US denies Britain consular access to Hicks

The United States has denied the British Government consular access to David Hicks at Guantanamo Bay.

The British Government was seeking access so they could register him as a British citizen.

Last year, Hicks won a British High Court ruling that he was entitled to become a UK citizen because his mother was born in England.

Hicks's legal team returned to the High Court yesterday in a bid to enforce the decision and register him as a British citizen immediately.

The legal team representing Hicks complained the process of registering him as a citizen had been delayed.

The court was told that the British Government had tried to gain access to Hicks to deliver the oath needed before he can register for citizenship.

The US has blocked those attempts because he is not a British citizen.

Britain has already won the freedom of all nine of its nationals held at the US detention camp.

The court was given an assurance from the British Government that the matter would be presented to Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett tomorrow and that she will consider "whether and, if so, what representations should be made to the US Government".

Lawyers told the court that the British Government accepts that it is dealing with the case of someone entitled to be registered as a British citizen.

Hicks, originally from Adelaide, has been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2002.

The 30-year-old convert to Islam was captured in Afghanistan where he allegedly fought alongside the ruling Taliban against US-led forces who invaded after the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.

He faces charges of conspiracy, attempted murder by an unprivileged belligerent and aiding the enemy.

-ABC/Reuters