Hard times ahead for detainee Hicks

By Phil Mercer
BBC News, Sydney

David Hicks is the first US war crimes convict since World War II

From Guantanamo Bay to college via an Australian jail could be the next step for David Hicks when he has served his nine-month sentence for supporting terrorism.

Hicks's lawyers have said he wants to study when he is set free. Building a new life for himself will be very tough.

The privations of more than five years in US custody will be replaced by the great unknown of the world beyond the prison gates.

There will be a frenzy of media interest as well as doses of hostility and unrelenting curiosity from the public.

Almost certainly, Australia's security agencies will want to keep a close eye on him too.

"The federal police will have to make an assessment as to whether they would like to make an application for a control order," said Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.

Going into hiding

The former kangaroo hunter will be repatriated in the coming weeks. He is likely to serve his sentence at Yatala prison in his home city of Adelaide.

Profile: David Hicks Q&A: Military tribunals

It is a high to medium security facility that houses about 400 prisoners. Home for David Hicks could be Yatala's G-Division, its most secure section.

It holds the most notorious and violent inmates and those in need of constant supervision.

Freedom is likely to come before the end of the year. David Hicks' family has conceded that he may have to go into hiding for a time on his release - so university will have to wait.

South Australia's Premier Mike Rann is worried about what sort of person will be entering society given that Hicks was the first person to be convicted by an American war crimes court since World War II.

"My paramount concern obviously is about community safety," the premier said. "We have been told - the Australian public has been told now for five years - that David Hicks is a dangerous terrorist."

"One minute he's a dangerous terrorist with links to al-Qaeda. He's now pleaded guilty, but he's being allowed into the community within nine months," Mr Rann said.

Hicks's US army lawyer Major Michael Mori is convinced the detainee will not be a threat.

"I don't think he'll present any danger to anyone," Maj Mori said.

'Inhumane gulag'

The treatment of David Hicks has aroused great passions in Australia.

Almost 600 detainees are held at Guantanamo

Green senator Bob Brown said his guilty plea to a charge of supporting terrorism was simply a way to escape "the inhumane Guantanamo Bay gulag".

One newspaper columnist though, said Hicks was no "tortured innocent" but was an al-Qaeda "golden boy" and a well-trained extremist.

The letters' pages of the newspapers have been jam-packed with letters on the man known as the "Australian Taleban".

One correspondent to the Sydney Morning Herald said: "The issue with him is not his guilt or otherwise.

"The issue is being kept in a foreign jail for more than five years with the tacit approval of the Australian government."

These sentiments sum up the way many, but by no means all, Australians think about the case.

Pressure from the public had been building on the government of John Howard over the 31-year-old detainee.

Voter disquiet

There was criticism that ministers sat idly by while an Australian endured years without trial at Guantanamo Bay while other foreign governments, such as Britain, intervened on behalf of their citizens.

Mr Howard expressed concern over the amount of time taken

Australia has always maintained its faith in the US military justice system.

It was convinced Hicks would be treated fairly, although Mr Howard had begun to ask his American friends why it was taking them so long to deal with him.

Although the prime minister has strongly denied that domestic politics had anything to do with the outcome of Hicks's case, its surprisingly swift conclusion will be a relief to the veteran conservative in this election year.

"Hicks became a lightning rod for voter disquiet about Iraq [where Australia has deployed several hundred troops]," said Sydney's Sunday Telegraph.

"The final resolution of his trial will relieve some of the pressure [on the government] just in time for the election."