THE at times graphic account by the former terrorism suspect David Hicks, Guantanamo: My Journey, which tells of the brutality of the US-run prison camp in Cuba, is the first time Mr Hicks has given his version of events since being captured in 2001. He had undertaken training with the Taliban.

Mr Hicks spent six years at the US-run prison camp and in April 2007 came home to serve nine months at Adelaide's Yatala jail after being convicted by a US military commission for ''providing material support for terrorism''.

As part of a plea bargain, he was allowed to serve his sentence in Adelaide.

Also under the deal, in which the Howard government and the US administration were also involved, Mr Hicks was gagged from speaking publicly until his sentence expired, which ensured he could say nothing before that year's federal election. His incarceration had become a political negative for the Howard government.

As he promised at the time, Mr Hicks has led a quiet life, living in Sydney and getting married. He is understood to want to have his terrorism conviction quashed.

He is technically unable to profit from his book under laws which prevent profiting from the proceeds of crime.

That, said a spokeswoman for the publisher Random House, was a matter for Mr Hicks and his lawyers.

Extracts were released free of charge to the media yesterday. It is up to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to decide whether to take action over profits from the book.

The book is released today.