CANBERRA - In 31 days David Hicks will be a free man.
For seven years the United States military at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and then Australian police in his home country have known exactly wherehe is.
But that is about to end for the convicted terrorism supporterafter Australian Federal Police yesterday said they would not seek to extend his controversial control order, which expires on December 21.
Hicks said the decision was a "great relief" for him and his family.
Earlier in the day, he had broken his silence and pleaded with authorities to give him his life back.
"Until the control order is lifted, I will not be able to get on with my life," he said in a video released yesterday and filmed earlier in the week for the lobby group GetUp!.
Hicks was captured in Afghanistan in December 2001 and in January the following year was transferred to the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay.
He returned to Australia in May last year and served out his remaining time in a South Australian prison.
Last December, the Federal Magistrates Court ruled that it would place a control order on Hicks, ahead of his release later that month from jail. Under the control order, Hicks must report to police twice a week, cannot leave the country and must obey a night-time curfew amongst other rules.
In the video, he looks nothing like the man once photographed with a rocket-launcher on his shoulder. He appeared uncomfortable as he read from a prepared script. He promised to one day tell the full story of his detention at Guantanamo Bay to the Australian public.
But those close to the former kangaroo skinner say it may be some time before his fragile mental state allows it.
Hicks' father Terry said his son was now on the way to becoming "a normal person".
