THE father of Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks said Britain would be responsible for retrieving his son if it loses a bid to strip him of his recently won citizenship. Terry Hicks today said his son was struggling to stay positive after the Court of Appeal at the Royal Courts of Justice in London began hearing an appeal from the British Government, which is trying to prevent Hicks from obtaining UK citizenship.Even though the British High Court determined Hicks had a right to British citizenship through his mother, the Government has tried to prevent him getting it. The Home Office suspended granting citizenship to Hicks, who was captured fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks in the US.
In December last year, the High Court ruled the Home Office decision was illegitimate and ordered him to be registered as a UK citizen. The British Government is now appealing that decision.
Terry Hicks said it was hard to know how the appeal process would end. "It's at a crucial stage – this could be over in a few hours or it could be a number of days," he said.
The former Adelaide chicken processor and one time jackaroo has been detained at the US military prison in Cuba for more than four years as he awaits trial before a military commission on terrorism-related charges. "His condition is not really good," Mr Hicks said of his son. "Physically he's got a bad back, he's got trouble with his ankles, trouble with his neck and his eyesight.
| Sounds like most middle-aged Americans I know. |
Mr Hicks said he last spoke to his son on Christmas Eve. "He told me then that he wasn't travelling too well," he said.
| And now he's not travelling at all. |
If the appeal fails, Mr Hicks said it was up to the British Government to act on his behalf. "If David wins the appeal then it falls on the British Government to get him back," he said.
| They can try, but I don't think they want him. |