David Hicks' Australian lawyer says he's heartened that a British government appeal against his client's UK citizenship has been rejected.
The Adelaide-based lawyer, David McLeod, says the only legal avenue left to the government is an appeal directly to the Law Lords - but that such petitions are rarely made.
Mr McLeod says the British Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, has reportedly denounced the Military Commission process established to try Mr Hicks and called for the Guantanamo Bay facility to be closed.
He says the comments are encouraging, and he hopes Britain will now negotiate Mr Hicks' release.
"We're hoping that the UK government will accept that the time has come to embrace its newest citizen David Hicks and seek his release in the same way as they did for the other nine, precisely on the basis that Lord Goldsmith is saying now - that there can simply be no compromise on certain principles and that a fair trial is one of those."