[JURIST] The father of Australian Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] has said that Hicks' defense team will challenge the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [text, PDF] signed into law [JURIST report] by President Bush Tuesday. Terry Hicks said Tuesday that the new legislation leaves the previous system for military commissions virtually intact, although it was ruled unconstitutional [JURIST report] by the US Supreme Court [official website] in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. Terry Hicks speculated that his son will remain in detention at Guantanamo for at least two years while the appeals process moves forward.

Last week, Australian lawyers denounced [JURIST report] their government's treatment of Hicks, who has been detained without trial at Guantanamo since 2001 as an enemy combatant [JURIST news archive]. Hicks' lawyer David McLeod has been pushing [JURIST report] for his client to be returned to Australia and the Australian Attorney General announced in August that it would also urge Hicks' return [JURIST report] if the United States did not pursue new charges against him; however, new charges are expected to be filed against Hicks in the wake of the passage of the Military Commissions Act. Australia's ABC News has more.