DAVID Hicks would have been better off being a pedophile, a murderer or a rapist. They get a slap on the wrist, released early and are able to go straight back into society, where they often re-offend. It seems to me that Hicks is guilty only of being gullible, naive, foolish, converting to Islam and guarding a tank.

He shot no one, blew up no one, took part in no war action. For such wickedness, the Australian Government and its people have condoned the physical and mental torture of an Australian citizen for six years, without a fair trial. We prattle on about democracy and the fair go. What a sick joke. Australians have always been easily frightened but David Hicks is about as dangerous as dandruff. I am ashamed at what we have done to him.

Arnold Thomas, Boronia