'Australian Taleban' fully free

An Australian former inmate of the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay is now a free man after strict control orders limiting his activities were lifted.

David Hicks spent more than five years at Guantanamo Bay without a trial before admitting to charges of providing material support to al-Qaeda.

In return, he was allowed in May 2007 to serve out the last nine months of his sentence in an Australian prison.

Hicks, a convert to Islam, was captured by US troops in Afghanistan in 2001.

The former kangaroo wrangler was the first "enemy combatant" held at Guantanamo to be convicted by a US military commission.

'Still recovering'

The control orders limiting his movements expired at midnight on Saturday.

Australian police said they would not ask the courts to extend the measures after Hicks made a public appeal to be allowed to "get on with my life".

He was subject to a strict curfew and restrictions on his travel and had to report regularly to police.

His telephone and internet communications were also limited.

Hicks has admitted to training with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and meeting its leader, Osama Bin Laden.

The 33-year-old has said he is recovering still from his ordeal at Guantanamo Bay and is not ready yet to tell his story.

But he has said he will do so.