australian national captured by the United States in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks and held at Guantanamo. 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.[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. 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 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 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]
Sourced from John Kiriakou's on-record public statements. See his profile for the full body of his interviews, podcast appearances, and short-form video.
