Human Rights Conference

Major Michael Mori

US military lawyer Major Michael Mori is the defence counsel for Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks. An officer in the United States Marine Corps, Major Mori was appointed by the United States Department of Defence to represent David Hicks in November 2003. Major Mori has since become a prominent critic of the now illegal military commissions set up to try David Hicks and other Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Major Mori enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1983, leaving four years later to complete college and law school. In 1994 he graduated from the Western New England College School of Law in Massachusetts, returning to the Marines as an officer in 1995. Major Mori has spent over seven years as a military trial lawyer, including serving as senior defence counsel and civil law department head for the US Naval Legal Services Office Pacific in Japan. He has worked on more than 200 cases, volunteering to serve as a defence counsel to Guantanamo Bay detainees in 2003.

Major Mori's commitment to justice has seen him honoured with several awards, including the Navy Commendation Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal. He was a recipient of the 2005 American Civil Liberties Union's Roger N. Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award in recognition for his work defending David Hicks and, in doing so, challenging the validity of the entire military commission system. Major Mori continues to voice his opinions on the legal processes facing Guantanamo Bay detainees in the hope that David Hicks will be tried under a fair system.