David Hicks, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, notoriously known as the 'Aussie Taliban', revealed on Thursday, after terrorist conviction against him was quashed, that he was physically and psychologically tortured during the five years of his detainment.
Now, he has demanded the government to meet all the medical expenses that fell on him resulting from the torture.
"I do think that someone should be responsible for my medical expenses," Ruters reports Hicks as saying in Sydney. Hicks, was pleaded guilty in 2007 for providing material support to terrorism, training at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan and meeting with the Islamist outfit's leader Osama bin Laden.
He was, however, relieved of his conviction by the US Court of Military Commissions Review, as this activity did not become a crime until years after he was captured in Afghanistan.
During the press conference in Sydney, Hicks said he had been waiting for this positive verdict for years. Although he would not seek an official apology for the "physical and psychological torture that I will now live with always," he hopes to be compensated for medical treatment needed to "fix myself from torture".
However, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that Australia does not owe him an apology for not challenging his detention. "We did what was needed. Let's not forget ... he was up to no good on his own admission," Abbott told reporters.
