The Australian citizen David Hicks has become the first Guantanamo prisoner to plead guilty under the Military Commissions Act passed last year. Hicks entered the guilty plea Monday as part of a deal with military prosecutors. Hicks has been held at Guantanamo Bay for the past five years. We speak with Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. [rush transcript included]

The U.S. government had originally accused Hicks of conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to engage in acts of terrorism, attempted murder and aiding the enemy but only ended up charging him with a single crime -- providing material support for terrorism. Pentagon officials say Hicks will likely serve his sentence in Australia.

Hicks has said he was sodomized, beaten, and subjected to forced injections while in U.S. custody. The military denies the allegations.

Hicks appeared in the courtroom wearing khaki prison fatigues and with hair down to his chest - grown, his lawyer said, to pull over his eyes at night to keep out the light and allow him to get to sleep.

Before the hearing, Hicks was allowed a two-hour reunion with his father and sister.

As the proceedings got under way, Hicks was formally charged and initially deferred entering a plea. But later on his lawyers told the judge he was pleading guilty.

• Air Force colonel Moe Davis, chief prosecutor for the tribunals.

Hicks' guilty plea came after a military judge barred two of Hicks' lawyers from the court proceedings. One of the attorneys had refused to sign a document pledging to follow court rules that hadn't been defined. Legal observers are criticizing the decision.

• Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights which has represented dozens of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. He is author of the book, "Guantanamo: What the World Should Know." He joins me now in the firehouse studio.