An Australian being held without charge at a US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay has become the first foreign terrorist suspect to be given a US military lawyer.
Mr David Hicks will be represented by Marine Corps Major Michael Mori. Mr Hicks will also be given access to an Australian lawyer to act as a legal adviser.
Mr Hicks is one of six prisoners at the US Navy base in Cuba that President George W. Bush named as possible candidates for trial by a special military tribunal.
Australian officials said they were satisfied Mr Hicks would get a fair trial and said US officials assured Australia that he would not face the death penalty and would not have his conversations with his lawyer monitored by US troops.
One other Australian citizen is among more than 660 men and boys being held there. Up to nine Britons are also being held.
Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz will make the final decision on which Guantanamo prisoners, if any, will face trial.
The announcement on Mr Hicks came a day after the Pentagon announced an about-face in the case of a US-born terrorism suspect being held in the US as an "enemy combatant." The Defence Department agreed to let Mr Yaser Esam Hamdi meet with a lawyer, a reversal from its previous refusal to do so.