Interviews
In this section you will find both audio files and other types of document. To listen to any of the audio files, click the play button on the controller.
Interviews with Leigh Sales
jump to Stories reported by Leigh Sales
Your Top Questions Answered
Download this pdf file [56kb] of key Questions and Answers compiled by Leigh Sales. They cover questions about the book, David Hicks and the process of reporting on his case over five years.
Leigh Sales in conversation with Ian Henschke
On May 15 Leigh Sales spoke with Ian Henschke at an event at the Don Dunstan Foundation in South Australia. Listen to the conversation.
Leigh Sales on Channel Nine's Sunday Program
On May 6 Leigh Sales spoke to Ray Martin on the Sunday Program. Watch the video coverage from this link.
Stories by Leigh Sales
26 August 2004 - Hicks's First Commission
This was the wrap-up I filed after Hicks's first appearance before the military commission in 2004. It was very interesting getting to see him in person after writing about him for so long previously. The international media at Guantanamo Bay had a lot of questions about why the Australian government had agreed to let Hicks go through the process when it was so controversial and when American citizens were not even facing the military commissions.
25 August 2004 - Salim Hamdan Commission
This was a story I filed for PM the day before Hicks had his first hearing in 2004. That day, another of the detainees, Salim Hamdan, was the first of the Guantanamo prisoners to appear before a military commission. It exposed some fairly serious holes in the process and a number of independent observers in the court room voiced their concerns.
24 August 2004 - Prior to Hicks's First Commission
I filed this story the day before Hicks was due to appear for the first time ever before a military commission, in August 2004. The journalists at Guantanamo that week were all very frustrated by the severe security restrictions. We were not allowed to show any pictures of Hicks, the defence lawyers, the prosecutors or the Presiding Office, nor were were allowed access to transcripts from the hearings or audio recordings. It made it quite a challenge to report, especially for television.
30 July 2004 - Hearing Date Set for Hicks
This is a story in which I broke the news that the US military had finally set a hearing date for David Hicks, two and a half years after his capture in Afghanistan. It was big news, because everybody was very eager to get a look at Hicks. I honestly can't remember now who gave me the tip off on the story, although from what I say in the interview, clearly I had been talking to sources in the Pentagon.
16 July 2004 - Abuse at Guantanamo Bay?
I reported this story on my first trip to Guantanamo Bay in 2004. Steve Rodriguez, the chief interrogator, is mentioned in Chapter 10 of the book. The most memorable thing to me in this story was the interview with the head of the hospital at Guantanamo, Commander Tom Delaney - in particular, the lengthy silence when I asked him if any of the detainees in the prison had severe mental health problems.
15 July 2004 - Exploring Guantanamo
This story comes from my first visit to Guantanamo Bay in 2004. We were taken on a tour of the camp. It was very barren and stark. I found it an uncomfortable experience to see some of the detainees - partly because perhaps they were murderous extremists, and partly because perhaps they were not. Nobody had ever offered any evidence against them, so it was a case of trusting the US military when they said the prisoners were 'the worst of the worst'.
18 December 2003 - Steve Kenny Press Conference
This was a story I filed from New York, where the Australian lawyer Steve Kenny held a press conference after seeing Hicks at Guantanamo Bay for the first time. Major Mori and Kenny had just returned from the trip. This story is very memorable to me, as it was only the second occasion on which I had met Major Mori. He wasn't a public identity at that time, and he hid at the back of the press conference room in civilian clothes. He tried to slip out at the end unnoticed, but I chased him down the corridor with a camera, as at that stage, he was gagged by the Pentagon and any interview or footage of him was hot property.
