The political part in Australia... he was released far later then the British prisoners... and there was a gag order that he couldn't speak until after the election... now considering his background, and it was already well documented... why they need to gag him?

"Hicks wrote home that he had met Osama bin Laden 20 times. He later, however, told investigators he had exaggerated, that he had seen bin Laden about eight times and spoken to him only once."

Eight times is a lot. Looks like the 3:1 ratio for exagerating the number of partners also applies to meeting heads of groups... Something to do with basic male ego drives and the need to over count head.

More seriously. If they had the evidence, why not just put it through a legitmate court. And why pursue the foot troops in this war when there was far more powerful people to pursue including money brockers.