THE Australian Government would not stop David Hicks coming home to Adelaide should he be granted British citizenship and released from Guantanamo Bay. Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock said yesterday that because Hicks would retain dual nationality, "we can't deny our own citizens access to Australia". Hicks, 30, had a small victory on Wednesday when the High Court rejected a British Government appeal against a court decision that Hicks be granted British citizenship. Hicks, whose mother is British, hopes the British Government then would insist on his release from Guantanamo Bay, as it did for the other Britons held there, as it believed the military commission trials violated international legal standards.
The British Government, under pressure from Australia and the US, must decide by April 25 if it will appeal to the House of Lords. "We've just got to wait and see what happens," Hicks's father, Terry, said. "Everything's hunky-dory today and ratshit tomorrow." Hicks's military lawyer Major Michael Mori urged Britain not to appeal. He said the unanimous High Court verdict "clearly shows David's entitled to British citizenship".