The United States has charged Australian David Hicks, a detainee at a prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with conspiracy to commit war crimes, attempted murder and aiding the enemy, the Pentagon said Thursday.
Hicks is the third 'war on terrorism' detainee at Guantanamo to be charged by the United States for trial by a military commission.
"The charges include: conspiracy to commit war crimes; attempted murder by an unprivileged belligerent and aiding the enemy," the Pentagon said in a statement.
Hicks was alleged to have attended al Qaeda training courses at camps in Afghanistan, and as part of one course conducted surveillance of the US and British embassy buildings in Kabul.
The Pentagon alleged that he returned to Afghanistan to fight against US and other coalition forces after seeing television news coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States.
"It is alleged Hicks armed himself with an AK-47 automatic rifle, ammunition, and grenades to fight against coalition forces," the Pentagon said.