JURIST - Paper Chase: Australia court imposes control order on ex-Guantanamo detainee Hicks

[JURIST] An Australian judge issued an interim control order Friday, placing restrictions on former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] when he is released from an Australian prison on December 29. Under the terms of the control order, Hicks will not be allowed to leave the country, must report to police three times per week, and will be subject to a midnight to 6 AM curfew. A defense lawyer said that Hicks will comply with the control order [ABC Australia report], which will be reviewed in court on February 18 and will be in force for at least a year.

Hicks' control order is the second issued under Australia's Anti-Terrorism Act (No.2) 2005) [ANS backgrounder], which according to a government summary allows the "overt close monitoring of terrorist suspects who pose a risk to the community." The first control order was imposed [JURIST report] in 2006 against Joseph Terrence "Jihad Jack" Thomas, suspected of having connections to al Qaeda.

Hicks was transferred to Australia [JURIST report] in May to serve the remainder of his nine-month prison sentence at a maximum security prison near his hometown of Adelaide, South Australia. He pleaded guilty to a charge of supporting terrorism [JURIST reports] before a US military commission in March after spending more than five years in US custody since being captured in Afghanistan. Reuters has more.

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