Life after Guantanamo

The shameful story of Ravil Mingazov, a Russian Tatar held at Guantánamo for 14 years, then sent to the UAE, where he has been imprisoned for nearly seven years, in harsh conditions, despite having been promised that he would be helped to rebuild his life as a free man. His son and wife were granted asylum in the UK in 2014, and campaigners here in the UK are currently involved in efforts to persuade the British government to bring him to the UK to rejoin his family.

My report about last week’s Guantánamo events in London – the second meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Closure of the Guantánamo Detention Facility, attended by former prisoners Mohamedou Ould Slahi and Moazzam Begg, and an Amnesty International event featuring Mohamedou, and, via Zoom, former prisoner Mansoor Adayfi.

Promoting the second meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Closing the Guantánamo Detention Facility in the Houses of Parliament on Monday June 26, attended by former prisoners Mohamedou Ould Slahi and Mansoor Adayfi (on his first UK visit), followed by an event at Amnesty International’s UK headquarters in London on Wednesday June 28, at which Mohamedou and Mansoor will discuss writing in prison, and I will be moderating.

My reflections on how, 21 years after Guantánamo opened, the men still held, and those who have been released, are still deprived of fundamental rights as human beings, just as they were when they were first sent to Guantánamo in the first place, to be held as “enemy combatants.”

Publicising a fundraising appeal by the Guantánamo Survivors Fund, which was established in April this year to provide help with medical care, rent, language classes, tuition and job training for former prisoners abandoned by the US after their release.

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.

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.

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.