David Hicks was taken prisoner in 2001 in Afghanistan | An Australian sentenced by the United States for supporting terrorism has been freed from a prison in Australia, after completing his term. David Hicks was sentenced in March in the US after spending five years in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Under a plea deal with prosecutors, he was jailed for seven years, with all but nine months of the sentence suspended. He was returned to Australia in May as part of the deal.  | David has done time for whatever  Terry Hicks, David's father | Hicks was released from the maximum security prison Yalata in Adelaide without speaking to the assembled press, leaving his lawyer David McLeod to read a statement on his behalf. "I had hoped to be able to speak to the media but I am just not strong enough at the moment, it's as simple as that," the statement said. The father, Terry Hicks, told the press outside the prison nothing had been proven against his son. "David's done five-and-a-half years pretty tough, David has done time for whatever," he said. Hicks, 32, a convert to Islam who later renounced the faith, was taken prisoner in 2001 in Afghanistan and accused of terrorism links. He admitted training with al-Qaeda and meeting its leader Osama bin Laden, whom he described as "lovely", according to police evidence presented in court. |