ADELAIDE, Australia, May 20 (UPI) -- Convicted terrorist supporter David Hicks, who spent five years in solitary confinement at Guantanamo Bay, returned Saturday to his home country of Australia.
Hicks's attorney, David McLeod, said his client was "very glad to be back on Australian soil, he was visibly overjoyed when we touched down in Edinburgh." Hicks, 31, who flew back to Australia in a private jet, will spend the next seven months in Yatala Prison, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Hicks, a former Muslim left Adelaide for Pakistan in 1999 and wound up at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba after being found guilty of providing material support to a terrorist organization.
It was believed it cost the Australian government more than $500,000 to arrange for Hicks to be returned home. "He is very grateful to the Australian taxpayer," McLeod said.
