Australian police drop restrictions against terror convict
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Australian police say they will not seek to renew restrictions on a former Guantanamo Bay detainee convicted of terrorism, after he broke a long media silence to plead for his freedom.
If the restrictions expire next month, as they are due to, David Hicks will become a completely free man for the first time since he was captured with Taliban fighters in Afghanistan almost seven years ago.
Australian Federal Police said in a statement Thursday that it would not ask a court to extend a 12-month-old order restricting Hicks' movement and communications when it expires on Dec. 21.
Hours earlier, Hicks released a video message through political lobbyists saying he feared police will ask for the control order to be extended for another year.