 David Hicks' new lawyer hopes the latest comments from the US Government could lead to negotiations to return David Hicks to Australia. David McLeod will fly to Cuba today to meet his client for the first time. Mr McLeod says the meeting is particularly important now the US administration has announced it would prefer detainees to be released to their countries of origin to be tried and jailed at home. However, he has told ABC Radio's AM that the fact that David Hicks is one of only four detainees facing charges, will undoubtedly complicate the case for bringing him home. "The ideal situation is for David to be simply released into Australian custody and brought home to Australia and liberated - that's the high watermark," he said.
| I'd say the ideal situation would be for David to get a paper cut while abusing his koran, get sepsis, and die. But maybe that's just me... |
"The low watermark would be for David to be returned to Australia for trial."
| The low watermark is where we tie him to a stake. |
| Poor, misunderstood David was captured in Afghanistan, fighting with al-Qaeda, a few days after Johnny Jihad was rooted out at Qala i-Jangi. |
Mr McLeod says concern from some US politicians over the lengthy legal process Hicks is going through may help his client's case. "I think we're still to come into the home term, we're in this for the long haul, David knows that," he said. "Unfortunately it's gone longer that anyone had hoped or anticipated."
| Not nearly as long as I'd hoped or anticipated. Of course, they could have just shot him and saved us all the tedium of watching the apologists try to get him sprung. |
He says similar concerns are being expressed in Australia. "It's as well to note that there has been some discussion from Australian authorities that they also are becoming concerned and it's obviously that tack that we would like to pursue with the Australian authorities upon my return," he said. |