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ON THE UP SIDE, IT’S A CINCH TO CLEAN

Dare you enter David’s Miniature Chamber of Doom?

A life-sized replica of David Hicks’s Guantanamo Bay cell has gone on display in the middle of Sydney’s CBD in an effort to show people what life’s like for the Australian terror suspect.

Passers-by who entered the cramped, florescent-lit, white-walled structure, which was set up in Martin Place today by human rights organisation Amnesty International, described the experience as traumatising.

“No one should be subject to that no matter what he has done and there’s nothing proven that he’s done,” said 20-year-old student Claire Dawson, who was close to tears after spending less than two minutes alone inside the 1.8 metre wide, 2.4 metre long structure.

I don’t suppose she’s ever been inside a photo booth. Or a burqa.

Posted by Tim B. on 03/19/2007 at 02:02 AM
  1. First pulicising, now florescent. I have learnt two new things today. I can have tomorrow off.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 03 19 at 02:26 AM • permalink

  2. Looks like my office, but with more atmosphere.

    Posted by Habib on 2007 03 19 at 02:26 AM • permalink

  3. And I didn’t notice the Koran O Matic auto dispenser either- they obviously didn’t get Prison Accessories Corp (Oswegia) to do the fitout. Where’s the authenticity?

    And where’s the rugby scrum simulator to cater for the calisthenic requirements of guests?

    All in all a pretty pale reflection of reality.

    Posted by Habib on 2007 03 19 at 02:33 AM • permalink

  4. His house is bigger than most inner suburb homes in Sydney. Worth at least 1 million.

    This news (cough)  article comes with a yellow envelope(advert) in the paper to donate money to Dumb dumb david.

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 03 19 at 02:43 AM • permalink

  5. “1.8 metre wide, 2.4 metre long structure.”

    Waste of space.

    Posted by Dave Surls on 2007 03 19 at 02:51 AM • permalink

  6. 1.8 metre wide, 2.4 metre long structure

    You mean they don’t like Mike Moore anymore?

    Posted by Nic on 2007 03 19 at 02:57 AM • permalink

  7. I was going to say that Claire obviously needs to cut down on the Krispy Kremes but changed my mind. Do you think that George Lucas has his next film “Guantanamo Dave and the room of doom”?

    Posted by Nic on 2007 03 19 at 02:59 AM • permalink

  8. The replica cell will be on display at Martin place today and tomorrow, before embarking on a national tour.

    Yeah,room, you fully rock! Wooooo.
    Imagine the T Shirt sales!

    Posted by Nic on 2007 03 19 at 03:02 AM • permalink

  9. Tim, you forgot to mention if she’s visited the ladies “powder rooms” for more than 2 minutes.

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 03 19 at 03:13 AM • permalink

  10. Chickee definitely needs to get out more.  That’s about the size of a lot of dorm rooms.

    Posted by TattooedIntellectual on 2007 03 19 at 03:14 AM • permalink

  11. Being locked up sucks.  It really and truely does.  When they built the new county jailhouse back home people complained that it was too cushy.  So anyone who wanted was invited to spend the night.  Being locked up truely is terrible.

    But you know, that doesn’t mean it’s the least bit unjustified.

    And if I’m doing my WAG conversions approximately right, that’s about the size of my daughter’s room.  She’s just happy not to have to share with her little sisters.

    It’s a whole heck of a lot bigger than the plan I saw for the ISS for the astronauts.  Now that really was a closet, and a small old fashioned closet since the astronauts can sleep vertically.

    And why do the links to au sites never work for me?  Are they broken or did my internet provider do a regional IP block?

    Posted by Synova on 2007 03 19 at 03:22 AM • permalink

  12. My bedroom, in a flat shared with a mate in woollahra circa 1982, was a fraction smaller than Daves current accomadation.

    Mine came with mould and damp and a cupboard and nothing else because the remaining floor space was taken up when the door was opened or closed.

    It also came with fresh running water (down the inside of the window in winter).

    Poor Diddums….

    Posted by haranton on 2007 03 19 at 03:31 AM • permalink

  13. I might note its well designed from a “minimum standards” point of view.

    Cell window which lets in sunlight. Funny I seem to remember a LOT of stories how there was NO sunlight entering his cell.
    Heres some from the usual suspects.
    No hanging points in the cell, so whatever they are doing they dont intend for him to kill himself.
    With supporters like these he should make an attempt.
    Viynl matress cover so searches are easier and quicker (I have found razor blades and other contraband hidden in slit matresses before)
    Seems to me it meets the requirements of a cell, the 2 hrs excersize time a day is the requirement. I might add that has to be offered so if a detainee refuses to take it it is their choice.

    Most shocking of all 5 years in guantanimo is MAKING HIM YOUNGER!!!!! Look at the SMH photo, hes regressed at least 20 years!!!

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 03 19 at 03:33 AM • permalink

  14. OT: Orson Scott Card thrashes Mann’s hockey stick graph.  Very interesting read.  Link

    Posted by TattooedIntellectual on 2007 03 19 at 03:41 AM • permalink

  15. The prime target of the NGOs - young, stupid westerners.

    Posted by boxofmatches on 2007 03 19 at 03:41 AM • permalink

  16. Typical of Amnesty Amnesia International. Go beat up on a worthwhile target! There are plenty out there if you are interested in doing good rather than just playing politics.
    And keep your begging bowls out of my face until you manage to get on message.

    Posted by blogstrop on 2007 03 19 at 04:03 AM • permalink

  17. Seems a lot bigger also than the type of pine box Hicks was hoping to put a lot of people in come to think about it.

    Posted by stahlblume on 2007 03 19 at 04:07 AM • permalink

  18. Rather have him in that cell than a sleeper cell.

    Posted by Penguin on 2007 03 19 at 04:22 AM • permalink

  19. Someone please crash this and hold a picnic inside, with a tea-set and everything.

    Posted by Craig Mc on 2007 03 19 at 04:27 AM • permalink

  20. which was set up in Martin Place today by human rights organisation Amnesty International

    Now that’s fascinating!! When I was a member of AI many years ago, they would not be seen dead representing someone who had used violence.

    Perhaps AI would like to explain this apparent change of policy. Then again, perhaps not.

    Posted by DropDeadUgly on 2007 03 19 at 04:28 AM • permalink

  21. Come to think of it, that’s exactly the type of room that I would expect a traitor to live in. Nothing to see here, move on….

    Posted by Penguin on 2007 03 19 at 04:30 AM • permalink

  22. That photo in the SMH is downright dishonest. They are trying to make him look like a clean cut schoolboy.

    Why didn’t they publish his better known image?

    Posted by Pedro the Ignorant on 2007 03 19 at 04:38 AM • permalink

  23. I hope someone will desecrate this terrorist chapel.

    Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 03 19 at 04:44 AM • permalink

  24. A WITNESS to David Hicks’ prison experience at Guantanamo Bay has described it as like entering a Nazi death camp ...

    “Neither in the cell nor in recreation time do the prisoners ever see another living thing, except military police or the five other men in the pod,” he said.

    “They never see, smell or touch plants, soil, the sea or any creature except insects. They pass days of infinite tedium and loneliness.”
    Link


    That’s it. I’ve heard enough. A Nazi death camp is the least of it. This is simply unconscionable.

    How is the man expected to amuse himself by catching and torturing cockroaches?

    Posted by geoff on 2007 03 19 at 04:45 AM • permalink

  25. His cell is 46.5 ft². If it was on the block recently purchased by Sun Hung Kai on Hong Kong’s Peak, it would be worth US$251,890.50 (SHK paid $5,417 ft²). The boy is rolling in it…

    Posted by Hanyu on 2007 03 19 at 04:52 AM • permalink

  26. Here’s an idea.  Take that picture of Dawood Hicks’ prison cell, and send it out to every prisoner doing time in an Australian prison.  Then ask the Aussie prisoners if they wouldn’t mind trading places.  I’d bet you’d get a couple of thousand takers.  Not because Australian prisons suck so bad but because Dawood Hicks has it so much better.

    Posted by David Crawford on 2007 03 19 at 04:59 AM • permalink

  27. Yeah Hanyu, #25, In Shamshuipo that cell would be a luxury apartment with all of its ‘useable space’ housing some 10 domestic helpers.

    Posted by Nic on 2007 03 19 at 05:02 AM • permalink

  28. I’ve never hated Jews (not so keen on Antony Lowenstein, but I don’t hate him), never wanted to shoot at Indians, kill and maim westerners nor install a global Caliphate.

    Neither have I been incarcerated for 5 years (I can probably thank my foresight in being honest with my tax returns for that).

    And I guess that’s why I’m not famous like this Mohammed Dawood (nee David Hicks) fella. Can fabulous wealth be far behind for Mo?

    Posted by Henry boy on 2007 03 19 at 05:06 AM • permalink


  29. all you car enthusiasts should be able to identify the year of the auto in the background of the fraudulently young photo used by the blatts

    Posted by KK on 2007 03 19 at 05:17 AM • permalink

  30. 1.8 by 2.4 metres seems quite spacious compared to a tight fit like this.

    Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 03 19 at 05:34 AM • permalink

  31. #30 KK: forget the auto; what does the tattoo on his right hand spell out?

    Nic (#27): No management fees for wasted space like lifts, club house, pool…

    Posted by Hanyu on 2007 03 19 at 05:37 AM • permalink

  32. Claire’s knee-jerk comment shows yet again that education in Australia is the same as a lobotomy.

    By Claire’s own words - no one should be subject to that no matter what he has done - she would upgrade the accommodation of serial killer Ivan Milat, serial rapist Bilal Skaf and the brutal sadists who totured, raped and murdered Anita Cobby. How about child killers and pedophiles, Claire. They don’t deserve to be put in a cell? What do we do with them? A four-star hotel while awaiting trial and a sentence served at the 5-star Hayman island resort until they die from all that rich food and booze?

    Posted by Contrail on 2007 03 19 at 05:47 AM • permalink

  33. OT:
    Doomed Garuda jet’s landing speed ‘higher than normal’

    Survivors of the crash have described how the aircraft approached the runway at a “crazy” speed.

    They were our RAAF guys onboard.
    AFAIK the initial request of our ATSB was for the FDR velocity/altitude parms (and not other sensors) as investigators suspected human error as the cause.
    Our own CAA said that 85% of crashes are due to human error; the pilots were initially blaming weather, then mechanical failure, we’ll see ...

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 03 19 at 05:54 AM • permalink

  34. How does the princess cope on the dunny?

    Posted by kae on 2007 03 19 at 06:02 AM • permalink

  35. More OT:
    Reporting CO2

    Transcript now available wherein Robyn Williams stiffed Bolta in recording the interviewees separately; Bolt didn’t know what claims had been made about him prior ...

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 03 19 at 06:02 AM • permalink

  36. Final OT:

    There’s something I want to discuss with you, woman to woman. I head a new political group, the Climate Change Coalition and if the rumours are true, you may soon head the NSW Opposition.

    Jeez these Leftards don’t muck about with the knife ...

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 03 19 at 06:14 AM • permalink

  37. I’ve spent some time on submarines, which have accomodation something like this. Of course, being a supernumary, I didn’t get anything nearly so spacious, I slept on a metal plate placed on a torpedo.

    Of course a submarine captain has far more roomy accomodation - something like this example from a large WWII boat. These days the analog instruments are replaced with a plasma panel/touchscreen, and the closed-cell foam matress is more comfy, but that’s about it for the changes. If anything, there’d be less space, not more.

    There are literally hundreds of Australians, Men and Women, all volunteers who spend months on end never seeing daylight, breathing incompletely filtered air, unable to eat any fresh food, and who do it in the defence of this country. None of whom have accomodation even remotely as good as Dahwood’s abode. Heck, I’ve bunked on the floor of an officer’s cabin, shared with two others, that was literally half that volume. That included their desks and workspaces too. That was in a DDG (destroyer) naturally, subs don’t have nearly that amount of spare space.

    In terms of space, Dahwood’s cell reminded me of the accomodations in the officer’s mess at HMAS Watson, a land base in Sydney, where I spent nearly two years, 5 days a week. Seeing my partner only on weekends, driving down to Canberra and back. That was as a scumbag contractor, a civilian.

    In summary : Cry Me A River.

    Posted by Zoe Brain on 2007 03 19 at 06:19 AM • permalink

  38. Forget the dimensions of Dawood’s cell, what are the dimension of the pine box that the people the Taliban murdered are buried in - if they were lucky enough not to end up in a mass grave?

    Posted by Nicholas on 2007 03 19 at 06:23 AM • permalink

  39. Wheres the lazy-boy?  Ummm, I mean the torture chair?

    Posted by Dan__W on 2007 03 19 at 06:30 AM • permalink

  40. Of course, absolutely nobody interviewed thought that Hicks deserves everything he gets.

    Posted by murph on 2007 03 19 at 07:02 AM • permalink

  41. #40 Dan W, that’s a secret torture device we don’t talk about. I think it’s in Wronwright’s shed, but shhh.

    No one’s supposed to know about it.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 03 19 at 07:03 AM • permalink

  42. #29 Young and Free - thanks for that link - who’d have thought to look there?
    A must-read.

    Posted by blogstrop on 2007 03 19 at 07:09 AM • permalink

  43. ‘...cramped, florescent-lit, white-walled structure.’

    My office at work.  I’ve confessed but it seems I’m being held for the duration.

    Posted by Inurbanus on 2007 03 19 at 07:25 AM • permalink

  44. #38
    And Watson’s wardroom was paradise.

    Posted by lotocoti on 2007 03 19 at 07:25 AM • permalink

  45. O/T but I think thew ABC has stepped over the line here.

    Abc version Poll finds growing pessimism in Iraq

    BBC version that the ABC story uses as its source Survey finds optimism in new Iraq

    I realise translations from english to english can be a little tricky but this…..

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 03 19 at 07:42 AM • permalink

  46. Apparently even the BBC cant decide what its own story is…

    Pessimism ‘growing among Iraqis’

    How can they say completely oppisite things on the same news service?

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 03 19 at 07:44 AM • permalink

  47. #46 - Those fucking freedom-hating cowards at the ABC are a national disgrace.
    Why don’t they call themselves the Kevin Fucking Rudd Network.

    Posted by boxofmatches on 2007 03 19 at 07:45 AM • permalink

  48. #46..  that BBC link shows that the Iraqis have something straight.  Only slightly more trust in the UN than local politicians.

    That certainly wasn’t highlighted in the text of the story.

    BBC survey chart

    Posted by duncanm on 2007 03 19 at 07:55 AM • permalink

  49. Isn’t “florescent” a type of potpourri?

    Posted by andycanuck on 2007 03 19 at 07:58 AM • permalink

  50. That girl was crying? Silly bint. I have lived in a room that size before and there’s plenty of space if you use it effectively.

    Maybe if David Hicks took up Feng Shui he wouldn’t be complaining about his conditions? A few books, maybe some pictures on the wall, it would look nice and homely.

    Posted by Bobski on 2007 03 19 at 08:00 AM • permalink

  51. Crikey. I wonder how she would cope in a tent.

    Posted by Simon Darkshade on 2007 03 19 at 08:04 AM • permalink

  52. Speakin ABC ...did y’all witness Grandma Doogue leering over Alain de Boitton? last Compass.She couldna decide whether to jump him or spit on him..decisions,decisions.
    Australian Story was hijacked for ABC staff purposes tonight.
    Shockingly as unfortunate as these cancer victims are,can the ABC justify two programmes when there are surely other deserving cases to be given the opportunity of drawing attention to their plight, or victims who do not have the clout that these workers do. Most cancer victims must suffer unacknowledged and unheard.

    Posted by crash on 2007 03 19 at 08:15 AM • permalink

  53. O/T - I reckon Bob Woolmer went back to his hotel room, drank himself into a stupor and did a Bon Scott. He looked absolutely shattered at the post-debacle press conference.

    Posted by Jack Lacton on 2007 03 19 at 08:15 AM • permalink

  54. Too bad he isn’t here.  He could had whole family stay with him.

    Posted by blerp on 2007 03 19 at 08:44 AM • permalink

  55. #53 Mediawatch’s Nanny Attard was Putin on the Ritz tonight,gone the dull black sensible blazer -replaced by a dull brown one.
    Bedecked in bling she sparkled through a Vogue,Vuitton,Violets and Lauren studded programme, interspersed with vignettes on Balgo and Hall’s Creek, Pill popping pensioners of Canberra and Fairfax’s Star Charts. She was upstaged by a witty riposte from Mike Van Niekirk.
    How cross she was last week with Kennet,several broadcasters and hacks over the “four farmers commit suicide every week?”
    stories which turned out to be inaccurate figures.The very next night the Tea and Scones doco ended with the very same inaccurate words. O Nanny Blue..

    Posted by crash on 2007 03 19 at 08:48 AM • permalink

  56. Back in 2005, I was involved with developing the infrastructure used by Coalition forces in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan.  Nothing major, but I was involved (among other things) in setting and maintaining the “sandbox standards”.

    1.  Prisoner living space was set at 40 square feet per person, with communal toilets and showers.  Special prisoners got their toilets, and were slightly larger, IIRC, 50 SF.  None of them had any major personal possessions, AFAIK.

    2.  Living space for the soldiers: 80 square feet.  That included their equipment, weapons, and “circulation space”, by the way.  So effectively, troops were allowed space to store their gear, lay down on their bunk, and move around the barracks.

    So when I hear Hicks getting 46.5 SF, my response is the same as Zoe’s: “Cry me a river.”

    Idiots.

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 03 19 at 09:45 AM • permalink

  57. That cell is hot.

    He’s residing between the inner thighs of a hot chick, made of concrete.

    Look at it one more time.

    He has a big, perfect vagina looking over him. I wish him well but I hope the relationship fails.

    Posted by heethcliff on 2007 03 19 at 10:05 AM • permalink

  58. I spent 1972-74 living in a mobile home in North Carolina.  Obviously, no one from Amnesty International has ever seen the bedrooms in those things.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2007 03 19 at 10:13 AM • permalink

  59. 1.8 metre wide, 2.4 metre long

    I don’t suppose he’s realized yet that he has a 3-4-5 triangle there.

    The diagonal would be 3 meters exactly.

    That would pass a week, right there.

    Posted by rhhardin on 2007 03 19 at 10:21 AM • permalink

  60. Can we get any homeless activists to protest and demand comparable accommodations for their designated victims?  Starts a closed decision loop for lefties that’s always fun to watch…

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 03 19 at 10:27 AM • permalink

  61. By the way…..when will Australia start spelling “meter” correctly?  ;-P

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 03 19 at 10:43 AM • permalink

  62. I’ve been searching for the AI roadshow of the life-sized replica of a Cuban prison “cell”.  Can’t find it,darn search engine thingy just not working this morning I guess.

    Posted by yojimbo on 2007 03 19 at 11:27 AM • permalink

  63. #62 When you guys get “colour” right!

    Posted by andycanuck on 2007 03 19 at 11:29 AM • permalink

  64. lotocoti : Re #45, during the end-of-month buffet, I couldn’t contradict you.
    Alas I was usually too busy working all hours to take too much advantage of the duty-free bar. I did sign the odd chit though, often entertaining visitors from O/S on exchange.

    That was twenty years ago though. There’s been a few changes since then.

    Posted by Zoe Brain on 2007 03 19 at 11:31 AM • permalink

  65. #64

    “tyre”?

    Posted by yojimbo on 2007 03 19 at 11:45 AM • permalink

  66. Some enterprising soul needs to steal that thing and go rent it in Tokyo.  They’re getting pretty good money for shared rooms that allow a single person just about the same amount of living space as poor widdle Dawood is allowed:

    Dawood needs to cough up some rent money

    Don’t let that sensitive little angel Claire find out - she’d have to go straight into therapy.

    Posted by Blue State Sil on 2007 03 19 at 12:29 PM • permalink

  67. How do they spell “Nineveh”? Is it up to specs?

    Posted by mojo on 2007 03 19 at 01:00 PM • permalink

  68. Club Gitmo hearing update in progress.

    Waleed bin Attash has just confessed to plotting the attack on the USS Cole and two embassies.

    Place must be working.  Time to shut it down before we win.

    Posted by yojimbo on 2007 03 19 at 01:53 PM • permalink

  69. Daaamn. That’s only a little smaller than my college dorm room, which happens to be a double. Yet I manage to exist in it with no trouble whatsoever. Where’s the dehumanizing influence?

    Oh, wait, I forgot. Republicans aren’t human.

    Everybody needs to quit whining about David Hicks. The man was a killer. He wanted to murder, and he got what he wanted. Being put in a small room is hardly punishment enough.

    Posted by Tungsten Monk on 2007 03 19 at 02:49 PM • permalink

  70. #66 That’s one that American North Americans are right about, yojimbo. However, the Aussies are wrong about “labor”, even if they do use it mainly to refer to the ALP rather than the synonym for “work” etc. Mind you, the entire English-speaking world spells “Dawood scum” the same way, showing that the similarities are greater than the differences.

    Posted by andycanuck on 2007 03 19 at 03:30 PM • permalink

  71. #71

    No doubt abooot it.  Heh!

    Posted by yojimbo on 2007 03 19 at 03:59 PM • permalink

  72. Like many of you, I’ve had bed/dorm rooms that small (and long and narrow like that—hopeless space). And even today, there are times when I daydream about living in a room that small. Like when I’m housecleaning. Or painting.

    Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2007 03 19 at 10:50 PM • permalink

  73. Anyone bother to ask these enemy sympathizers where they got their information on room size and such?

    I ask because I recall seeing an Amnesty International moron being interviewed on a news program once and she had all sorts of accusations to make about Gitmo. When asked if she’d actually been there and seen this happening, she answered no. When asked if anyone in her organization had been there and seen these things happening, she said no. When asked why she then believed these things to be happening, she answered “because everyone knows that is what Americans do”.

    So, I am wondering, did they just make the damn thing up out of the thin air? Or is there someone that actually went in and measured the cell for them?

    Posted by Grimmy on 2007 03 20 at 04:03 AM • permalink

  74. Has anyone noticed the pictures of David Hicks shown in the media are showing him at a younger age?

    Soon it’ll photos showing Davey boy with the umbilical cord still connected.

    Posted by neoZionoid on 2007 03 21 at 06:00 PM • permalink

  75. This  is a much more appropriate cubicle for you average virgin-seeking Jihadi.

    Posted by Dan Lewis on 2007 03 21 at 07:36 PM • permalink

  76. Page 1 of 1 pages

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