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| Down Under | |
| Australian former Guantanamo Bay detainee freed | |
| 2008-12-21 | |
| SYDNEY, Australia – Authorities on Sunday lifted the last remaining restrictions on an Australian man who spent more than five years as an inmate at Guantanamo Bay and admitted assisting the al-Qaida terrorist network. David Hicks, a 33-year-old ex-kangaroo skinner and Outback cowboy, was held in U.S. custody at the military detention center in Cuba before striking a plea deal that returned him home to Australia to serve a nine-month sentence. Hicks was released a year ago after completing the sentence for providing support for terrorism, but was placed under a strict court order that required him to report to police three days a week, observe a curfew and banned him from using any telephone or Internet account not approved by police. The order expired at midnight Saturday. Australian Federal Police, which had sought the original order citing national security reasons, said last month it had decided not to ask a court to renew the restrictions.
Hicks was captured by the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance in Afghanistan in late 2001 and handed to U.S. troops invading the country to unseat the Taliban regime following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Hicks spent 5 Å“ years in captivity without trial at Guantanamo Bay before pleading guilty to supporting terrorism at a U.S. military tribunal in a plea bargain. Hicks admitted providing material support to al-Qaida in exchange for serving a sentence in Australia. Throughout his ordeal, HicksÂ’ family and lawyers insisted he was an immature young man who was caught up in events beyond his control after the Sept. 11 attacks. They said Hicks converted to Islam and sought adventure as a fighter in Kosovo and Kashmir after the Australian army rejected him because of a lack of education. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 They said Hicks converted to Islam and sought adventure as a fighter in Kosovo and Kashmir after the Australian army rejected him because of a lack of education "Fat, /Abu Dean Wormer |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-12-21 10:41 |