"Aussie Taliban" Asking US Court To Overturn Guantanamo Conviction

David Hicks' lawyers say he pleaded guilty under duress

MIAMI — Australian David Hicks was so desperate to get out of the Guantanamo prison that he pleaded guilty under duress to a charge that was not actually a war crime, his lawyers said in an appeal filed on Tuesday.

During his five years at Guantanamo, the man known as the "Aussie Taliban" was beaten, threatened with deadly violence, sexually assaulted, deprived of sleep for long periods and told that he would never again set foot in his native land, his lawyers said.