Hicks home to a chilly reception

IF David Hicks expected the welcome mat to be rolled out when he finally made it home yesterday, it wasn't to be. The reception was frostier than the wintry morning he dropped into. Video: Hicks returns

IF David Hicks expected the welcome mat to be rolled out when he finally made it home yesterday, it wasn't to be. The reception was frostier than the wintry morning he dropped into. Video: Hicks returns

After a 24-hour charter flight, laid on at a taxpayer expense of at least $520,000, the confessed al-Qa'ida supporter set foot on Australian soil for the first time in nearly eight years.

He appeared, shivering in the 15C chill, in an orange set of South Australian prison-issue overalls, looking for all the world like he was still wearing one of those lurid numbers from Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba.

His hands were cuffed as he was led off the executive jet that had flown him to Adelaide, flanked by burly prison officers who stood head and shoulders over him.

Hicks, 32, was hustled into an office at Edinburgh airforce base, north of Adelaide, where Immigration officers completed the formalities of his bittersweet homecoming.

Within minutes he was loaded into the windowless rear compartment of a prison van and driven to nearby Yatala prison, the convoy speeding off through a little-used back gate of the RAAF complex.

Waiting for him at Yatala, amid the locals who jostled with media for a view of his arrival, were those who were not about to let anyone forget how Hicks had got himself into trouble with al-Qa'ida in Afghanistan. Hicks travelled there in 2000, having trained with Islamic extremists in Pakistan, and was captured with al-Qa'ida-backed Taliban forces following the September 11, 2001, terrorism attacks on the US.

One protester, identifying himself only as "Mark", brandished a placard which read: "Forget Hicks, Remember 9/11."

"This is a circus," Mark said, after watching Hicks's convoy enter the gates of the sandstone-walled prison.

"I think he should be in a canoe, paddling his way back ... not in a chartered jet. He's coming here like he's Elvis Presley."

Hicks was being settled into his new routine last night at Yatala, where he will be held in maximum security in the jail's G division. The division is home to some of South Australia's hardest criminals.

He was immediately classed as a "High 1A" prisoner - the highest security level possible.

His lawer, David McLeod, who had accompanied Hicks back to Adelaide, said that Hicks was visibly elated when he stepped off the charter plane yesterday after it touched down at 9.50am, local time.

Hicks had been "restrained in his seat" for most of the 24-hour flight, which was broken only by a brief refuelling stop in Tahiti.

A quiet and reflective Hicks had watched his first movie in five years and enjoyed the in-flight catering, Mr McLeod said.

Hicks had also instructed his lawyer to drop all legal action in Australia, the US and Britain related to the five years he spent imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, the US's main holding detention centre for accused terrorists.

Mr McLeod said Hicks had reaffirmed that he would abide by the 12-month media gag that was part of the plea bargain struck with the US to secure his return to Australia. Under the deal, Hicks is expected to be released from Yatala on December 29.

Once freed, he would not risk breaching Australian proceeds of crime laws by selling his story, Mr McLeod said. "All he wants to do now is become a regular prisoner, serve his time and (he) proposes to make every use that he can of the rehabilitation processes here," Mr McLeod said.

"He wants to get on with his education, he wants to complete his high school and if possible go on to university."

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, defending the cost of the operation to return Hicks to Australia, said the Government had no option but to charter the private jet, at a cost of about $500,000.

A further $20,000 had been spent on airfares to Cuba for the two South Australian prison officers and other personnel who accompanied Hicks on the flight, including a doctor. No one was armed, it was revealed yesterday.

Hicks's father, Terry, said he had not been informed that his son was back in Australia until after the plane had landed. Hicks now hopes to complete the high school correspondence course he started in Guantanamo Bay and qualify for university entry to study zoology, ecology or environmental studies.

"David's always been interested in animals and plants, so if he can go along that course, I think that's well and good," Mr Hicks said.

Additional reporting: Pia Akerman