[JURIST] Former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] was released from an Australian prison Saturday. In an statement [text] read by his lawyer, Hicks asked the media and public to respect his agreement not to speak on a range of issues before March 30, 2008, a condition of his release. He thanked lawyers, rights groups, politicians, and others "who strove to uphold the ideal of a free trial for an Australian citizen." AP has more.

Hicks will be subject to an interim control order [JURIST report], issued last week by an Australian judge. Under the terms of the order, he will not be allowed to leave the country, must report to police three times per week, and will be subject to a midnight to 6 AM curfew. Hicks was transferred to Australia [JURIST report] in May to serve the remainder of his nine-month prison sentence at a maximum security prison near his hometown of Adelaide, South Australia. He pleaded guilty to a charge of supporting terrorism [JURIST reports] before a US military commission in March after spending more than five years in US custody since being captured in Afghanistan.