"Australian Taliban" David Hicks, the the first Guantanamo Bay inmate to face a US military tribunal, was flown back to his hometown of Adelaide yesterday to serve out the remainder of his sentence in a maximum security prison cell.
Hicks pleaded guilty in March to providing material support to al-Qaeda, including attending terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.
Under a plea deal, he was sentenced to nine months in prison -- a fraction of the life term he faced for his crime -- and allowed to return to Australia to serve out his term.
PHOTO: AFP
Accompanied by police and prison officials, Hicks was flown from Cuba in a Gulfstream G550 jet chartered by the Australian government and landed early yesterday at Edinburgh air force base on the outskirts of Adelaide.
Hicks, shackled and wearing an orange jumpsuit, was then taken to the Yatala Labour Prison, where he will serve the final seven months of his sentence.
Nevertheless, lawyer David McLeod said Hicks was thrilled to be home after more than five years at the US military camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"He is happy to be back on Australian soil," McLeod told reporters outside Yatala prison. "He visibly was elated when we touched down."
Prison officials have said Hicks will be kept in a 2m wide single-bed cell similar in size to the one he left in Cuba.
The 31-year-old will be barred from having any personal items in his cell, and his visits with family will be strictly limited, with no physical contact allowed.
His telephone calls will be monitored, and he will be allowed little or no contact with other inmates, authorities have said.
Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock declined to comment on security arrangements, saying only "public safety is the primary concern."
Hicks was captured in December 2001 in Afghanistan by the US-backed Northern Alliance, and became one of the first terrorist suspects to be transferred to the US naval base in Cuba.
He was tried by a military tribunal under a system created by US President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Hicks was accused of attending al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and conducting surveillance on the British and US embassies as part of his training.
He had spent only two hours on the Taliban front line before it collapsed in November 2001 under attack by US Special Forces and the Northern Alliance.
While fleeing, Hicks came across a group of Arab fighters who told him they were heading back to the front to fight to the death. Hicks declined to join them and was captured as he tried to escape into Pakistan, according to the military's charge sheet.
As part of his plea deal, Hicks agreed to a 12-month order prohibiting him from talking to the media and stated he had "never been treated illegally" since he was captured in Afghanistan and taken to Guantanamo.
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