Control order for detainee Hicks

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Former Guantanamo detainee David Hicks will face tough restrictions on his movements when he is released from jail next week, an Australian court ruled.

A magistrate approved a police request for a control order, saying he was satisfied that Hicks posed a threat.

It is only the second ever control order issued in Australia under anti-terrorism laws.

Hicks admitted supporting terrorism at a US military court earlier this year, after five years in Guantanamo Bay.

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 plea deal and is due to be released from prison in Adelaide on 29 December.

'A risk'

Magistrate Warren Donald approved the control order at a court in Adelaide.

"I'm satisfied that coupled with the defendant's views expressed and his capability and training ... that the defendant is a risk of taking part in a terrorist act," he said.

Hicks will have to observe a curfew and report to police three times per week.

He is also banned from leaving Australia and faces restrictions on owning a mobile phone.

Hicks was captured by US forces in Afghanistan in 2001 and spent five years in the controversial detention camp.

He was the first inmate to be sentenced at a military tribunal there, as domestic pressure grew on the Australian government to resolve the issue of his lengthy detention.

Hicks' father Terry told Australian broadcaster ABC that while his son had expected the control order, it was disappointing.

The only other person to face a similar order has been Joseph "Jihad Jack" Thomas.

He was jailed in 2006 for receiving funds from al-Qaeda but the conviction was later quashed when an appeal court ruled some of the evidence inadmissible.