Australia welcomes the changes to the US military commission process that will try Australian terror suspect David Hicks, whom the United States alleges had links to the international terrorist network al-Qaeda and the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Hicks is being held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba after being captured in December, 2001 in Afghanistan.

The United States has admitted that the commission process is unfair and will change the commission process to make the presiding officer function more like a judge and other panel members function more like a jury.

The presiding officer will now be responsible for deciding most questions of law, while the other panel members will have the authority to determine commission findings and decide any sentence.

Under the earlier structure of the commissions, which began hearing cases last year, the three panel members together determined findings, decided legal questions and set sentences.

Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said Thursday that the changes are useful.

"I think these improvements make it more comparable to what people here would understand and while I don't argue ... that there is only one way in which you can conduct trials, I think the changes are useful additions," he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.

However, Hicks' Australian lawyer David McLeod said fundamental flaws still exist in the military commissions.

He said the changes did not go far enough to overcome fundamental flaws, including no independent judge or appeals process, no rules of evidence and allowing any evidence obtained under torture and hearsay to be admitted.

Source: Xinhua