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Australia government lifts control order on ex-Guantanamo detainee Hicks

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Australian authorities on Sunday removed the final restrictions against former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks. Hicks, who served more than five years in the military prison without a trial before pleading guilty to providing material support to al Qaeda, had been under control order since his release last year. The Australian government's surveillance of Hicks included weekly meetings with police, a strict curfew, and restrictions on his ability to travel and communicate. Hicks made a public plea last month, asking for the restrictions to be lifted so he could move forward with his life. Hicks's father said that Hicks remains committed to his rehabilitation, and the elimination of the restrictions imposed by the government should help his recovery. Hicks pleaded guilty to a charge of supporting terrorism before a US military commission in March 2007 after spending more than five years in US custody following his capture in Afghanistan. He was transferred to Australia in May 2007 to serve the remainder of his nine-month prison sentence at a maximum security prison near his hometown of Adelaide, South Australia, and was released last December. The control order was relaxed in February, permitting Hicks to live anywhere in the country, and requiring him to check in with police only twice a week.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on December 22, 2008 (boomark / email).