A former Guantanamo Bay detainee convicted on terrorism charges broke his long media silence on Thursday to plead with Australian police to stop restricting his movements and communications so he can “get on with” his life.

David Hicks, a 33-year-old former Outback cowboy and kangaroo skinner turned Taliban foot soldier, has been subject to a control order since his release from prison in his home state of South Australia last December.

Under the order, Hicks must report to police three days a week, observe a curfew and is banned from using any telephone or Internet account not approved by police. It is due to expire next month.

Hicks released a 54-second video message to the public Thursday through a political lobby group opposed to Australia’s toughened anti-terrorism laws, saying he feared police will ask for the control order to be extended for another year.

“I don’t know what the future holds for me,” Hicks says in the video, posted on the GetUp! group’s Web site. “The only thing I do know is that until the control order is lifted, I will not be able to get on with my life.”

The Muslim convert spent 5 1/2 years in captivity without trial at the U.S. military prison in Cuba before pleading guilty to supporting terrorism at a U.S. military tribunal in exchange for serving a nine-month sentence in Australia.

Police said in a statement it would be “inappropriate” to comment on whether they were seeking an extension of the control order.

Attorney General Robert McClelland, who must approve any such application before police can bring it to a magistrate, was not immediately available for comment.

Hicks was captured by the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan in late 2001 and handed to U.S. troops invading to unseat the Taliban regime. Under the plea bargain, Hicks admitted providing material support to al-Qaida.

The deal prevented him from speaking to the media until March 2008.

But even after that date he has refused all media offers to tell his story. He said Thursday he must first recover from his years in captivity.

“Because I’m still recovering from that ordeal, I’m not yet ready to fully explain what happened or why,” he says. “One day, I will tell Australia that story, but I am not at that point yet.”

Since Hicks’ guilty plea, only two Guantanamo Bay detainees have been convicted on terrorism charges.

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden’s media specialist Ali Hamza al-Bahlulto was sentenced this month to life in prison. Bin Laden driver Salim Hamdan was convicted in August and sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison.

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On the Net:

http://www.getup.org.au