Another tier of the British legal system has confirmed that David Hicks meets the requirements for British citizenship. Only Britsh government opposition and , bureaucratic inertia(which may be the same) and US, and presumably Australian instransigence stand in the way of a settlement.
In the meantime David Hicks has been returned to solitary confinement or "single occupancy cell" as the spinners so disingenuously put it.
Last night I attended a meeting in North Adelaide where I took this photo of the speakers: from left to right David McLeod (Aust lawyer working with the Hicks legal team), Terry Hicks (David's father), Major Michael Mori USMC (DH's appointed military tribunal lawyer0 and Josh Dratel (high profile NY criminal lawyer who is working on the Hicks team pro bono) . Major Mori's face is blurred because he just doesn't know how to be still. Each person spoke and each shed some light on the dark areas of the case, though for various reasons they did not elaborate too much. for some reason only written questions on notice were allowed: in theory I don't have a problem with this provided supplementary questions from the floor are allowed, which they weren't.
One question elicited some books which David has been forbidden to receive: these include The Fatal Shore, Breaker Morant, Papillon, To Kill a Mockingbird, and (you guessed it) Presumed Innocent.
The media was there in some force and various outlets, including the ABC radio's AM and Lateline reported on the meeting and its aftermath. The latter was spoilt by Tony Jones's patronising bellowing at Terry Hicks.
The meeting did pass a resolution condemning the Australian government for its inadequate support of DH's rights. How much impact this has upon the government remains to be seen. I won't be expecting too much.
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