The British government intends to appeal against a British High Court direction that Australian terror suspect David Hicks be granted British citizenship, Hicks' Australian lawyer David McLeod said.
Earlier this week, the British High Court ordered that the UK government grant Hicks British citizenship because his mother was born and raised in London.
Hicks' lawyers had hoped Britain would remove the terror suspect from US military detention, just as it did nine other Britons once held at the so-called Camp X-ray.
However the British Home Office has indicated it plans to appeal the ruling, a process that could take as long as six months, Mr McLeod told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
"Our London lawyers have been contacted, saying the Home
Secretary intends to appeal," Mr McLeod told the Sydney newspaper.
However Mr McLeod told ABC Radio that he will seek to expedite the British Government’s proposed appeal and that it could be heard within weeks.
Other impediments
Even without the question of the appeal, with Hicks jailed in Cuba, there could be difficulties for him to go through the formalities necessary to finalise British citizenship.
However Mr McCleod indicated the formalities may not be an insurmountable problem. “The judge says he can swear an oath of allegiance eventually and dispense with the requirement to do so immediately”
However even if David Hicks was to gain British citizenship, there is no
guarantee the UK government will seek his release.
The latest court ruling has made no difference to the US position on David Hicks with Washington saying it will prosecute him regardless of his citizenship.
Hicks has been held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since 2002. He was charged in 2004 and pleaded not guilty before a military commission. However his case is now on hold pending US Supreme court hearings on whether the military commission process is constitutional.