VOA常速英语2007年-Former Guantanamo Bay Detainee Hicks Freed from

By Phil Mercer
Sydney
29 December 2007

The only Guantanamo Bay inmate¹ convicted of terrorism offenses, Australian David Hicks, has been released from prison in Adelaide. Hicks was captured with Taliban forces in Afghanistan in late 2001 and spent five years in Guantanamo Bay before pleading guilty to providing material support for terrorism in March. From Sydney, Phil Mercer reports.

Six years after being detained in Afghanistan David Hicks is a free man.

Wearing jeans and a green shirt, the 32-year-old former Muslim convert seemed relaxed as he was released from Adelaide's maximum security Yatala prison.

A small group of supporters stood at the gate to mark the occasion.

Hicks left without a word to waiting reporters but his lawyer David McLeod read a statement on his behalf in which Hicks thanked those who had worked to secure his freedom.

"I would like to recognize the huge debt of gratitude² that I owe the Australian public for getting me home," he said. "I will not forget or let you down. Next I would like to thank my family and close friends who have been so supportive of me. Words cannot adequately express the level of my feelings for them. I love them very, very much."

Hicks also asked to be left alone to make a "slow and gentle" transition to freedom.

His new life will be subject to strict conditions.

The former detainee must report to the authorities three times a week and comply with a curfew. He is also not allowed to leave the country.

Earlier this month an Australian magistrate³ approved a request from the police to issue a control order governing his actions, insisting that Hicks still posed a threat to society.

His family and his legal team maintain he was a misguided adventurer who never intended to harm anyone.

He was transferred from Guantanamo Bay to an Australian prison nine months ago after striking a deal with American military prosecutors⁴.

In return for pleading guilty to providing material support for an extremist organization, Hicks was sentenced to seven years in prison, though all but nine months' prison time was suspended.

He was allowed to return home in May to serve the remainder of that sentence in his home city.

David Hicks was the first person to be convicted at a U.S. war crimes trial since the Second World War.

Australia's former conservative Prime Minister John Howard said Hicks was treated fairly by the U.S. military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay. Critics said Mr. Howard should have done more to stop an Australian citizen being held without trial for so many years in a foreign prison.

Australia's new Labor⁵ government said in a statement that David Hicks was entitled to start rebuilding his life, and his request for privacy should be respected.

1 inmate   

n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人

参考例句：

• I am an inmate of that hospital.我住在那家医院。
• The prisoner is his inmate.那个囚犯和他同住一起。

2 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

3 magistrate   

n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官

参考例句：

• The magistrate committed him to prison for a month.法官判处他一个月监禁。
• John was fined 1000 dollars by the magistrate.约翰被地方法官罚款1000美元。

4 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。