CANBERRA - David Hicks' lawyer fears a trial for the Australian terrorist suspect could still be two years away.
Adelaide lawyer David McLeod has made the prediction as Prime Minister John Howard faces growing pressure from his backbench over Hicks' detention.
A further technical hurdle to bring Hicks
before a military commission has been cleared with US President George W Bush issuing an executive order setting the stage for trials to go ahead.
But Mr McLeod, whose client has already been held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for five years, said it may be two years before Hicks faces trial because of likely challenges to the military commission process.
"David will get caught up in that process and we can't see a commission hearing starting within two years," he told ABC Radio yesterday.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's department yesterday detailed a dozen requests - between January 2004 and December last year - where Mr Downer, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock and Australian diplomats had asked for Hicks' case to be addressed more quickly.
The list doesn't include other representations made by Mr Howard directly to US President George W Bush and other ministers such as Justice Minister Chris Ellison.
Labor has ridiculed Mr Howard's influence with the US as a government-imposed deadline for Hicks to be charged by mid-February passes.
- AAP
