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'Aussie Taliban' in hiding
30/12/2007 12:16 - (SA)
Sydney - Former Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks was in hiding on Sunday following his release from an Australian prison amid reports the "Aussie Taliban" feared he would be targeted by extremists.
Hicks walked out of Adelaide's Yatala prison on Saturday after completing a nine-month sentence for providing material support for terrorism.
The 32-year-old had spent more than five years behind bars at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay after being picked up in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Hicks remains the only detainee held at the controversial military base in Cuba to be convicted on terrorism charges. He returned to Australia in May as part of a plea bargain deal with US officials under which he could serve the remainder of his sentence on home soil.
Concerns for his safety
His father Terry, who reportedly wept as he waited for his son to emerge from the prison, said Hicks had concerns for his safety following his release.
"We've got to be honest about this: there are people out there who don't like David Hicks," he told The Sun-Herald.
"I am hoping that's as far as it goes - that they just don't like him and leave it at that."
Hick's lawyer David McLeod said his client was fearful of attacks by Muslim extremists because he had renounced his Islamic faith in 2002 and also dropped his allegiance to Osama bin Laden.
But he was also worried that far-right extremists could target him for having trained with al-Qaeda.
"David is concerned about the safety of his family from people who hold views he was purported to share," McLeod told The Sun-Herald.
"There are also a number of far-right nationalist groups in Australia who have spoken out about David."
McLeod said Hicks was also worried he would be hounded by the media and accidentally breach a condition of his plea bargain, which prevents him from speaking to journalists until April 2008, and face further imprisonment.
Whereabouts kept secret
Hicks' whereabouts are now kept secret even from his father, who campaigned vigorously for his son to be released from Guantanamo and was there to embrace him after his release.
"We haven't been interacting for five or six years. What's a couple of days?" Hicks senior told national radio.
The case of the high-school drop-out and one-time kangaroo skinner has gripped the Australian public which has long been concerned by his lengthy detention overseas despite uncertainty over whether he was a Muslim extremist or wayward adventurer.
Hicks himself has pleaded for "breathing space to get on with my life".
"Right now I am looking forward to some quiet time with my wonderful dad, my family and friends," he said in a statement after his release.
- AFP
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