Australian police to watch Hicks

SYDNEY, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Australian Attorney General Robert McClelland authorized the Australian Federal Police to seek a control order against former Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks.

Hicks was captured in Afghanistan in 2001 and spent five years as a terror detainee in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He pleaded guilty to providing material support for terrorism as part of a deal that allowed him to return to Australia.

If approved, the control order will limit Hicks' travels once he leaves Adelaide's Yatala prison on Dec. 29. He would be under a curfew and will have to report to police three times a week, if the order is granted, The Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Monday.

Hicks' father, Terry, said some release conditions are too harsh, noting that his son does not pose a public danger.

"All David wants to do is get on with his life (and) get a job, go to university," he said. "He's not going to be any harm to anybody."