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| Hicks to serve nine months' jail | Hicks to serve nine months' jail |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| Australian Guantanamo detainee David Hicks will be sent home to serve nine months in prison after being sentenced by a military judge at the facility. | Australian Guantanamo detainee David Hicks will be sent home to serve nine months in prison after being sentenced by a military judge at the facility. |
| Hicks, 31, was sentenced to seven years in jail after pleading guilty to supporting terrorism, but all but nine months of the sentence was suspended. | |
| The former kangaroo skinner was captured in Afghanistan after fighting briefly with the Taleban. | The former kangaroo skinner was captured in Afghanistan after fighting briefly with the Taleban. |
| He has already been held for more than five years at Guantanamo Bay. | He has already been held for more than five years at Guantanamo Bay. |
| Under a plea bargain deal with the prosecution, Hicks could only be sentenced to a maximum of seven years. | Under a plea bargain deal with the prosecution, Hicks could only be sentenced to a maximum of seven years. |
| The judge at the sentencing hearing on Friday evening revealed that the plea deal also specified that any term beyond nine months be suspended. | The judge at the sentencing hearing on Friday evening revealed that the plea deal also specified that any term beyond nine months be suspended. |
| The US must now send Hicks to his home country within 60 days - ie by 29 May. | The US must now send Hicks to his home country within 60 days - ie by 29 May. |
| Abuse claims | |
| The Muslim convert appeared in court on Friday in a suit and with his hair, which earlier in the week reached down to his chest, cut short. | |
| He is the first Guantanamo detainee convicted of any terrorist offence since they began arriving at the camp a little over five years ago. | |
| Profile: David Hicks Saudi suspect alleges torture Q&A: Military tribunals | |
| The US is gradually putting other prisoners through the same process. | |
| Hicks is also the first person convicted by a US war crimes court since World War II. | |
| As part of the plea bargain, Hicks also withdrew claims he was abused in US detention. | |
| The Australian had previously alleged he was beaten by US forces after his capture in Afghanistan and that he had been sedated before learning of the charges against him. | |
| Addressing the tribunal, he affirmed he had "never been illegally treated by any persons in the control or custody of the United States" before or after his transfer to Guantanamo in 2002. | |
| US civil rights groups accuse Washington of a cover-up. | |
| "The government is attempting to silence criticism and keep the facts of their torture and abuse of detainees from the public," said Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. | |
| Australian relief | |
| As part of his plea deal, Hicks has agreed not to speak to the media for a year, not to receive any money for his story and not to sue the US government. | |
| At Friday's hearing, he had to convince the military judge that his guilty plea was genuine and not just a tactic to return home to Adelaide. | |
| However his father, Terry, said that was the only reason he had agreed to make the plea. | |
| The Australian government will be relieved that the David Hicks saga is coming to an end, says the BBC's Phil Mercer in Sydney. | |
| While the conservative government is a supporter of the US military justice system, it has come under a great deal of pressure from Australians disturbed by Hicks' treatment, and will be glad to put the issue behind it with elections due later in the year, our correspondent says. |