Does the Military Commission fall within the meaning of that defined in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002?
Under section 20 of the Proceeds of Crime Act, the court only needs to be satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that a person has committed a foreign indictable offence. While a conviction is not necessary, the court would first need to be satisfied that Hicks circumstances fall within the scope of the definition of foreign indictable offence under the Act. Only then could an application be made to confiscate the profits of any publication. Legislation was passed in 2004 that specifically amended the definition of foreign indictable offence.[22] The key element of that amendment was: [An] offence against a law of a foreign country includes an offence triable by a Military Commission of the United States of America established under a Military Order of 13 November 2001 made by the President of the United States of America and entitled Detention, Treatment and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism [emphasis added] This was added with the intention to
