Hicks allowed home if released (from GTMO)

[Up2Late]

(Sorry about the news.com.au link, but they are the first to report this, and he is Australian after all.)

Hicks allowed home if released

April 13, 2006

GUANTANAMO Bay detainee David Hicks won't be prevented from returning to Australia if he is granted British citizenship and released from detention, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said.

An appeals court yesterday rejected the British government's latest bid to deny citizenship to Hicks, boosting his campaign to be freed from Guantanamo Bay. Hicks, whose mother was born in Britain, is seeking citizenship because the British government, unlike Australia, has successfully fought for the release all of its nationals from Guantanamo Bay.

Mr Ruddock said there would be no legal basis to prevent him from returning to Australia. "If he is no longer held by the United States he has an entitlement to return to Australia," Mr Ruddock told ABC radio. "That's a matter of international law - we can't deny our own citizens access to Australia."

Mr Ruddock said even if Hicks did not possess a valid Australian passport it would be unlikely the Australian Government would deny him from being granted a new one.

(more at link)

<http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,18804028-5001028,00.html>

[Trevelyan]

1. It will be interesting to hear from someone about the torture at

Guantanamo. Since Sen. Carl Levin betrayed us by co-sponsoring an amendment to McCain's anti-torture bill that makes it impossible for those wrongfully kidnapped and tortured to bring a court case against the US and bush did a signing statement on the anti-torture bill that was already gutted by Sen. Levin, I don't think the regime cares if more of the horrors that they have committed are publicized.

[AlamoDemoc]

2. I sometimes wonder why this man is still a senator from Michigan?

My point is that, of course we all know that Michigan has the largest Arab-American residents in any state in the US...and yet they still have a senator like Levin who co-sponsored an amendment to "McCain's anti-torture bill that makes it impossible for those wrongfully kidnapped and tortured to bring a court case against the US". Do you suppose the Michigan Arab-Americans will re-elect this guy to the senate again?

[femmedem]

5. The British detainees previously released said quite a bit

about their torture.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/aug2004/tipt-a25.shtml

[Kipling]

6. The released British prisoners have already described Gitmo techniques.

[cal04]

3. Hicks citizenship ruling 'no guarantee'

The father of terrorist suspect David Hicks says he is refusing to get excited by a ruling that upholds his son's right to British citizenship. The British High Court has ruled against an appeal by the Home Office that attempted to prevent Hicks from becoming a citizen, even though his mother held British citizenship. Lobbying by the British Government has resulted in nine United Kingdom citizens being released from the Guantanamo Bay prison where Hicks is being held.
It is hoped that citizenship would entitle Hicks to the same lobbying for his release.

Hicks's father, Terry, has told ABC Television's Lateline program the court decision is a weight off his shoulders.
"It's just been a long wait," he said. But Terry Hicks says the decision does not guarantee his son's release.
"I think we've been disappointed too often," he said. "This British citizenship business doesn't really secure David's release at this point in time. "This is probably something the British lawyers have to start pushing for and see how we go from there."

Appeal possible

Military lawyer Major Michael Mori is calling on the US Government to immediately allow British officials into Guantanamo Bay so David Hicks can take the citizenship oath. "I feel it is a strong support for David's position that he's entitled to British citizenship ... there's no legitimate reason to take it away from him," he said.But civilian lawyer Joshua Dratel, who also acts for David Hicks, says the Home Office could still appeal against the court decision to the House of Lords.

"If the House of Lords either declines to take the appeal or upholds this particular decision, then the British Government has to make a decision whether they're going to treat David differently for whatever reason or they're going to treat him consistent with the Government's position throughout the entirety of the whole process of Guantanamo Bay - that it's a legal black hole," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200604/s1615268.htm

[cal04]

4. Government 'must act' to free Hicks(greens leader)

THE Federal Government should accept the inevitability that David Hicks will gain British citizenship and bring him home to Australia, Greens leader Bob Brown said today. An appeals court yesterday rejected the British Government's latest bid to deny citizenship to Hicks, boosting his campaign to be freed from the US-run Guantanamo Bay high security prison in Cuba.

Adelaide-born Hicks, 30, has been held there since he was captured with Taliban forces in Afghanistan in late 2001.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit war crimes, attempted murder and of aiding and abetting the enemy. "This has been a sorry saga from the Howard Government. It has devalued Australian citizenship," Senator Brown said in a statement. "Both the US and Britain have had their citizens freed from Guantanamo Bay. "David Hicks has effectively been a political prisoner of the Howard Government at the leisure of the Bush Administration. He should be brought home now."

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock today said Hicks had been returned to solitary confinement at the military base.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,18804221-1702,00.html