Hicks may get UK passport

By Verity Edwards
December 13, 2005

THE British High Court is expected to order tonight that Australian terror suspect David Hicks be granted British citizenship, a move that could pave the way for his release from detention in Guantanamo Bay.

The Australian Government has been told the court decision will go in Hicks's favour.

And Hicks's Adelaide lawyer David McLeod said he too was confident his client would be given his ticket to leave the US facility in Cuba when the High Court order comes down at 8.30pm (AEDT).

"We're quietly confident that the judge will order that he be granted British citizenship," Mr McLeod said.

Australian government sources were said to be surprised by the court's likely ruling after it initially appeared Hicks's application for citizenship had little chance of success.

The US Government has detained Hicks in Cuba since he was captured with Taliban forces in Afghanistan four years ago.

He has been charged with attempted murder, conspiracy and aiding the enemy.

Hicks, 30, was due to be the first of nine detainees to face the US military commissions last month before a US District Court judge granted an 11th-hour stay in the proceedings. His trial is due to be held late next year.

In September, Hicks revealed that his mother, Susan King, was British. His lawyers immediately applied for British citizenship, hoping Hicks could be repatriated from Guantanamo Bay.

The British Government has repatriated its citizens because it believes the military commission process does not meet international standards.

The British Home Office rejected Hicks's application in mid-November because he had performed "an act prejudicial to the interests of the United Kingdom in attending training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan".

The High Court has reviewed the decision and will give its decision today.

Mr McLeod said an order granting Hicks citizenship would hopefully see the British Government seek to extradite Hicks and try him in its own court system.

"What we'll be doing is probably prevailing on the US Government to honour their agreement with the UK Government and release him to the UK and not to subject him to the military commissions," he said.

"The UK Government has repatriated its other citizens and we hope they honour that."

Hicks's father Terry, who will be helping at football training while the decision is handed down tonight, said it was too early to be hopeful.

"You can never be hopeful because things change rather drastically," Mr Hicks said.

"Legally, (the British Government) has got to give it to him but then they've got the power to revoke it.

"We're hoping they'll let him be (a citizen) long enough to get him out of Guantanamo Bay."

Mr Hicks said he believed John Howard would be embarrassed if his son were released to the British. He said the Prime Minister should be sticking up for his own citizens, regardless of what they had done.

Law Council of Australia president John North said Hicks should not have had to rely on another country's government for help. "Yet this is what Mr Hicks has been forced to do. It is a sad indictment of our leaders."

Link Here