DAVID Hicks's US military lawyer Major Michael Mori sacked Hicks's Australian lawyer last year because he believed it would help curry favour with senior Howard government officials.
Well-placed legal sources say the decision to replace lawyer Stephen Kenny with air force reservist David McLeod was based on Major Mori's belief that the move would be welcomed in Canberra and could therefore help to secure Hicks's release.
Major Mori has said publicly that Hicks made the decision to replace Mr Kenny early last year, but insiders say the real decision was made by Major Mori, who believed Mr Kenny's background was too radical.
The outspoken Mr Kenny had a history of Aboriginal activism and human rights causes and clashed frequently with the Howard Government.
"During a meeting with officials from the Attorney-General's Department in Canberra, Mori asked if we got rid of Kenny, would the Australian Government renegotiate (Hicks)," one legal source told The Weekend Australian.
"The official replied that it may be possible but Mori took that as a yes."
Major Mori wanted to give the Hicks team a more conservative public face so it could gain more traction with the Howard Government. So he appointed Group Captain McLeod, a Liberal Party member in the Australian Air Force legal reserves who served in Iraq. But the plan didn't work - Captain McLeod has proved to be just as outspoken as Mr Kenny and has had repeated clashes with the Government.
Sources also reveal that Captain McLeod and Major Mori also do not get on, with Captain McLeod having threatened to resign several times because of what he sees as Major Mori's maverick approach to the case.
Despite their personal differences, the two lawyers have proved a highly effective team.
They have engineered a behind-the-scenes campaign to push Hicks from the radical fringe of public debate into the mainstream. This campaign, revealed in The Weekend Australian Magazine today, has played a key role in fuelling public sympathy for Hicks, transforming his case into a major electoral liability for the Government.
- David Hicks Case Information
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