AN AUSTRALIAN inmate at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp has applied for legal aid in Britain to fund his fight for British citizenship.

David Hicks, 30, whose mother was born in Croydon, South London, believes that he will be released if he becomes a British citizen. There is no legal bar to Mr Hicks being granted citizenship but his lawyers are concerned that the Home Office is stalling on a case that threatens to sour Anglo-US relations.

This year the Government secured the release of all British citizens held as terrorist suspects at Camp Delta after protesting against the unfairness of the planned military tribunal trial system, but the Australian Government has expressed itself content for Mr Hicks to face the tribunal, and the US authorities plan to try him next month.

He fought for the Kosovo Liberation Army and in Kashmir before going to Afghanistan in 2001. Mr Hicks converted to Islam but he is reported to be less than diligent in practising the faith. One Australian official said he was not a committed Islamist but “a young man looking for adventure”.

The US has charged Mr Hicks with with conspiracy to help al-Qaeda, aiding the enemy and the attempted murder of coalition forces during the conflict in Afghanistan. According to his indictment, Mr Hicks trained in urban and guerilla warfare and translated al-Qaeda training manuals into English for Osama bin Laden.

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