Guantanamo media

My reflections on meeting the author and former Guantánamo prisoner Mohamedou Ould Salahi for the very first time in London last week, during his ongoing UK speaking tour, 16 years after I first began following his case, and 13 years after Mohamedou first saw me on TV in Guantánamo calling for the prison’s closure.

I’m delighted to publicise the first ever UK speaking tour — throughout March 2022 — by former Guantánamo prisoner, torture victim and best-selling author Mohamedou Ould Salahi (aka Slahi), with events in cities including London, Cambridge and Edinburgh, and also in Brighton and Tunbridge Wells, where I’ll be joining him. Some of the events will also feature screenings of ‘The Mauritanian’, the film based on Mohamedou’s memoir, ‘Guantánamo Diary’, featuring Tahar Rahim, Jodie Foster and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Linking to, and discussing the video of a powerful online Guantánamo event hosted by Revolution Books in Harlem on Sunday January 30, featuring myself, former prisoner Mansoor Adayfi, and attorney Shelby Sullivan-Bennis, who represents a number of the men still held.

Linking to and discussing “Reaction to 9/11: Dialing Back Civil Rights, Violation of Human Rights,” a discussion about 9/11, Guantánamo and the US’s post-9/11 torture program, featuring myself, Mohamedou Ould Slahi and Elizabeth Miller, broadcast by WVIA, a PBS-affiliated channel in Pennsylvania, as part of an ongoing series of shows, “Conversations for the Common Good,” produced in conjunction with Bloomsburg University.

Following up on the good news that five prisoners at Guantánamo were recently approved for release by Periodic Review Boards, I contrast that story with the monstrous plight of another prisoner, Khaled Qassim, who has been held for nearly 20 years without charge or trial, and who recently had his ongoing imprisonment without charge or trial approved by a PRB, on the basis that he is not compliant enough, even though the authorities acknowledged that, prior to his capture, he had a “low level of training” and a “lack of leadership in al Qaida or the Taliban.”

Linking to my media appearances marking the 20th anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantánamo Bay — on Turkish TV, with Mark Fallon and Tracy Doig of Freedom from Torture, and, in the US, with Scott Horton and with Rebecca Myles in New York.

The second of a number of articles covering events marking the 20th anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantánamo Bay on Jan. 11, 2022 — a “Virtual Rally,” entitled, “Disrupt, Confront, and Close Guantánamo,” featuring numerous speakers, myself included, and also including moving videos of former prisoners, and the family of one of the 39 men still held.

The first of a number of articles covering events marking the 20th anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantánamo Bay on Jan. 11, 2022 — an online panel discussion, hosted by New America, at which I joined Tom Wilner, Karen Greenberg and Peter Bergen to discuss whether President Biden can or will finally close the prison.

My article marking the 20th anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, providing a recap of its many grievous injustices, past and present, and calling on President Biden to find the political will to finally close it for good.

My photos of, and a report about the protest for the closure of Guantánamo that took place in central London on Jan. 8, 2022, with a march of 39 campaigners in orange jumpsuits and hoods, representing the 39 men still held, and speakers in Trafalgar Square.