By Jane Sutton

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba, March 28 (Reuters) - Australian David Hicks could cash in on his notoriety in his homeland as the only prisoner convicted in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals, a unique status he is expected to hold for the near future.

The 31-year-old pleaded guilty on Monday to providing material support for terrorism and is expected to learn his sentence when the tribunal resumes at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. naval base later this week.

Although he is not well known in the United States, Hicks is a household name and political symbol in his native Australia. He was captured in late 2001 in Afghanistan, where he was accused of helping al Qaeda fight American troops and their allies during the U.S.-led invasion after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The former farmhand and high-school drop-out could make more than $1 million Australian -- equivalent to about $860,000 -- if he sells the story of five-year incarceration at Guantanamo, Australian celebrity publicist Max Markson told the the Sydney Morning Herald's Web site.

"He could make an absolute fortune, everyone wants to talk to him," Markson said. "There'll be the book and then there'll be the movie."

Hicks' potential windfall will also depend on whether the Australian government pursues him under a law that bars convicts from benefiting financially from their crimes.

Hicks has attained celebrity status in his homeland, where criticism of his treatment by the United States has grown louder and more political as Prime Minister John Howard faces year-end elections.

"The prime minister has aligned himself with the United States and the war on terror. Hicks' cause became a way of attacking that alliance," said television journalist Leila McKinnon, who is covering the tribunals for Nine Network Australia.

"It's not that people think he's necessarily innocent but recently there's been growing anger about how long he'd been held without charges or trial."

Hicks has claimed he was abused and sodomized at Guantanamo, charges the U.S. military denies.

'FLEETING' AUDIENCE

But interest in Hicks' story could be short-lived, cautioned Charlotte Abbott, senior editor at Publishers Weekly. She said books about the misadventures of so-called American Taliban John Walker Lindh, or by British former Guantanamo prisoner Moazzam Begg were not best sellers.

"The current events cycle is so fast. The audience can be fleeting because so much information is available in other forms," Abbott said.

"I'm sure there will be a publisher interested. The question is how popular the book will be. Especially if he (Hicks) is not around to promote it" because he is in prison.

No detail of Hicks' life at the detention camp is inconsequential for the reporters from his homeland, who persuaded the prison librarian to reveal Hicks' favored choice of reading material: surfing and saltwater fishing books.

Hicks is the only detainee charged so far in the new military tribunal system the U.S. Congress created after the Supreme Court struck down an earlier version that President George W. Bush authorized to try foreign captives on terrorism charges.

The military says as many as 80 of the 385 men held at Guantanamo will likely face prosecution, but the process is moving so slowly that no one else is likely to see his case resolved soon, in large part because of a shortage of courtroom space at Guantanamo.

Although Hicks had faced a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted, the chief prosecutor, Air Force Col. Moe Davis, said he never planned to ask for more than 20 years.

That request will now be trimmed because of his guilty plea and will take into account the five years Hicks has spent at Guantanamo, according to Davis. Under a long-standing diplomatic agreement, Hicks will serve his sentence in Australia.

(Additional reporting by Cynthia Osterman, World Desk)

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