Britain To Squelch Hicks Bid For Citizenship
The Age
Saturday November 12, 2005
THE British Government has sought to quash the bid of Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks for citizenship before a High Court hearing this month.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke said in a letter to Hicks' lawyers that he would deny him a British passport for committing "acts that are prejudicial to the United Kingdom". The citizenship bid by the Australian terrorist suspect, whose mother was born in London, will be heard by the British High Court on November 23 or 24. Hicks' lawyer, Stephen Grosz, of Bindman & Partners, said: "Mr Clarke has acknowledged that David is entitled to British citizenship and is obliged to grant it. The Government cannot treat him differently from any other of the British Guantanamo Bay inmates."This year the British Government successfully secured the release of all nine British terrorist suspects held at the US military base in Cuba. The Home Office declined to comment. In the United States an application for a stay on proceedings has been made to the Federal Court while negotiations continue for Hicks' application for British citizenship.Hicks' military lawyer, Major Michael Mori, said the British Government was stalling on the application. Hicks met the qualifications and was entitled to it. The Pentagon has refused to allow expert witnesses at Hicks' military commission hearing, which Major Mori said made the application for British citizenship even more crucial. Major Mori said Hicks would not get a fair deal after the Pentagon refused to allow five experts in international law as witnesses to testify on his behalf. Hicks, 29, a convert to Islam, has been held at Guantanamo Bay since January 2002, a month after his capture in Afghanistan. "We're being hampered in our ability to defend Mr Hicks, and it's disappointing," Major Mori told ABC radio. At the same time, the US Supreme Court is considering whether the military commission is lawful. -- With AAP
© 2005 The Age