Justice delayed is justice denied...

Naturally, John Howard begs to differ.

I don't want Hicks here: PM

The Age
June 30, 2006 - 1:06PM

The Australian government has rejected calls for David Hicks to be returned home after America' highest court found military commissions set to try the Australian terror suspect are unlawful.

Prime Minister John Howard urged US authorities to find another forum to try Hicks, saying he had no sympathy for the Adelaide-born man who is facing trial accused of training as a terrorist with al-Qaeda.

Hicks' father, lawyers and politicians demanded Hicks be brought home after the US Supreme Court ruling overnight which found US military commissions to try Guantanamo Bay detainees are unlawful.

The Supreme Court justices voted five-three that the structure and procedures of the military commissions violated military justice codes and the Geneva Convention.

But Mr Howard said Hicks, who has been detained by the US at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for four-and-a-half years, should still be tried in the US.

Mr Howard said he was not embarrassed by the court ruling but admitted his government was wrongly advised that the military commissions were lawful.

[...]

Australian Democrats foreign affairs spokeswoman Natasha Stott Despoja said the Howard government should press for Hicks' immediate repatriation.

"The process has been judged illegal, it is an abrogation of international humanitarian law," Senator Stott Despoja said.

The Law Council of Australia's independent observer of the Hicks case, Lex Lasry QC, said there was a "very strong argument" that under a properly constituted court martial, or civilian court, there was no case for Hicks to answer.