"No sleeping, no talking, no moving, no looking, no information"... David Hicks describes his first two weeks imprisoned in Camp X-Ray as "a blur of hardships".

"No sleeping, no talking, no moving, no looking, no information"... David Hicks describes his first two weeks imprisoned in Camp X-Ray as "a blur of hardships".Photo: AP/GetUp!/Jarra McGrath
Turned over to US forces while trying to flee Afghanistan in 2001, David Hicks was later flown to the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This is his story of his arrival at Camp X-Ray.
I awoke on a concrete slab with the sun in my face. I looked around and saw that I was in a cage made out of cyclone fencing, the same as the boundary fence around my old primary school. Internal fences divided the cage into ten enclosures, and I was in one of the corner-end cells. Around me, I saw five other concrete slabs with what looked like bird cages constructed on top. A fence covered in green shadecloth and topped with rolls of razor wire was wrapped around these six concrete slabs, able to house sixty unfortunate human beings. Hanging on the inside of this fence were signs saying, ''If you attempt escape, you will be shot'', complete with a featureless person with a target for a head.
Will we ever know the whole truth about his capture and treatment.
Will we ever know how complicit the Australian government was in his rendition, questioning and torture.
It must make every Australian wonder what support they will get from government if they run foul of our great and powerful ally.
His guilt is not the issue,(though it is in doubt) the issue is that he is an Australian.
When we see countries like England able to arrange for the release or transfer of their citizens from Guantanamo Bay and see our PM John Howard do nothing for an Australian citizen in the same situation we must wonder why, was just about backing George Bush?
He made no effort for years to have him moved to a prison in Australia.
Indeed the Howard government vilified him every step of the way.
I was ashamed to call myself Australian at the time.