'Australian Taleban' fully free

An Australian former inmate of the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay is now a free man after Australian police lifted strict controls on his actions.

David Hicks spent more than five years at Guantanamo Bay without a trial before admitting to charges of providing material support to al-Qaeda.

In return, he was allowed in May 2007 to serve out the last nine months of his sentence in an Australian prison.

Hicks, a convert to Islam, was captured by US troops in Afghanistan in 2001.

The former kangaroo wrangler was the first "enemy combatant" held at Guantanamo to be convicted by a US military commission.

'Still recovering'

The control orders limiting his movements expired at midnight on Saturday.

Australian police said they would not seek to extend the measures after Hicks made a public appeal to be allowed to "get on with my life".

He was subject to a strict curfew and restrictions on his travel and had to report regularly to police.

His telephone and internet communications were also limited.

Hicks has admitted to training with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and meeting its leader, Osama Bin Laden.

The 33-year-old has said he is recovering still from his ordeal at Guantanamo Bay and is not ready yet to tell his story.

But he has said he will do so.