Girlfriend of David Hicks, Aloysia Brooks, tells media to leave her man alone

Girlfriend of David Hicks, Aloysia Brooks, tells media to leave her man alone
By Verity Edwards
The Australian

December 23, 2008

Dating Australia

SHE is the new woman in the changing life of former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks. And Aloysia Brooks, a postgraduate student, is fiercely outspoken in defence of her man.

After flying in with Mr Hicks to spend his first Christmas in nine years at home with his family in Adelaide, Ms Brooks yesterday took The Australian aside to plead to "give him space".

Mr Hicks was no longer a "confessed terrorism supporter", she said, despite the former kangaroo skinner's guilty plea before a US military commission last year.

"You don't know what went on there; you don't know under what conditions he signed (the confession)," Ms Brooks said.

Mr Hicks should instead be referred to as a free man after the expiry of a court-imposed control order last Saturday.

Freeing Mr Hicks after more than seven years in custody, including five years at the US military's controversial prison in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, was what brought the couple together.

Ms Brooks writes poetry on human rights issues and was this year enrolled at the University of Sydney's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. A Sydney woman with her distinctive first name leapt to Mr Hicks's defence on a newspaper website in 2006.

"David Hicks is someone's brother, son and father," Aloysia wrote. "He gets scared, bleeds and feels pain just like you or I ... He is someone who deserves to be treated with dignity, respect and compassion no matter what he has done."

Ms Brooks also signed a petition last year calling for justice for then-terror suspect Mohamed Haneef.

The romance blossomed after Mr Hicks moved from his home town of Adelaide to Sydney six months ago, where he found it easier to access rehabilitation services and settle back into the community.

The couple, photographed together for the first time by The Australian yesterday, kept their relationship under wraps until now.

Mr Hicks remained tightlipped when he flew into Adelaide to meet his father, Terry, his staunchest defender through his imprisonment.

Terry Hicks said he was pleased to have his son and new partner home for their first Christmas together this decade.