David Hicks was whisked away from Adelaide prison to a secret location. Photo / Getty Images
ADELAIDE - Former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks has been secretly reunited with his father for the first time since leaving prison.
He then spoke publicly for the first time, telling a reporter present at the meeting: "I'm doing fine."
The 32-year-old hugged his father, Terry, after meeting
him yesterday for the first time since he was taken from prison to a secret suburban location.
Terry Hicks introduced his son to the journalist from The Age after the newspaper learned of the meeting.
The paper said Hicks was pale-faced and well-spoken with a deep voice.
But it said that in what is believed to have been his first meeting with a reporter since his arrest in Afghanistan six years ago, he also appeared intense, nervous and distrustful around someone he did not know.
Since his release from an Adelaide prison on Saturday, David Hicks has been moving from house to house and trying to avoid being recognised.
"He has had a chance to get out and do his own thing," Terry Hicks said. "He hasn't harmed anyone."
David Hicks deferred to his father during the meeting, telling The Age he was doing well but declining to answer questions because of fears about the repercussions of breaching the gag order imposed on him as part of the plea deal he made with the US military.
Terry Hicks said his son, who was released from Yatala after serving a nine-month sentence imposed on him by the US military, needed more "breathing space" before other media learned of his whereabouts.
- AAP
