The Pentagon agreed to withdraw the death penalty as an option for Australian David Hicks at his upcoming military tribunal trial. Other concessions were made as well.

U.S. and Australian officials announced yesterday that two Australians held at the jail will not face the death penalty if they are convicted before a U.S. tribunal or commission. The Pentagon agreed in July that two British prisoners at Guantanamo Bay who have been designated as possible defendants would not be executed if convicted.

Military officials said last night the concessions granted to the British and Australian detainees may not apply to other countries' citizens brought before the tribunals. But international lawyers said it would be difficult politically for Washington to execute other nations' citizens if it ruled out that possibility for these two allies' nationals.

Among the other concessions:

If Hicks is charged, he could talk by telephone with "appropriately cleared" family members, who also could attend the trial. Prosecutors will not bar him from the courtroom even during presentation of sensitive evidence. Military officials will not monitor conversations between him and his attorneys, and if convicted he could serve his sentence in Australia.