Yemenis in Guantanamo

I mark the 16th anniversary of the deaths of three men at Guantánamo, and revisit the implausibility of the official narrative, which is that they committed suicide. This is an act of remembrance that I engage in every year, and this year I include new information about the events of that particular night that was provided by former prisoner Mansoor Adayfi in his memoir ‘Don’t Forget Us Here,’ published last summer.

My report about the case of Khaled Qassim, one of the last five “forever prisoners” in Guantánamo, after his recent Periodic Review Board, including a powerful statement in support of his approval for release that was sent to the Board by Mark Maher, one of his attorneys.

As “forever prisoner” Muhammad Rahim, an Afghan, has his ongoing imprisonment without charge or trial at Guantánamo recommended by a Periodic Review Board, I look at his case, and those of the other four remaining “forever prisoners” (down from 22 when Joe Biden took office), and the problem they represent for the president in his efforts to finally close the prison.

More good news from Guantánamo, as Hassan bin Attash, Guantánamo’s youngest prisoner, who was just 16 or 17 years old when he was first seized in a house raid in Pakistan in September 2002, is approved for release by a Periodic Review Board.

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.”

My detailed analysis of the stories of the five men who have recently been approved for release from Guantánamo by Periodic Review Boards (a review process set up under President Obama), which reveals, on the part of the US government, a total lack of justification for depriving them of their liberty for 20 years, without charge or trial, and, in some cases, makes it clear that they should never have been held by the US or brought to Guantánamo in the first place.

The video of “Life After Guantánamo,” an online discussion between myself and former prisoner Mansoor Adayfi, hosted by the Justice for Muslims Collective, which took place last week, and was intended primarily as a fundraiser for Mansoor. We discussed resistance at Guantánamo, the deaths of prisoners, art classes, and how the “taint” of Guantánamo haunts former prisoners, and is an ongoing part of the dehumanization process established at the prison nearly 20 years ago. It is also an injustice that I hope to address through establishing a new organization aimed at removing the “enemy combatant” stigma, and, ultimately, holding the US to account for the fundamental lawlessness of Guantánamo.

Promoting my live interview, this Thursday, Dec. 9, on Zoom, with former Guantánamo prisoner and author Mansoor Adayfi, whose compelling memoir “Don’t Forget Us Here: Lost and Found at Guantánamo” was published in August.

My report about the seemingly unending ordeal of former Guantánamo prisoner Abdulqadir al-Madhfari. Held at Guantánamo for 14 years, and then for another five years in the UAE (where he was supposed to be freed, but where his imprisonment continued), he was recently forcibly repatriated to Yemen, with eleven of his compatriots, but after just one week reunited with his family, who were alarmed at the decline in his mental health, he was seized by Houthi militia at a checkpoint in Sana’a, and is now being held incommunicado in an undisclosed location.

My report on the latest news from Guantánamo: that two more men have been approved for release by Periodic Review Boards, bringing to 13 the number of men still held who the US no longer wants to hold, which is one-third of the prison’s current population.