The US Government has seized privileged legal material from the Australian Guantanamo Bay prisoner David Hicks and fellow inmates.
Lawyers have labelled it the latest abuse of legal process concerning the prisoners. The material was seized with all other possessions, including blankets and books, as part of an investigation into the suicides of three inmates in June. (SMH) The abuse of legal process is obviously set to continue by a government determined to set its own rules.
Hick's lawyer, Major Michael Mori, said the privileged material was "the last legal right that was being respected". Now it appears that that's been violated as well."
Hicks won't get an open and fair trial because the trumped up charges just don't sustain. But legality is not the strong-point of the Bush administration, nor of Blair's or Howard's.
The British courts ordered Hicks be given back his British citizenship. But within hours of achieving that, and without reference to Hicks or his lawyers, Britain's Home Secretary Reid summarily rescinded it under new powers enacted for the purpose.
Never mind the umpire, if the law gets in the way ignore it or change it.
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