Lessons in humanity — and inhumanity

The other night my partner, Penny, and I watched “The Mauritanian” — a new film that’s getting a lot of buzz, and for good reason. I don’t normally blog about movies, but this exceptional movie is worth making an exception for.

Most of us have at least heard about the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba that’s part of the US Naval base there. The name is synonymous with terrible atrocities committed by its US military jailers. However, even I, who consider myself fairly well informed about Guantánamo, was devastated by what this movie reveals.

It’s based on a true story — Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s best-selling memoir, Guantánamo Diary, which he wrote by hand while still in prison in Guantánamo. Published in 2015, The New York Review of Books calls it “the most important and engaging example of prison literature to have emerged so far from the misconceived Global War on Terrorism.“

In the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2000, then-US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld implemented his infamous policy of rendition. People “perceived” to be a security threat were snatched off the streets, or wherever they were, and sent to Guantánamo — even if there was no proof or legal justification.

Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who at one point lived in Montreal, was one of these terrible cases. Late one night, while attending a wedding in Mauritania, he was captured, blindfolded and eventually taken to Guantánamo — without being charged. His supposed crime, which was never proven — recruiting the 9/11 terrorists.

Even after being singled out for a “special” interrogation program approved by Rumsfeld that included sleep deprivation, isolation, temperature extremes, beatings and sexual assaults, Mohamedou maintained both his innocence and his humanity, writing down the observations that formed the basis for his book and “The Mauritanian.”

However, Mohamedou was finally broken. He said what his interrogators wanted him to say after they threatened him that if he did not confess, they would snatch his mother and bring her to Guantánamo, where she would face similar horrific torture. Worse, as the only woman in a prison full of men, she would be extremely vulnerable to predatory sexual attacks.

Luckily for Mohamadou, a very bright and honourable colonel, Stuart Couch, was eventually appointed by Rumsfeld himself to prosecute Mohamedou. It was even luckier given the fact that Colonel Couch was ordered to seek the death penalty.

It soon became apparent to Colonel Couch that the paperwork and Mohamedou’s so-called “confession” were not legitimate, prompting the colonel to resign. It also kicked off the series of events that eventually led to Mohamedou’s release in 2016. An innocent man, he’d been imprisoned in Guantánamo for more than 14 years!

All of this reminded me of two other very honourable men I’ve met over the years. They, too, were also tortured and imprisoned after being unjustly accused of crimes they never committed. They, too, were able to rise above their terrible treatment, maintain their humanity, and even forgive their torturers — just like Mohamedou.

I’ve had the privilege of being visited in my law office by Omar Khadr and Gerardo Hernández.

Omar Khadr, as you may recall, is the Canadian who was a child soldier in Afghanistan. At age 15, he was also locked up and tortured in Guantánamo, and later forced to make a false confession. He was finally released after 10 long years. The Canadian government paid him just over $10 million and officially apologized for the way they botched Omar’s case. (Mohamedou also wants an apology from the government for the way Canadian security forces handled his case.)

Gerardo Hernández is a fellow whose name you may not recognize. He is one of The Cuban Five — five men who became Cuban heroes after they volunteered to fake their defection from Cuba, infiltrate anti-Cuban terrorist organizations in Florida and, in the process, save many innocent lives. Unbelievably, they were arrested by the FBI and sentenced to unjustly long prison sentences until the last ones were freed by President Obama in 2016.

Mohamedou Ould Slahi, Omar Khadr and Gerardo Hernández are all utterly incredible human beings — full of love and forgiveness despite suffering ordeals you and I likely couldn’t endure, let alone do so with such dignity and grace.

Neither the rule of law nor the fundamental right to be considered innocent until proven guilty are of any use if they are not honoured by those in power.

Stories like this can generate all kinds of reactions — sadness, fear, paralysis. As the world grows more connected and we become more aware about people treated so unfairly, maybe the best reaction is outrage — outrage that can be harnessed to “blow the whistle” and ensure those in power are held to account.

Let us also not forget to admire these fine individuals — Omar Khadr, Gerardo Hernández and Mohamedou Ould Slahi.

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Along with the film, I highly recommend Slahi’s book Guantánamo Diary. In these difficult times, please consider ordering from your local independent bookseller! In particular, you may want to support the venerable People’s Co-op Bookstore in their time of need; you can order books via their contact form. (If you prefer an audiobook, you can buy it via Libro.fm, which profit-shares with local bookstores.) 

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Daily atmospheric CO₂ [Courtesy of CO2.Earth]

Latest daily total (Mar. 18, 2021): 418.18 ppm

One year ago (Mar. 18, 2020): 414.58 ppm

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