Guantanamo media

Introducing an update to my six-part definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, which I first put together in 2009, listing the 779 men held at the prison since it opened on January 11, 2002, and which links to my articles about the prisoners, drawing on the 2,500 articles I’ve written about Guantánamo since 2007. I’ve updated it several times since 2009, most recently in 2018, and this latest update adds links to all the articles I’ve written over the last four years.

Promoting a letter to President Biden from eight former Guantánamo prisoners, urging him to drop a ban on released prisoners leaving with their artwork, or even giving it as gifts to their lawyers (and, via them, to their family members), which was imposed under Donald Trump in November 2017, in response to Pentagon hysteria about an exhibition of prisoners’ artwork in New York.

My reflections on Guantánamo and 9/11 on the 21st anniversary of the terrorist attacks, which led to two failed wars, the CIA’s torture program, and, of course, the establishment of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, the enduring symbol of the US’s shameful and lawless response to the 9/11 attacks, where 36 men are still held, most of whom have never been charged with crime. Also included is a video of my discussion about 9/11 and Guantánamo with Inayat Wadee of Salaamedia in South Africa. Ironically, the men held who were allegedly responsible for the attacks have still not been successfully prosecuted, because of the torture to which they were subjected, while, alarmingly for the old men who still want to keep the “war on terror” alive, no one under 25 even remembers 9/11, and in many cases don’t even know what happened that day.

Following up on a powerful BBC report by Joel Gunter about the art produced by Guantánamo prisoners, which was banned from leaving the prison under Donald Trump, a ban that, shamefully, President Biden has not reversed.

A cross-post, with my own introduction, of a feature in the latest issue of The New Republic, in which Jordan Michael Smith profiles Tom Wilner and myself, the co-founders of the Close Guantánamo campaign, about our long struggle to get the prison closed.

Linking to and discussing my latest radio appearance: with Misty Winston on her TNT Radio show “Cognitive Dissonance,” in which we spoke about Guantánamo and the classified military files released by WikiLeaks in 2011, on which I worked as a media partner.

Recently discovered videos of speakers at the rally for the closure of Guantánamo that was held in London in January 2022, featuring speakers including John McDonnell MP and myself, to mark the 20th anniversary of the opening of the prison.

Linking to the video of a recent Q&A, featuring Mohamedou Ould Slahi, John Goetz and myself, following a screening of Goetz’s powerful documentary film, “Guantánamo Diary Revisited,” made available by its distributors in the US and Canada, Cinema Libre Studio. In the film, Goetz assists Slahi in tracking down some of those involved in his torture, the intention being to invite them to tea, and to let them know that he has forgiven everyone responsible for his torture.

Linking to and discussing the video of the powerful Q&A session that followed a screening of ‘The Mauritanian’ in Tunbridge Wells on March 20, 2022, featuring former Guantánamo prisoner Mohamedou Ould Salahi, whose story is told in the film.

Promoting the online screening, next week, of “Guantánamo Diary Revisited”, John Goetz’s new documentary about Mohamedou Ould Slahi, which is very generously being made available as a fundraiser to support my ongoing work on Guantánamo by the US and Canadian distributor, Cinema Libre Studio, with a Q&A session following, featuring Mohamedou, John and myself.