Australian at Guantanamo Wins Court Battle

Australian at Guantanamo Wins Court Battle

By PAISLEY DODDS
Associated Press Writer

December 13, 2005, 12:30 PM EST

LONDON -- An Australian being held at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay won a court battle Tuesday to be registered as a British citizen -- a step he hopes will secure his release.

David Hicks, a former kangaroo skinner and Muslim convert from the southern city of Adelaide, was caught in Afghanistan in December 2001, allegedly fighting with the ousted Taliban regime. His mother was born in Britain and he sought British citizenship in the hopes that Britain would take up his case with Washington as it did for nine other Britons who were released from the camp on the eastern tip of Cuba.

Hicks, who has pleaded innocent to charges of attempted murder, aiding the enemy and conspiracy to attack civilians, commit terrorism and destroy property, is one of nine prisoners selected for military trials. Some 500 men are being held at the prison camp, some of whom have been held for nearly four years without charge.

Last month, the British Home Office rejected Hicks' application for British citizenship on character grounds, but his lawyers appealed the decision.

On Tuesday, Justice Andrew Collins ruled that Home Secretary Charles Clarke had no power to reject Hicks' citizenship application. The government can appeal the decision.
(snip/...)

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-britain-guantanamo,0,5532015.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

gitmo might be safer at the moment while aussies are lynching arabs.

His government has done nothing for him, so he owes this country nothing.

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(I can't believe more here don't see how important this is.)

Judge orders UK citizenship for detainee

Owen Bowcott
Wednesday December 14, 2005
The Guardian

A high court judge yesterday told the home secretary he did not have the power to deprive a Guantánamo Bay detainee of his right to British citizenship. The government was ordered to make arrangements for David Hicks to take the required oath, and a Foreign Office official could be sent to Cuba to carry out the ceremony.

Mr Hicks, 30, who holds Australian citizenship, is accused of attending terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Once registered as a British citizen he will call on the government to secure his release. Australia recognises the US military commission and has made no attempts to free its citizens from Guantánamo Bay, but the UK negotiated the return of all nine British citizens being held there without trial last year. It does not recognise the legitimacy of the US procedures under international law.

Mr Hicks, a Muslim convert from Adelaide, has been held at Guantánamo since January 2002. He was picked up by US forces while allegedly fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan, and faces charges of conspiracy to commit war crimes and aiding and abetting the enemy. He denies all the allegations.

The Home Office accepts that Mr Hicks is entitled to citizenship as his mother was born in the UK before emigrating to Australia. His maternal grandparents served with the British military during the second world war. But Home Office lawyers said his registration could be refused because of his alleged involvement with terrorist activities against the UK.

<http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,1666791,00.html>
(more at link above)