David Hicks has been held without trial at the US military camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for more than five years.

He was arrested in late 2001 in Afghanistan, where he is alleged to have fought for the Taliban regime against US forces.

With elections looming this year in Australia, the government of Prime Minister John Howard is facing increasing pressure over the 31-year-old's fate.

Delays in bringing him before a court have led to growing calls for his release and return home. Mr Hicks' family says the prolonged detention has eroded his emotional and mental health.

While US allies such as Britain obtained the return of their nationals from Guantanamo Bay, Australia's government has been accused of not trying hard enough to have Mr Hicks repatriated to face justice.

Canberra says it cannot intervene, but in February Mr Howard asked visiting US Vice President Dick Cheney for Mr Hicks to be bought to trial quickly.

Now that charges have finally been laid, the defendant may know of his fate before the year is out.

Sole charge

Mr Hicks is the first detainee at Guantanamo Bay to be charged under a new US law authorising special military trials of 'enemy combatants'.

He faces a single charge of 'providing material support for terrorism', which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

The charge alleges that Mr Hicks underwent weapons, guerrilla warfare, urban tactics and surveillance training at a series of al Qaeda's camps in Afghanistan in 2001.

It says he was in Pakistan visiting a friend at the time of the September 11 attacks in the US, but returned to Afghanistan and joined up with al Qaeda in Kandahar where he was given an AK-47 automatic rifle.

The charge sheet says Mr Hicks was in Kandahar when US bombing campaign began on October 10, 2001, and then moved north to the city of Kunduz where he spent about two hours on the frontlines outside the city before it collapsed.

After hiding out in Kuduz for three weeks, Mr Hicks sold his AK-47 and hired a taxi to take him to Pakistan, but was captured by the US-backed Northern Alliance, according to the charge sheet.

'Fabrication'

US prosecutors had prepared a second charge of attempted murder against Mr Hicks, but this was dropped by the judge assessing the case due to a lack of evidence.

The Australian prime minister says the scrapped charge indicates the US military commission system is fair.

However, Mr Hicks' US military lawyer, Major Michael Mori, says the remaining charge of supporting terrorism is 'made-up'.

'This is a law that the US created in 2006 that does not apply to Americans, that applies to Australians only,' he said.

'It's created by the US for you, Australians, not for Americans.

'And they're trying to apply [it] to David Hicks for conduct in 2000 and 2001.'

'Fair trial' promise

The chief US military prosecutor, Moe Davis, denies the charge of providing material support for terrorism is retrospective.

He says he is pleased the case is finally moving forward.

'We're going to do this right and treat Mr Hicks properly and give him a fair proceedings,' he said.

The promise is one that expert on international justice, Hilary Charlesworth, believes will not be kept.

The Australian National University professor says the processes used in the US military commissions are flawed because they allow hearsay and coerced evidence to be heard in court.

'We know that's that been done regularly in the so-called war against terror and that that's led to often absolutely inaccurate and bad information being used,' she said.

David Hicks' full military tribunal is expected to start by July.