The U.S. Court of Military Commission Review (CMCR) has vacated former Guantánamo prisoner David Hicks’s conviction in the military commissions for providing material support for terrorism.

Hicks was the first prisoner to be convicted in a Guantánamo military commission and a party to the US Supreme Court decision in Rasul v. Bush, which established that Guantánamo prisoners have a right to access U.S. courts to challenge their detention.

Today’s ruling comes in the wake of an en banc decision by the D.C. Circuit, Al Bahlul v. United States, which held that material support for terrorism is not an offense triable by military commission.

Kate Eastman SC, 6 St James' Hall Chambers' specialist in human rights, public law and employment/discrimination law, previously acted for David Hicks in his habeus corpus proceeding against the Commonwealth, Hicks v Ruddock [2007] FCA 299, (2007) 156 FCR 574.