They said I was bringing shame upon the family, and protecting a terrorist, Wood recalled. For over 10 years, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, 51, was painted as one of the most dangerous terrorists in the world. Few locals spoke French, but since the country had been arbitrarily drawn up as a vast, mostly desert territory, populated by numerous ethnic groups who spoke different languages, there was no alternative for official documentation. But, after Salahi returned to Germany, they had scarcely been in touch. Several of his co-workers were missing fingers, and the manager took every opportunity to denigrate the staff. He was left for hours in the Caribbean sun. When Yee went on leave, he flew to Jacksonville, Florida, where he was interrogated and arrested, then blindfolded, earmuffed, and driven to a Navy brig in South Carolina. I was living literally in terror. I arrived just before the sunset prayers. Al Qaeda had by this time transformed into an international terrorist organization that was launching attacks in East Africa and the Middle East. In October 2016 he made it home after 14 years in Guantnamo Bay, Cuba, where the U.S. government had imprisoned and tortured him as a suspected terrorist. In 1967, Martin Seligman, a twenty-four-year-old Ph.D. student in psychology, conducted an experiment that involved delivering electric shocks to dogs in various states of restraint. One day, Salahi started requesting paper from his guards. Now, as he read, I saw how beautiful the religion was, he said. Still, Salahi found his Jordanian interrogators to be highly knowledgeable, and they developed a kind of mutual respect. Guantnamo Diary and the American Slave Narrative. Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a Mauritanian national, was detained for 14 years at Guantnamo Bay. The examiner described Salahi, whose answers contradicted everything he had confessed to Zuley in the preceding weeks, as eager to prove that he is providing accurate information. The results were decisive: No deception indicated.. Then Abu Hafs greeted Wood, who, appearing paralyzed by confusion, coldly took his hand. Case of Mohamedou Ould Slahi. Mohamedou Salahi spent more than fourteen years in detention at Guantnamo Bay, where he was repeatedly tortured. That December, shortly before his twentieth birthday, Salahi boarded a flight to Pakistan and crossed into Afghanistan, and although he never met bin Laden, he soon pledged his allegiance to the Al Qaeda leadership. From the floor of Parliament, Badre Eddine noted that Mauritania has no extradition treaty with the United States. Assalaamu alaikum, he said to Mohamedou. Soon afterward, a jihadi who had attended the same mosqueand who the Americans believed had met Salahiattempted to smuggle explosives in the trunk of a car across the U.S. border; his plan was to detonate suitcases inside Los Angeles International Airport, in what became known as the Millennium Plot. It was such a good feeling.. Salahi and Wood went around the room shaking hands with bankers, merchants, prefects, doctors. When they removed his shackles, the man, who was shaking with fear, suddenly jerked to the left. Abdellahis men confiscated his passport, once again citing a request by the Americans. But, with every day going by, the optimists lost ground, he wrote. In all this time, his family had had no official confirmation of his whereabouts. How could he possibly know? (In his diary, Salahi wrote, I was eager to let my predator know, I am, I am.) When the conversation was over, the Jordanians blindfolded Salahi and put a set of soundproof earmuffs on him. In fact, Id say, without you, September 11th would never have happened, one of Salahis interrogators told him. How does he behave? He and his comrades were told that many of the detainees were responsible for 9/11 and, given the opportunity, would strike again. . He alleges Canadian officials made false claims about him that . I think we all became friends. But he wasnt sure that Salahi believed him. For the next two months, Abu Hafs taught jihadi recruits at a madrassa. Another year passed. . Salahis family wasnt notified of his rendition, and so they were surprised that Abdellahi refused to let them see him. He was a tall, regal businessman, and wore Ted Baker sunglasses and a Rolex. But the call to jihad interrupted his studies. One day they would deprive him of food, and the next theyd force him to drink water until he vomited. It was Ramadan again. He sought structure and disciplinea life of pride, purpose, and clarity of mission. One of the men momentarily removed Salahis blindfold, and shined a flashlight into his eyes. The Corrupt World Behind the Murdaugh Murders. After a near-fatal stabbingand decades of threatsthe novelist speaks about writing as a death-defying act. special agent, was eager to receive the flight manifest. Having accepted his guards, Salahi wrote, the next phase of captivity was getting used to the prison, and being afraid of the outside world.. Mohamedou Ould Slahi, 44, has been held prisoner inside Guantanomo Bay since 2002. agents walked into the cell. Mohamedou Ould Slahi: Yes, I read the same story, and I was sort of excited. By the time Wood left, he had come to accept his guards and interrogators as family. As he read about Islamic history, he began to seek clarity in the Quran itself. They prayed together, ate together, and enjoyed a picnic of bread and tea in the dunes of the Sahara. Born on 21 December 1970 in a small town in Mauritania, Ould Slahi received a scholarship to study in Germany in 1988. The irony is that I have never been in the States, and all the other countries I have been in kept saying, The guy is alright.. Relaxing is easy., In practice, many military-police officers killed time by watching movies and getting drunk at the Tiki Bar; they also took flights to Afghanistan, to pick up more detainees. Some guards saw an opportunity to torment the detaineesby tossing the Quran into the toilet, for example, or by breaking the binding under the guise of searching for weapons. Desecration of the Quran provoked riots in the cellblocks, which resulted in IRF teams storming into the cells and beating up detainees. The evidence against him lacked depth, but investigators considered its breadth conclusive. After 14 years. The Americans supplied the questions, and the Jordanians extracted the responses, often through coercive means. I'm a really big believer in Joe Biden. VIDEO The Mauritanian: Mohamedou Ould Slahi on his 14 years in Guantanamo After 9/11 he was imprisoned and tortured by the US yet never charged with a crime. The guards, who were officially prohibited from interacting with him, began asking questions. Now bin al-Shibh, who was being tortured in C.I.A. One of Salahis friends, who was now living in Canada, suggested that he move to Montreal. The prosecutor assigned to Salahis case was a lieutenant colonel named Stuart Couch, who had retired from the military before 9/11. He thought, It must be somebody really importantthe most dangerous person in the world, perhapsto have this special attention, a guard force just for him. Abu Hafs spent the next decade in relative luxury, exercising alongside foreign diplomats in one of Tehrans swankiest gyms, and looking after bin Ladens sons along with his own. Soon afterward, Salahis brothers were released with instructions to return to Mauritania. In 1988, the Saudi ideologue Osama bin Laden announced the formation of Al Qaeda. Near the airport parking lot, Salahi stood in a light-blue boubou, the traditional Mauritanian robe, with a turban to obscure his identity. He remains locked inside the notorious naval base. Der hat eine recht interessante Vita, war bei Al-Qaida ttig und soll whrend seiner . This episode was recorded on June 7th 2021.Dr Jordan Peterson's guest Mohamedou Ould Slahi shares his experience with more than a decade of torture, interrog. I tried to make my time there morally neutral, without being called a traitor, he told me. For the first time, he described his experiences without fear of retribution. Mohamedou Ould Slahi was born on 21 December, 1970, is a Writer. But it stopped abruptly after a failed assassination attempt against the President, in 2011, which raised questions about whether he was cutting deals with Al Qaeda. A year in Echo Special shattered Woods ideas about his post-military future. February 27, 2019. He stayed that way for hours. Peace be upon you. They shook hands. They went through checklists of questions that had been developed by their superiors, and seemed impervious to nuance, or to the notion that some detainees may have been sent there in error. I dont have a problem with black peoplehalf my country is black people! But the agent kept using racial slurs. ), Later that month, a military lawyer named Diane Beaver drafted a legal justificationdescribed later by a congressional inquiry on torture as profoundly in error and legally insufficientfor a set of abusive interrogation techniques. Abu Hafs was back in Afghanistan, living with his family in Kandahar. Detainee Mohamedou Ould Slahi joined the terrorist organisation Al-. But his guard suspected otherwise. Throughout 2002 and 2003, whenever the foreign minister visited the parliamentary chamber, Badre Eddine demanded to know Salahis whereabouts. On August 13th, Donald Rumsfeld authorized the interrogation plan for Salahi. Wood became secretive about his calls with Salahi; Wendy began to suspect that he was having an affair. Mohamedou Ould Slahi. It is a fact that they understand this whole concept of terrorism much better than the average American interrogator, Salahi said, in his military hearing. Because detainees are not in U.S. territory, the government has not allowed them to be tried in U.S. courts. Soon afterward, Canadian investigators came to the apartment and questioned him about the Millennium Plot. I was, like, What else have they lied about? he said. The lack of progress, development, and freedom in Mauritanian society inspired in Salahi a righteous anger toward autocracy and corruption, and a desire to fight for something bigger than himself. After. Mohamedou Ould Slahi Born: December 21, 1970 Birthplace: Rosso, Mauritania Jodie Foster Born: November 19, 1962 Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA Nancy Hollander Born: March 10, 1944 Benedict Cumberbatch Born: July 19, 1976 Birthplace: Hammersmith, London, England, UK Lt. Col. Stuart Couch Born: April 20, 1965 In Islam, the Quran is considered the transcribed word of God; some Muslims keep the book wrapped in cloth, never letting it touch unclean surfaces. At a Pakistani Army checkpoint, he slipped a wad of bills into his passport, and went through unquestioned. A fourth was Ramzi bin al-Shibh, the attack cordinator; while in C.I.A. In time, he became suspicious that Salahis confessions had been elicited through torture, and were therefore tainted evidence. The interrogators head-butted him, and made degrading remarks about his religion and his family. He told me he hated Jews also. (All charges were later dropped, and Yee was honorably discharged. He and Salahi were smitten with the Al Qaeda narrative, that a ragtag group of mujahideen, carrying light weapons and hiding in caves, were taking on a superpower in the defense of all Muslims. Since then, the U.S. military has exposed some lite soldiers to the techniques, to prepare them for the kinds of abuses they might encounter should they be captured by terrorist groups or governments that dont abide by the Geneva Conventions. In November of that year, Salahi moved to Montreal, where he began leading prayers at a prominent mosque. Amanda, who lives in Europe, was pregnant, and Salahi would miss the birth of his son. And Jodie Foster, 58, was spotted enjoying some. Seven months later, his deployment ended. Seems a little creepy., Sensory deprivation can cause hallucinations, usually visual rather than auditory, but you never know, Zierhoffer replied. He denied involvement with terrorism and was never charged with a crime. -From Guantnamo Diary, by Mohamedou Ould Slahi It was a simple prayer. French actor Tahar Rahim is making headlines for his performance in the film The Mauritanian, which chronicles the true life story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi. How does he live? Not long afterward, in mid-November, Salahis boss sent him to Mauritanias Presidential palace, to install Internet routers and update the phones. custody, claimed that Salahi had recruited him into Al Qaeda. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. (Forty people remain in the camp, at an annual cost of some ten million dollars a detainee.) After 9/11, patriotism eclipsed restlessness as Woods primary motivation to serve. I was forbidden from seeing the light of the day; every once in a while they gave me a rec-time at night to keep me from seeing or interacting with any detainees. I hope you think of us as more than just guards. The Mauritanian tells the story of Mohamedou Ould Salahi, a man of Mauritanian origin who spent 14 years in the notorious American military detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he. There were no weapons of mass destruction. In 2004, Steve Wood was deployed to Guantnamo Bay, as a member of the Oregon National Guard. It was the spring of 2004. I went back to my tent and laid down to go to sleep. The transcript omits much of his testimony, noting that, at the moment he started to describe the abuse, the recording equipment began to malfunction and that the tapes were distorted. The transcript continues, The Detainee wanted to show the Board his scars and location of injuries, but the board declined the viewing. (By now, the U.S. government was rolling back authorizations for torture techniques, and the military and the C.I.A. By the end of the boat ride, Salahi was bleeding from his ankles, mouth, and wrists. Salahi withdrew the cash and gave it to friends who were travelling to Nouakchott, and they delivered it to Abu Hafss family. The night terrors kept coming. It became fashionable for high-profile corporate-law firms to represent Guantnamo clients, pro bono, but many detainees rejected representation, because they thought it was a ploy to lend legitimacy to an unjust detention. But a friend helped him find work installing Internet routers for a telecommunications company. Abu Hafs wouldnt say which countries he had travelled throughonly that, in the first two, the Mauritanian Ambassador met him on the tarmac, walked him through the airport, and stayed with him until he got on the next plane. But he thought, What the fuck is this? In that meeting, Abu Hafs challenged bin Laden on Quranic grounds, arguing that the scale of civilian casualties could not be justified in Islam. It was kind of like, We aint gonna beat you ourselves, but you know where you are! So I knew the FBI wanted to interrogate me under the pressure and threat of a non-democratic country., On February 19, 2000, Abdellahi let him go home. Allah! After she converted to Islam, they married in a religious ceremony. According to a senior U.S. diplomat, when the United States was negotiating the terms of his return, the Mauritanians did agree that they would not give him a passport for some x amount of time. Two and a half years later, Salahi and his lawyers have no clarity about the parameters of x, or about why the United States has any say in whether the Mauritanian government issues a passport to a Mauritanian. . But Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who spent almost 14 years at Guantnamo and says he was brutally beaten and threatened with execution without ever being charged with a crime, has some advice for his onetime captors: Come clean about what was done to the detainees there, and transfer those accused of committing the Sept. 11 attacks to the United . Two UNM School of Law graduates, Nancy Hollander ('78) and Teri Duncan ('00), represented Mohamedou between 2005 and 2016, when he was finally released. I think he still sees any baby in my family as a future inmate. Brahim Ebety, Salahis Mauritanian lawyer, told me that he is considering a lawsuit against the Mauritanian government. Wood was the second of three boys. In 1998, shortly after Al Qaeda detonated truck bombs outside the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, Salahi took a call from a phone number belonging to bin Laden. 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